Depression a key cause for Suicides

The nderlying cause of 70 per cent of suicides is depression. For every suicide, around ten more attempted suicides would have occurred.

M. Chandrasekharan Nair, city-based psychiatrist, speaking to The Hindu, said that a government directive on treating a patient jointly by a general physician and a psychiatrist for every attempted suicide case could perhaps help in detecting depression and bringing down cases of suicides.

The stigma of getting treated by a psychiatrist continues to be the hurdle in people reaching out for support and care for better mental health, said Dr. Nair.

Depression is a worldwide phenomenon and about 30 per cent of patients reaching for primary care and specialty care have this problem, he said. However, the patients never realise it nor are the treating physicians oriented towards understanding depression in patients.

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