Phyllis Thomas, Enterprise Editor

WITH THE the economic crisis a virtual noose around the necks of many Jamaicans, some persons are seeing suicide as the only way out and have, in fact, tried to end their lives.

The Ministry of Health has confirmed that 318 persons tried to kill themselves between 2007 and 2008.

The ministry did not give a breakdown of the demographic group, and did not comment on or tie the attempted suicides to the economic tempest.

However, Dr Donovan Thomas, founder and president of the suicide-intervention organisation Choose Life International, said that there was a strong link between the current crisis and some suicides or suicide attempts. The economic crisis, he said, can act as a trigger to push people over the edge, especially persons were struggling with other issues.

"In our Jamaican context, almost every week I receive at least one call from persons who have experienced financial loss and are on the verge of taking their own lives," Thomas told The Sunday Gleaner.

"It is also very likely that there are persons who have died by suicide as a response to the economic pressure or financial loss they experienced."

Hundreds of Jamaicans have lost their jobs as businesses wilt under the pressure, and some banks are carrying increased bad-debt portfolios, even as the country contemplates measures to stay afloat.

According to the Economic and Social Survey of Jamaica 2008, published by the Planning Institute of Jamaica, the unemployed labour force increased by 10.6 per cent to 137, 300 over a one-year period.

The average unemployment rate was 10.6 per cent, an increase of 0.8 percentage points relative to 2007, with the male unemployment rate being 7.3 per cent, and the female rate being 14.6 per cent.

Not only are the data revealing that more Jamaicans are attempting suicide, they are showing paradoxically, that Jamaica has had, for some time, one of the lowest suicide rates in the world.

200 suicides a year

Some countries have more than 1,000 such deaths each year, and in the region, Guyana is averaging 200 suicides a year.

But that should not provide any comfort for anyone in Jamaica. Thomas pointed out that 10 years ago, South Korea had one of the lowest suicide rates in the world and now, it is among the countries with the highest.

"As Jamaicans, we can sit back and say our suicide rate is low, or we can be proactive and respond to the signs of vulnerability of our people to suicide," Thomas, who holds a doctorate in ministry, argued.

In fact, quoting police statistics, Thomas said that up to August 23, 42 persons were recorded as having died by suicide in Jamaica this year. Of that number, 40 were men and two women.

Depression is also blamed for some of the suicide and attempted suicides here. Thomas said that in his research with Jamaicans, 93 per cent of the teenagers his organisation interviewed indicated that they felt depressed.

The National Council on Drug Abuse supplied data from the 'National Household Survey of Drug Use and Abuse in Jamaica: 2001' to support its position that there was a relationship between substance abuse and depression.

It said the rate of depression was highest among persons dependent on alcohol or illicit substances, and lowest among persons who reported that they had never used alcohol or illicit substances.

Follow The Gleaner's Positive Parenting tomorrow for the start of our serialisation of the soon-to-be-released second edition of Dr Donovan Thomas' book 'Confronting Suicide: Helping Teens at Risk'.

phyllis.thomas@gleanerjm.com