Suicide is both a reality and a paradoxical conundrum. On the one hand, suicide is real as is has been happening and continues to happen all over the world. Available statistics show that suicide accounts for about a million deaths globally and thirty thousand deaths in the USA every year (Pandey, 2013). On the other hand, tens of millions suffer suicide ideation while millions make unsuccessful suicide attempts across the world. Despite suicide being real, it is also a paradoxical enigma, more so when looked at from a biopsychological perspective. The study of the human body indicates that it does everything in its power to ensure the survival of both itself and its lineage. Suicide flies in the face of the fight for survival by doing the exact opposite, fighting for death! There has been a lot of research and studies towards seeking to understand the causes of suicide in order to limit its impact on society. There is evidence that despite the manifest paradox, suicide ideation and attempts result from biological malfunctions with psychological manifestations making physiological suicide mitigation the most effective approach .
Factors that Trigger Suicide
Suicide triggers are events or circumstances that push individuals from suicide ideation into actual suicide attempts, be they successful or not. By definition, suicide ideation is contemplating suicide, which in most cases never leads to actual suicide attempts. A large percentage of the modern population undergoes suicide ideation at a certain time in their lives. Suicide triggers cause some of these individuals to take steps to take their own lives. According to MFMER. (2018), suicide triggers differ exponentially between child suicides and those among grownups. Among teenagers, triggers include depression, conflict with loved ones, sexual abuse, substance abuse, and reproductive health issues such as pregnancy and sexually transited diseases. Other common modern triggers include direct or online bullying and issues relating to sexual orientation. Getting information about another suicide can also be a trigger. On the other hand, among grownups, common suicide triggers include financial problems, failure, and conflict with a spouse. Conflict with a spouse can also trigger a murder-suicide scenario. Access to an easy means of suicide such as a gun or poison can also be a trigger. Substance abuse and depression can also trigger suicide in adults. (MFMER., 2018)
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Biological Perspective on Suicide
The manifest paradox of suicide ideation and attempts manifests the most when evaluating the concept from a biological and bio-psychological perspective. Almost four decades ago, behavioral scientist Denys deCatanzaro presented four different biological explanations for the suicide conundrum. The first explanation was that advancement in culture and learning had overridden the primal nature of humans that clamors for the survival of the species (deCatanzaro , 1980). The second explanation was that suicidal ideation and attempts occur when human adaptive mechanisms cannot cope with the vagaries of life. These second explanation once again envisages the psychological pressure overriding physiological systems. The third explanation looks at suicide form a benign or even heroic perspective as a means for furthering the survival of the species. The final biological explanation also entails the furtherance of the human species. Denys deCatanzaro argues that those who commit suicide also happen to be least capable of successful reproduction or furtherance of the species hence their choice to die (deCatanzaro , 1980).
Modern research has come up with a relatively simpler and straightforward explanation for suicide. However, these new explanations do not negate Denys deCatanzaro’s explanations outlined above. Under the recent biological explanations, suicidal ideation and attempts result from chemical imbalances in the body and brain, physiological problems or adverse immunity reactions all of which affects the body’s neurobiological mechanisms (Pandey, 2013) . Recent research involving the analysis of the peripheral tissues of suicide victims reflect serotonergic mechanism abnormalities. These abnormalities could override the primal nature that pushes humans to survive, leading to self-harm. From a more practical perspective, substance abuse is a known bearing factor to suicide ideation and attempts. At the same time. Pharmacological intervention is a known and effective remedy for suicide ideation and attempts (Murrough et al., 2015) . The fact that chemicals that affect the body can lead to suicide solidifies the argument the suicides result from a biological process that in turn compromises the mind.
Suicide Perception from an Age Perspective
The suicide of a young person is considered exponentially differently from that of a grown up by society. More often than not, society considers the suicide of a child as a potentially avoidable tragedy. A review of a child suicide entails a discussion on what could have pushed the child to suicide, who is to blame and how to prevent such an incident from happening in the future (Kennedy-Moore, 2016). When a child commits suicide due to known factors such as online bullying, there will normally be massive investigations and programs to mitigate such factors. In an extreme case, a young girl faced prosecution for encouraging her teenage boyfriend to commit suicide! On the other hand, society considers the suicide of a grown up as a bad decision, stemming from a cascade of other bad decisions. The suicide of a grown up with often elicit the anger of loved ones, not at the issue that led to the suicide but at the victim. A segment of society also considers grownups who commit suicide as being selfish and inconsiderate (Springer, 2018). In some parts of the world, attempted suicide is a criminal offense.
Prevention and Treatment for Suicide
The most effective way of stopping an imminent suicide is taking away, the means that usable for self-harm. As argued in the segments above, suicide begins with ideation, and then a trigger leads to an actual attempt on life. Taking of human life is not easy and means to carry out the intent is necessary such as a weapon, speeding traffic, or a building or bridge to jump out from and die. Suicide prevention, more so for individuals who have already tried to commit suicide and have failed entails eliminating the means. Common means of elimination include institutionalization and close monitoring. In a home setting, lived ones place tools usable for suicide such as knives, guns, and ropes beyond the reach of the potential victim.
Another important suicide prevention approach is the pharmacological intervention. According to Murrough et al., (2015) drugs such as Ketamine have been known to substantively reduce suicide ideation and by extension suicide attempts. Other forms of pharmacological intervention include tranquilizers for potentially violent patients or drugs that numb the mind to the suicide triggers. Finally, the substantive solution to suicide is effectively managing the cause of suicide ideation. As outlined in the causation segment above, most of the suicide triggers are life-related issues such as sexual assault, financial problem, and domestic crisis. Solutions such as cognitive and behavioral therapy can provide a means of adjusting to these issues hence mitigating or eliminating their impact as suicide triggers (Rudd et al., 2015).
Conclusion
It is evident from the totality of the above that the enigma that is suicide has an explanation from a biological perspective but only to some extent. Nature designed humans to survive in order to ensure the survival of the species. However, the vagaries of life place so much pressure in the human system that it breaks down first both physiologically and psychologically. The mind begins to think about death hence suicide ideation and the body loses the balance that makes it fight to live. The victim will then use the same energy meant to fight for life, to inflict death. The solution for preventing suicide also combines the physical and the psychological. Physical interventions include removing amenities that can assist in suicide, inter alia through institutionalization. Pharmacological interventions can also mitigate suicide ideation and attempts. The psychological component comes in enabling the patient to cope with the vagaries of life, for example through cognitive behavioral therapy.
References
DeCatanzaro, D. (1980). Human suicide: a biological perspective. Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 3(2). 265-272
Kennedy-Moore, E., Ph.D. (2016). Suicide in Children - What Every Parent Must Know. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/growing-friendships/201609/suicide-in-children-what-every-parent-must-know
MFMER. (2018, October 18). Suicide and suicidal thoughts. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research . Retrieved from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/suicide/symptoms-causes/syc-20378048
Murrough, J. W., Soleimani, L., DeWilde, K. E., Collins, K. A., Lapidus, K. A., Iacoviello, B. M., ... & Price, R. B. (2015). Ketamine for rapid reduction of suicidal ideation: a randomized controlled trial. Psychological medicine , 45 (16), 3571-3580.
Pandey, G. N. (2013). Biological basis of suicide and suicidal behavior. Bipolar disorders , 15 (5), 524-541.
Rudd, M. D., Bryan, C. J., Wertenberger, E. G., Peterson, A. L., Young-McCaughan, S., Mintz, J., ... & Wilkinson, E. (2015). Brief cognitive-behavioral therapy effects on post-treatment suicide attempts in a military sample: results of a randomized clinical trial with 2-year follow-up. American journal of psychiatry , 172 (5), 441-449.
Springer, S. H. (2018). Is Suicide Selfish? Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/free-range-psychology/201806/is-suicide-selfish
