Child suicides reaching epidemic level in South Africa

By Fu'ad Rahman

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (JP): Last month at least 10 youths committed suicide and a 10-year-old attempted to end his life by jumping off a building.

In Soweto, a squatter township in Johannesburg, more than 700 youths a year attempt suicide.

Why are so many children desperate to kill themselves in South Africa? Equally alarming, why are so many succeeding in their efforts to carry out this desire?

Psychologists here say the recent upsurge in suicides and attempted suicides among South African children is due to a growing number of youngsters feeling helpless, confused, depressed and isolated.

The 17 to 19-year-old age group has the highest number of attempted suicides in the country.

These late teenage years are stressful for many teenagers since they must prepare for final high school exams driving home a realization that childhood is giving way to adulthood.

Other factors that have affected the suicide rate are significant lifestyle changes, violence romanticized in the entertainment media, easy availability of deadly weapons, drug and alcohol abuse and a nationwide tolerance of violence.

"Most people are not aware of how widely pervasive suicidal behavior in South Africa has become," said Lourens Schlebusch, head of the medically applied psychology department at the University of Natal.

"The truth of the matter is, it has reached almost epidemic proportions," he said.

A recent study in Durban, South Africa, revealed that four percent of the students surveyed reported instances of potential suicide behavior.

Another study of Cape Town high school students indicated that almost eight percent had actually attempted suicide.

In most cases, suicide is unpredictable and it is often the least likely children who take the plunge and end their lives.

Stress

Schelebusch said most cases of suicide were directly related to increased levels of stress and it was affecting children at a very young age.

"We see them as young as six. A lot has to do with change and the inability to cope with academic demands," he said.

While suicides of children under the age of five are almost nonexistent, and extremely rare among children between five and nine years old, children in the 10 to 14-year-old age bracket are 10 times more likely to take their own lives.

That figure doubles again in the 15 to 19 age group and doubles again in the 20 to 24 age group.

Mphale Mogudi of Baragwanath Hospital's child and adolescent psychology unit said: "There is no doubt that there is a lot of stress all around and it seems that adults dealing with their own stress is impacting on children who don't have the appropriate coping skills to deal with it," she said.

Family suicides, where an adult kills the children before killing him or herself, are also alarmingly high in South Africa.

Police spokesman Piet van Deventer said the hostage and suicide unit handled 173 suicide cases last year, mostly children.

He added there was an increasing tendency for minors to be involved in suicide attempts. Almost 30 percent of attempted suicides involved adolescents -- most carried out by girls as it seems that boys have been less successful in carrying out the act.

Most children attempt to kill themselves by taking an overdose of pills or ingesting household cleaners like bleach.