Heart-break causes more suicides than unemployment: NCRB report

Ankita Chakrabarty/ Zee Research Group

More people in India end their lives due to heart-break than unemployment or bankruptcy/sudden change in the economic status, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) ‘Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India 2012’ report. Not only that, incidences of suicides due to love affairs have increased over the past two years in hi–tech cities like Bengaluru followed by Delhi and Mumbai respectively. According to the NCRB report, incidences of suicides due to love affairs accounted for 3.2 percent of all suicidal deaths in 2012 followed by bankruptcy/sudden change in economic status at 2 percent and unemployment at 1.4 percent respectively. Overall, family problems (25.6 percent) and illnesses (20.8 percent) accounted for 46.4 percent of total suicides in the country during 2012. Citing rejection in love as the main reason behind suicides, Dr. Rajiv Mehta, consultant, psychiatry, at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Delhi, says, “Rejection in love affairs leads to depression and prolonged depression finally increases the risk of suicidal tendencies.” Lack of social integration or what is referred to as “socially disoriented” by Anthropologist Raoull Naroll is yet another cause driving people to commit suicides. “Loneliness or alienation is leading to egoistic suicides among people,” says Dr. Preeti Singh, senior consultant psychiatry at Paras Hospitals, Gurgaon. “Currently we are witnessing this crisis of suicide in people basically because of poor social integration leading to egoistic suicides,” she explains. Bengaluru reported 61 cases of suicides in 2011 due to love affairs and the latest available figure of 2012 stands at 89. Also, the national capital, Delhi (city) recorded 38 suicides in 2011 due to love affairs which jumped to 59 in 2012. Compared to 48 suicides in 2011, Mumbai reported 58 in 2012. “The growth of nuclear families and decline in joint families in cities has further contributed in increasing the incidences of suicides due to love affairs,” explains Dr. Mehta at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. “When two people are in love, their friendship gets limited amongst themselves. They devote most of the time to woo their respective partners. Earlier, in case of rejections or heart break, people used to confide in other family members but now in the absence of joint families in cities, they are not able to vent out their emotions.” In a detailed state–wise analysis, Assam (494) followed by Tamil Nadu (488) and Madhya Pradesh (355) reported maximum incidences of suicides due to love affairs in 2012. At all India level, 3,849 incidences of suicides due to love affairs were reported in 2012. The report also states that more men in India commit suicide due to love affairs than women. In 2012, 2,023 men committed suicide due to love affairs whereas the female who killed themselves due to love affairs stood at 1,826 respectively. “Women are more emotionally stable than men and hence men commit more suicide than women,” adds Dr. Mehta.