One married man commits suicide every 9 minutes

One married man commits suicide every 9 minutes

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_one-married-man-commits-suicide-every-9-minutes_1350968

Vineeta Pandey / DNA
Monday, February 22, 2010

New Delhi: Is the mounting burden of responsibilities driving men to
the end of their tether? Numbers suggest so.

In India, one married man commits suicide every nine minutes. Of the
total 1,25,017 cases of suicide in 2008, married men alone accounted
for 57,639. While the number of women taking the extreme step did not
lag far behind, men appeared more vulnerable to mounting social and
economic pressures. In the case of women, the trigger was more
emotional and personal.

The overall male-female ratio of suicide victims for the year 2008 was
64:36, according to the latest data of the National Crime Record
Bureau (NCRB). The general scene is much grimmer.

Suicides in 2008 registered a decadal growth of 19.4% compared to
1998, the figures say. They also reveal a year-on-year rise of 1.9%
compared to the 2007 numbers —1,22,637.

The overall increase in cases involving women was 355 in two
years while it was 2,187 among men. The increase in suicide among men
is six times more than that of women. "Every nine minutes a married
man is committing suicide in India. Are we ignoring our men too much
or burdening them with too many responsibilities?" said Virag Dhulia
of the Save Family Foundation, an organisation fighting for harassed
husbands.

The data, however, may not be revealing the full picture. The number
of girls/women attempting suicide is much higher than that of
boys/men. But the suicide rate is higher among the latter, says
clinical psychologist and family therapist, Dr Shelja Sen.

"The intensity of depression among women or adolescent girls is
different from boys and men. Attempting to commit suicide often
provides relief from depression among females, it doesn't happen the
same way with men. So when they attempt suicide, it is more serious
and harsh, and results in death," she says.

The NCRB data showed youngsters were more susceptible to suicides.
Youths in the age group 15-29 years (35.7%) and lower middle-aged
people in 30-44 age group (34.8%) were the prime groups taking the
extreme step.

Family problems (23.8%) and illness (21.9%) were found to be the major
causes of suicides besides love affairs (3.0%), bankruptcy, dowry
dispute and poverty (2.4% each) being other reasons. In fact, suicides
due to illness, drug abuse/addiction and poverty have shown an
increasing trend.

Family problems, failure in examination and illness were driving
children to the brink. There were 2,381 cases in this category. Family
problems have also driven 10,027 youths (15-29 years), 11,363 lower
middle-aged people (30-44 years) and 6,143 upper middle-aged persons
(45-59 years) to commit suicide. Suicides among senior citizens were
mainly due to illness.

The proportion of female victims was comparatively more under the
heads dowry dispute (98.1%), illegitimate pregnancy (91.6%), physical
abuse (rape, incest, etc) (72.8%), barrenness/impotency (not having
children) (65.5%), divorce (62.2%),cancellation/non-settlement of
marriage (53.5%) and suspected/illicit relation (50.8%).

Housewives (24,367) accounted for 54.8% of female victims and nearly
19.5% of total victims committing suicides. It was observed that 70.3%
of the suicide victims in both categories were married.

Among bigger cities, the four metros — Bengaluru (2,396), Chennai
(1,309), Mumbai (1,111) and Delhi (1,107) — reported higher number of
suicides. In fact, these four cities put together accounted for almost
45% of the total suicides reported from 35 cities, even though cases
in Mumbai had declined marginally.