Suicide rate surpassed COVID-19 death in Bangladesh: A Sociological Analysis
Suicide rate surpassed COVID-19 death in Bangladesh: A Sociological Analysis
The outrage
of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused 70 per cent more suicidal death than the
death by COVID-19 in Bangladesh. According to the Directorate General of Health
Services (DGHS), COVID-19 took the lives of 8,462 during the first COVID-19 outbreak
in the country. The Anchal Foundation, on the contrary, discovered that 14,436
individuals committed suicide within the same period. They delved into 332
cases to figure out what was behind the rise in suicides. Family hardships
appear to be the major cause of suicide, accounting for 35% of suicides,
trailed by relationship strain (24%), financial woes (4%), and educational
reasons (1%). In 32 per cent of the cases, the grounds for suicide could not be
detected. Last year, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) confirmed that
suicide deaths had surpassed COVID-19 deaths in the country.
This anomaly
triggered COVID-19 suspected or COVID-19 positive people to discriminatory
behaviour from different backgrounds. Pandemic-related restraints evoked
psychological mediators like sadness, anxiety, fear, anger, frustration, guilt,
helplessness, loneliness, and nervousness emotional reactions to the
social-economic crisis, unemployment, and poverty. The great Sociologist Emile
Durkheim also suggests that when a social disorder emerges after an outbreak,
psychological co-morbidities push people to attempt suicide.
It leads old
people, women, people with special needs and survivors with mental distress to
suicidal thoughts. The reason behind any
suicide may seem to us trifling but for deceived it is the gruesome pain of not
belongingness in society. One does not decide suddenly, he/she calculates
his/her acceptance in her surroundings. When the acutest they try to share it
with others, if they feel inertia to share, they think it better to kill
themselves.
Suicide
attempts among youths are on the rise at an alarming rate, According to a
survey by Anchal Foundation, 101 students across the country committed suicide
as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. What is the melancholy that leads
them to suicide? Online classes cannot
be equally availed by all for so many reasons and not ensured to do well in
exams, students in some cases failed to adapt to the neo-normal and killed
themselves. Students committed suicide as a result of relationship troubles,
family disagreements, mental stress, financial crisis, study-related issues,
and drug addiction. Thus it's about time for educational institutions to
appoint professional clinical psychologists or establish mental health care
centres.
Family is a
core institution that serves all major purposes of socialization within itself.
After the Industrial Revolution, capitalism is ruling the world and we are
living in a conspicuous consumption era. On the eve of the fourth industrial
revolution, people are paying much more for their lifestyle. First-world
countries have managed to secure the needs of different age groups, and developing
countries took the responsibilities of medical, unemployment, pension and social
security schemes.
Family is
now fragmented from extended to nuclear, sometimes emerging as an “Empty Nest”,
where children are living away from parents aspiring to a standard life, the
old and the child are the dependent categories. The senior citizens are still
expected to be reared and cared for by their sons, patriarchal society treats
it humiliating to live with sons-in-law. In rural areas, senior citizens still
pose a role in the family power structure. But in metropolitan cities, they are
the caregiver of their 2nd generation, if the parents of the child work outside
the home. It is horrible to leave alone and segregated for all age groups,
particularly for the generation who are not technology friendly or have social
media connections. Once we had harmony to celebrate all of our religious
rituals, going to the Mosque, Temple and Church is not a symbol of religious
activities, it is a congress of a community. This connectivity can release the
suffocation of a vacant mood. We are asocial, we have to remember how our
parents are? How are they living? How are our children, how are they spending
their time? Caring is not all about showing in for a single day, it is about
performing. Elderly welfare should be considered as a "work in
progress" that is always evolving to meet changing requirements.
The suicide
of Abu Muhsin Khan on Facebook's live ignited the demand of establishing
‘Nursing-home’ instead of old age homes for low-income seniors without close
family members to support them. We are afraid of reporting our beloved one’s
death as suicide as arguably for social, religious, and criminal complexities.
But, it is our responsibility to hear them when they are alive. Take proper
suicide prevention measures that align with the current social reconstruction process.
Counselling and quality time can save a life.
References
Dhaka Tribune, (2021). 70% more suicides than Covid-19 deaths in the last year. March 13th. Accessed at: https://archive.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2021/03/13/70-more-suicides-than-covid-19-deaths-in-the-last-year
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Views in the article are of the author’s
own.
Rawnaq Ara Parvin is a Faculty Member in the Department of Sociology, Varendra University, Rajshahi, Bangladesh. For any communication write to Rawnaq Ara Parvin <rawnaqara@gmail.com>
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