Suicidal Behaviours in Children, Adolescent & Homoeopathy

Normal biological functioning of a child is partly determined by environment he is living in. When a child grows up with fears and constant or extreme stress then normal development of his response systems becomes weak. Later on, even under ordinary levels of stress his systems may automatically respond as if the individual is under extreme stress. When exposed to minute stressful situations will respond as if to a significant threat which is often perceived by others as “overreacting”.

Children with histories of complex trauma may show more chronic physical & mental conditions and problems. Adolescence with histories of mental trauma in childhood may show behavioral changes and indulge in conditions like smoking, alcohol & drug abuse.

These children often have difficulty in identifying, expressing, and managing emotions. They often hide stress reactions because they don’t even trust loved ones and as a result may experience significant depression, anxiety, or anger. Having learned that the world is a dangerous place full of stress and where even loved ones can’t be trusted to protect them ,this makes the child often vigilant and guarded in their interactions with others and may exhibit unpredictable or explosive emotional responses like violence or suicidal . These suicidal thoughts are because their posture is always defensive posture i.e. protective as if he is under an attack, and his response in such condition will be intense reactions making them vulnerable to take extreme steps because they have never learned how to calm themselves down once they are upset. These children are never calm but always in a stressful posture as if always alert. 
 

A family history of depression and suicidal tendencies can pass down through genetics. It can be inherited by children from parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents either from the mother or father's side.
 

The question is. Is the present modern education system driving youth to stress, depression and suicide? Suicide is a process, not an event. It evolves gradually. In young children & adolescents suicidal tendencies build up very slowly from social conditions. There is growing competition in every sphere of life even in school which increases stress among children and eventually leads to the development of fatal tendencies like depression & suicide The stress inflicting the education system in India is one of the cause of concern in suicidal tendencies in children .The modern education system was oriented to gaining skills such as reading, writing, convergent thinking, numerical aptitude. It was aimed only for increasing productivity and not for encouraging wisdom, confidence, warm-heartedness and life-dealing skills. Western system is materialistic and they feel that material prosperity is the sole cause of happiness. Today’s educational system does not provide value education. India's education system is based on memorizing without thought of the meaning and with a strong emphasis on scoring high marks.

Education in India has become very competitive. In today’s India, there is a persisting fear among the youth, the fear of competition. Difficult admission procedures in top educational institutions as well as tough teaching syllabus. Even a six-year-old child who is supposed to be fearlessness and cheerfulness worries about exams. Come exams and hundreds of students surrender their youthful enthusiasm to the fear of examinations. The insecurity of falling below the cut-off leads into depression and to a tragic end called suicide.

Psychologists say that a child’s strongest emotional bond is with parents. Parents rationalize this emotional bond by making children perform under immense pressure. Parents push their children up as per their ambitions and do not look at the ability and condition of their children mental performance. Children are forced to study what their parents want them to study. The consequence of this over ambition of parents leads to stress, anxiety, frustration and despair in children at early tender age, and they are unable to meet the expectations of their parents. Failure in examinations and condemnation by family in such situations break these children emotionally and lead to depression in early age. Majority of students does not how to deal with this stress and this is one of the reasons a child contemplates suicide because he thinks he is the only person who has ever had those feelings and problems. Their inability to accept failure or loss in self esteem leads to dejection, self reproach and this ultimately leads to suicide.
 

According to the World Health Organization, if stress level is not controlled then depression is the No 1 occupational disease of the 21st century. In recent time due to economic growth and open markets there is more job opportunities, higher payments and with it job stress & anxiety. Higher expectations by employer put more pressure on the employee &leads to tremendous anxiety & fears. Corporate employees have more job stress .A survey released recently by the US-based Regus group, a corporate consultancy, found that 57% of Indians thought that their stress levels had become higher, or much higher, since 2007. It is observed that 6 in every 10 corporate employees in India experience stress at their work place. There is always fear lingering in a person mind of losing one’s job or not being competitive enough to advance in one’s career . In corporate sector especially IT professionals usually show signs of stress related psychiatric disorder. These professionals get addicted to drugs. 1 in every 20 IT professional contemplates suicide, says the study [2].
 

Internet and mobile culture is promoting a isolated community. More time is spent on social networks. A meaningful personal relationship with friends, family members and relatives is replaced by social networks such as face book, WhatsApp and other social sites. Youth and children are living in the isolated virtual world. They are only involved with gadgets which gives them company and no social contacts. Too much addiction to internet and self-centered approach often aggravates their isolated life. A teen in this age of social networking gets isolated and live a solitary life. This isolated life is a very important reason for the rise in suicide among young people. They don’t get any moral and emotional support from any one. They don’t have any near ones to express their problems and does not get a proper advice. They easily lose confidence in life and hopelessness is one of the most crucial factors in the development of their serious suicidal thought. They are not mature enough to analyze things themselves. They think their problems are insoluble and suicidal thoughts come to them through despair.

Broken homes and unconcerned parents is other main cause of mental trauma and depression in them. Because of the high divorce rate in modern society children either misses their fathers or mothers love & protection. When these stressful situations arise, an emotionally fragile child or adolescent may go into a deep bout of depression, which intensifies the chances of thinking about or attempting suicide. The children of working mothers feel isolated, abundant, and uncared at early age. Millions of children come home from school to empty houses. Television has now become the babysitter [2,3].
 

Dr. Jay Nagdimon, the director of the Los Angeles Suicide Prevention Center believes that another strong influence facilitating suicide is community violence: "Movies are violent, television is violent, music is violent, and sports are violent. By our obsession with violence, we make death seem easy. Even a kid can do it." Violent television shows can be scary and confusing to young children due to the mixed messages they send.
 

Feeling of self-condemnation and utter worthlessness. Profound despondency, with increased blood pressure, with thorough disgust of life, and thoughts of suicide. Talks of committing suicide. "Looks on the dark side, weeps, prays, thinks she is not fit for this world, longs for death, strong inclination to commit suicide." Brood over some sin which they have committed. Sense of unworthiness. Violent if contradicted Dr. Nash says, "Strange that this noble metal, for which mankind strives for its pecuniary value, should, when taken into the organism, cause the greatest unhappiness. Aurum is the most common and most definite of all the depression remedies. In a case of acute depression the patient is brooding melancholy and just sits and peers in front of him and will not speak. They look extremely depressed and have all sorts of strange ideas. They think they have lost the affection of their friends and family, or that they have done something frightful and that they are therefore feeling like this because they are to blame for it. They blame themselves for everything and get a real disgust of life. They are the patients who become suicidal.
 

Forsaken feeling, feels as if not beloved by his parents, friends, etc., intolerant of disharmony. Sensitive to what people think about them. Reserved, easily hurt and depressed, sensitive to noise, touch etc. Remedy often seen in orphans, abandoned children (Kent) and also in adopted children. Can be very irritable (Cham). Discontented, anxiety and fears all through the day, warm food, going to bed. Biting nails.
 

Emotional vulnerability, sensitive to any kind of confrontation, pacifists. Tries to resolve conflicts, no cowardice and ailments from quarrels, even between others. Suppresses emotions for the sake of others (Staph) want others to be happy, introverted, avoid being hurt. Develop bitterness, sour temperament. Dissatisfaction, irritable, depressed. Stronger sense of duty, overload themselves become overwrought. Nervous restlessness, normal sleep cycle becomes disturbed. Never quite catch up. Completely unable to relax under any circumstance, restlessness and anxiety on lying down and closing eyes. Tries to run on nervous energy, break down with hysterical fits. Anxious over little things. Every thought tends to repeat itself in the mind. While reading felt she must keep reading faster and faster.
 

Emotionally sensitive and vulnerable. Mentally, they have a high degree of objectivity and awareness, as well as a great sense of responsibility. Throughout life this individuals experience deeply all impressions of life & accumulating awareness and understanding beyond their age. At first, they enjoy company and thrive on the nourishment of emotional contact with others. Adolescents, for example are reluctant to date, for fear of rejection. Even imagined slights can cause suffering. After being hurt several times, they learn to become cautious. They will think twice before becoming involved in an emotional experience. They turn to introverted activities which are emotionally "safe", i.e. reading books (usually romantic fiction or things having practical value in human relations), listening to music, dwelling on ideas and fantasies. Child is very sensitive to disharmony. If the parents fight the child may not react immediately but will suffer inside, perhaps even to the point of acquiring a physical ailment. As the emotional vulnerability becomes increasingly pathological the patient becomes depressed. This is a depression which is inconsolable, and may even become suicidal.
 

Where depression follows from bereavement, loss, or a shock, such as witnessing a fatal road accident, ignatia can be useful. The symptom picture is typified by emotional ups and downs with mood swings. Often the sufferer can prove difficult for friends and loved ones to deal with as they are SO up and down, being resistant to sympathy and oversensitive to well meaning advice, which may be wrongly taken as criticism. It may be hard for them to talk if they are overcome with their miserable situation and friends can find it well nigh impossible to cheer up such patients. Poor sleep is common.