Experts outline red flags potential suicide cases

Local health and mental health experts divulged the signs and symptoms present in potential suicide victims which must be given immediate attention by their family members and relatives to prevent individuals from taking their lives.

Dr. Mary Sito, Medical officer IV of the Cordillera office of the Department of Education, disclosed that the possible red flags for potential suicide victims could be classified as cognitive, emotional, physical and behavioral where either one or two of the same must be present in an individual to make him a potential suicide victim.

For cognitive symptoms, she claimed that potential suicide victims have the inability to concentrate, poor judgement, seeing only the negative and constant worrying.

Sito added that for emotional symptoms, the red flags include general unhappiness or depression, irritability or mood changes, and loneliness or isolation.

According to her, the behavioral symptoms also include eating more or eating less, sleeping more or sleeping less and withdrawing from others.

For her part, Dr. Rufina Calub-Abul, Department Head of the Nursing Department of Nursing o the St. Louis University (SLU), pointed out that the common stressor of suicide is intolerable psychological pain or psych ache and the common cause of the same is frustrated psychological need which now affects the cognition of the potential suicide victims leading to the eventual commission of the suicide as it is the only remedy they could find to ease the tremendous pain.

Abul underscored that around 80 percent of the suicide victims actually communicate the act so that is important is for people to listen to them or lend them their ears to listen to their light.

She supplemented that other possible signs of symptoms possessed by potential suicide victims are the giving away of their valuable such as jewelries, loss of appetite for previously enjoyed activities, always sleeping, they appear suddenly happy or sometimes the opposite, thus, the need for people to be sensitive about the said indicators.

On the other hand, Ricky Ducas, Jr., mental health program coordinator of the City Health Services office, stipulated that another symptoms of potential suicide victims is their involvement to risky behaviors such as their involvement in extreme sports and sexual activities.

In schools, Sito asserted that the waring signs for suicidal tendencies include the habitual absences of the students in their classes and sleeping too much which must be given appropriate attention not only by their parents and guardians but also their teachers and school officials. – Dexter A. See