Dr Ayodeji Ajayi, clinical psychologist, has called for the rehabilitation of persons with mental health and suicide attempts.

Mr Ajayi, assistant director, clinical psychology at the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Yaba, Lagos, made the call during a webinar by the Yaba Voice on suicide and mental health challenges.

Yaba Voice is a platform for mental health education, advocacy, and community outreach.

It is a social media platform through which the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital creates awareness and educates the populace on topical mental health issues.

The webinar was organised by Mental Wellness Advocacy, an NGO.

According to Mr Ajayi, more than 90 per cent of people who attempt suicide have one struggle with mental illness or the other.

”That is why the issue of mental illness is not something we can overlook,” he said.

He said that the Mental Health Act had been passed, but unfortunately, a lot of people do not benefit from it.

“So there was a need to look into it. Someone who attempted suicide needs cancelling, not going to face the law,” he said.

He advised that people should follow up when they notice that someone has attempted suicide.

He said that another issue fuelling mental illness and suicide was substance misuse, which needs a psychiatrist to handle.

“Being connected with people can also be a very important factor.

“In fact, Nigerian prison is worse. Imagine someone who is released from prison and does not have any way to start up in life. Probably do not even know where their families are.

“So rehabilitation is very important when people are released from prison because when people are released from prison, they are at risk of committing suicide.

“Sometimes they ask themselves, what am I going back to? Where do I start from? The low socioeconomic status,” he said.

He said that people who are isolated are more at risk of suicide.

“Even homeless, unemployed, or retired, there are people that we need to beam a torchlight on

“Our radar needs to be on these kinds of people when you have them in any community.

“Others are people who have chronic illnesses that are protracted, and also, people who have gone through childhood issues, like childhood abuse or bereavement,” he said.

Also speaking, Dr Obatomi Alalade, a consultant psychiatrist, said that in terms of the warning signs, 80 per cent to 90 per cent of the time, there are signs of intention to commit suicide.

“So, a lot of the warning signs are related to mental illness, aside from some other things.

“Now, we know that about 60 per cent to 70 per cent of people who want to commit suicide would have mentioned the intention of committing suicide to someone.

“And that is a very strong warning sign, which means we should not take it with levity if somebody expresses his or her wish to die,” he said.

Mr Alalade said that suicide was the act or an instance of ending one’s own life voluntarily and intentionally.

He said that World Suicide Prevention Day was celebrated on Sep. 10, with the theme ”Changing the Narrative on Suicide” with the call to action “Start the Conversation”.

According to him, the theme aimed to raise awareness about the importance of reducing stigma and encouraging open conversations to prevent suicides.

He quoted Phil Donahue as saying, “suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.”

He said that the quote meant that the problem at that moment was something that, over time, could be solved.

“But then, once suicide is committed, then it is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

” Suicide generally can be seen as an act with a fatal outcome that is deliberately initiated and performed in the knowledge or expectation of that fatal outcome.

” So the individual knows that this is going to lead to death,” he said.

According to him, there are different terminologies for suicide, which are attempted suicide, suicidal ideation, suicide plan and suicide pact.

He said that about 800,000 to one million suicide deaths occur globally every year.

“There are about 10 million to 20 million suicide attempts each year.

” It is also said by the World Health Organisation (WHO) that every 40 seconds, somebody somewhere is committing an act to kill himself.

” And when we look at it globally, suicide is the third leading cause of death amongst 15 to 29-year-olds.

“So, if we look at Nigeria, based on the data that is available, about 15,000 annual deaths occur from suicide, as reported by the WHO,” he said.

He said that for every death, it was estimated that there were at least about 20 suicide attempts.

According to him, it just means that there are about 300,000 Nigerians who are in some form of suicidal distress.

(NAN)