This paper examined the issue of suicide ideation among Nigerian youths. Suicide ideation is an understudied risk factor for suicidal intent. The paper looked at meaning, types, causes and reasons of suicide, suicide ideation and it implication for counselling. It was recommended among others that government should establish industries to create job that can absorb more idle youths and jobless graduates since it seems that the vocational trainings are not yielding results and so on.
Counselling against suicide ideation among Nigerian youths is very apt in this present era of economic challenges. The issue of suicide has become an epidemic world all over to the detriment of peaceful existence. This may be pointing to the fact that people are no longer happy about themselves and their environment. Cases of suicide are frightening in nature and cannot be wished to any human being. Nations are fighting to curb the menace and instill the culture of understanding among its citizens on challenges perceived as the major causes of suicide.
Abstracts
This paper examined the issue of suicide ideation among Nigerian youths. Suicide ideation is an understudied risk factor for suicidal intent. The paper looked at meaning, types, causes and reasons of suicide, suicide ideation and it implication for counselling. It was recommended among others that government should establish industries to create job that can absorb more idle youths and jobless graduates since it seems that the vocational trainings are not yielding results and so on.
Keywords: counselling, suicide, ideation and youths.
INTRODUCTION
Counselling against suicide ideation among Nigerian youths is very apt in this present era of economic challenges. The issue of suicide has become an epidemic world all over to the detriment of peaceful existence. This may be pointing to the fact that people are no longer happy about themselves and their environment. Cases of suicide are frightening in nature and cannot be wished to any human being. Nations are fighting to curb the menace and instill the culture of understanding among its citizens on challenges perceived as the major causes of suicide. More cases of suicide are found to include taking one’s own life than victimized suicide. One can be a victim where he or she is being killed by another individual while the former explains a situation where the act of intentional and voluntary murder. In which ever form someone intentionally annihilates his own life is suicide. World Health Organization (2012) pointed out that “worldwide, about 800,000 suicide are committed annually” with suicide leading the highest cause of death. Suicide facts released by National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC), (2015), a division of Violence Prevention revealed that suicide rate increased in 2011 when compared to 1999-2010 mostly among the young Suicide behaviour is any deliberate action with potentially life threatening consequences, such As taking a drug overdose, deliberately crashing a car. Suicide behaviours often occur in response to a situation that the person views overwhelming (Hudgens, 2003), such as social isolation, death of the loved one, emotional trauma, serious physical illness, aging, unemployment, or financial problems, guilt feelings or dependence on alcohol or other drugs.
Suicide behaviour has been reported in technically advanced countries of psychiatric emergencies among children and adolescents (Robert, 2008), and one of the strongest predictors of psychiatric admission for adolescents, he concluded. In the United States, for example, suicide ideation and attempts among adolescent have been reported as being increasingly recognized as important public health problem (Stone, 2001). Epidemiological studies suggest that life time prevalence of suicidal attempts among high school students range from 3.5 to 9.0 percent (Andrew & Lewinshon, 2002).
More suicides occurred in 2016 with the death of “a student of University of Nigeria Nnsuka (UNN) on 29th November, a commuter taxi driver in Abia State on 25th August, a former NEPA worker in Ibadan on 3rd of August, death of a Chines in Lagos on 1st of August, an ex-permanent secretary committed suicide in Abia State on 29th May, a student of Ado Bayero University took his life on 28th May, ex-army officer hung himself on 19th May, a seventeen year old teenager committed in Ganjuwa local government area of Bauchi State on 14th May as a result marriage disappointment. A teenage suicide bomber exterminated eight lives at Madugri on 21st April. On 12th April, a young man committed suicide in Abaranje Area of Ikotun, Lagos”. According to a publication of Today Newspaper, (2017), “in 2017, more suicides were recorded. Information released on the 26th of March revealed that 10 per cent of referrals to Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) were attempted suicides, a civil servant killed himself in Ekiti State in 15th January and many more”. Telegraph Newspaper in 2016 in a six months review, maintained that recession is one of the reasons for increase in suicide rate in Nigeria. It pointed out that “seven states are the worse hit by the wave of suicide. In the review, out of the 62 recorded cases, Ogun and Lagos State had the highest record of 25 and 12 cases. Other states include Ebonyi state 10, Delta State 4, Oyo State 4 and Ondo State 1.
Meaning of Suicide
Several scholars along different timeliness had defined suicide. Some of these definitions are:
Schneidman (2005) defined suicide as an intentional death, self-inflicted death which one makes an intentional direct and conscious effort to end one’s life. According him, the deaths are described as self-afflicted. It identified that the individuals attempt to end their life resulting in death. When the attempt does not result in death, it is considered to be attempted as suicide.
The rates of suicide have greatly increased among youths, and youths are now the group at highest risk estimated at one-third of the population in developed and developing countries. The emerging phenomenon of “cyber-suicide in the internet era is a further cause of concern and also because of the use of new methods of suicide (Becky, 2015).
Suicide is nevertheless a private and personal act and a wide disparity exists in the rate of suicide across different countries. A greater understanding of region-specific factors related to suicide would enable prevention strategies to be more culturally sensitive. This focus is also highlighted in the September 10, 2012 World Suicide Prevention Day Theme “suicide prevention across the globe: strengthening protective factors and instilling hope”. This qualitative review explores the historical and epidemiological aspect of suicide with a special focus on India. We hope that exposure of the problem will facilitate primary prevention planning.
Types of Suicide
Suicide occurs in various forms. Nwayankwu and Okowo (2017) postulated several forms of suicide in the society. These forms of suicide were viewed from societal perspective rather than individual perspective. The authors in their different types of suicide explained four types;
1. Egoistic Suicide: This is committed due to detachment of victims from their communities. These individuals are recluse (island/lonely life) in character. This character may have been formed as a result of rejection, past crime, helplessness, illness etc.
2. Fatalistic Suicide: This arises from societal oppression, coveting of one’s property by highly or stronger individuals or authority. Affected individual are mentally and physically repressed. Victim feels oppressed and helpless in the face of what he/her considers as imprisonment, insult and determined annihilation.
3. Anomic Suicide: In such a case, individual feels he/her has made a great mistake in life that is irreversible, where opportunities were not utilized and perhaps age has run out. Anomic Suicide could be committed as a result of embarrassment or sexual assault. It is a suicide situation commonly found among teenagers. It could be failure induced or due to loss of a beloved one.
4. Altruistic Suicide: This occurs as a result of influential control by society or group of people over individuals. It could be attributed to subjection of individual to death by soldiers or the actions of suicide bombers which the victim consider as ultimate sacrifice to appease the gods deities..
Causes of suicide among Nigerian youths
The following are the causes of suicide among Nigerian youths.
i. Academic performance
The main aim of attending a tertiary institution is to achieve an academic certificate. Although other factors are achieved in the process of attaining an academic qualification. It is quite important that an individual performs so as to achieve the qualification. This pressure to perform has been noted as one of the main stressors experienced by university student. When student performance is not adhered to students tend to find different manners to deal with the pressure. These ways of alleviating pressure are factors such as alcohol and drug abuse. This group was categorized under the individuals facing hopelessness. The respondents identified that hopelessness affects 30% of the student’s population. This is a great percentage of individuals considering hopelessness also affects the ability of an individual to associate with the society effectively. It was also noted that academic performance is greatly affected by alcohol and drug abuse. Alcohol and drug abuse was outlined as a risk factor leading to failing grades. 19% of the respondents believed that alcohol and drug abuse affect academic performance and are factor that could encourage suicidality. Young people who feel connected to their schools are also less likely to engage in risk behavior, whereas being out-of-school and/or unemployed are risk factors. For example, substance abuse is reportedly much higher among young people who are not in school (NACADA, 2004).
Often students who have been performing very highly becomes distressed by the change in performance and often end up overworking themselves. These individuals tend to place a lot of emphasis in their performance and when it drops they may not be able to handle the pressure of failing. This therefore leads to depression and low self-esteem.
ii. Financial constraints
The main challenge facing Nigerian youths is the high cost of education. They cited that in Nigeria, it is quite hard to enroll in tertiary institutions to study without adequate amounts of money to support their study in school. Higher education has been identified as a major priority in the society. This has therefore led to the increased need to attain a University education. Although the vacancies exist cost for some families is prohibitive.
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- Arbeit zitieren
- Erhunse Confidence (Autor:in), 2019, Counselling against suicide ideation among nigerian youths, München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/511390
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