KUCHING: Parents, school counsellors and teachers must pay close attention to the young ones, as they are the first-liners in detecting suicidal signs and symptoms. Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii said both parents and schools play an important role in preventing suicide as they are the ‘gatekeepers’ – to detect, help counsel, and if needed, refer those at risk for professional help.
“It is a collective responsibility and that is why my office (Ministry of Health) is trying to plan more suicide prevention programmes, to equip and further educate counsellors and parents to deal with such issues,” he said.
When asked on the cause for the increase of schoolchildren with depression, Dr Yii said this was due to multiple factors, not only family and pressure in schools.
“The reasons could be a change of environment, social media, cyberbullying, parents not at home often or broken families.
“Even pressure to perform and to meet society’s standards, not just in school, but also self-image,” he pointed out.
Meanwhile, he said he strongly agreed that a Suicide Prevention Strategy had to be holistic and covered multiple aspects and stakeholders as “we all have a collective responsibility to address this
important issue.”
On Wednesday, Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Minister Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah said Sarawak needed to develop its own suicide prevention strategy that is multi-sectoral, involving not only the health sector but also sectors such as education, labour, social welfare, agriculture, business, justice, law, defence,
politics and the media.
To a question whether news articles on suicide reported in newspapers and shared online be stopped, Dr Yii mentioned that the media played an important role in raising awareness and even create hope, but if not done properly, could exacerbate the problem.
He added that more than 50 research studies had shown that certain types of news coverage could increase the likelihood of suicide in vulnerable individuals, especially those who had suicidal thoughts.
“This is known as ‘suicide contagion’ and the magnitude is related to amount, duration and prominence of coverage. For example, it has shown that cases spiked after a famous celebrity committed suicide.
“A research shows that when (Hollywood actor and comedian) Robin Williams died by suicide in 2014, suicides using the same method increased by 32 percent in the months following his death,” he said.
So in order to address this, Dr Yii said the Ministry of Health and also Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) had released proper guidelines to the media on how to properly report such cases.
“The main principle is to inform and not sensationalise…choose your words carefully and report it as a public health issue.
“Do not report suicide like reporting a crime, by showing images of the victim, the scene or location and also method of death,” he said, adding that any circulation of details on the act, even pictures on WhatsApp and social media, was also strongly discouraged.
Dr Yii further explained, “If there is a suicide note, do not detail what the letter contained or even refer to it as suicide note. It is also strongly advisable to not include the word ‘suicide’ in the headline of the news.”
“A good practice is to include warning signs or what to do, if possible, in the sidebar or in the article itself. This is not a matter of being politically correct but it’s a matter of saving lives,” he emphasised.
He added that he has been working with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) on a video series to promote greater awareness on suicide prevention and having patients share their mental health conditions.
The videos can be found on his Facebook page under the name ‘Kelvin Yii Lee Wuen’.
