Asem Mohiuddin
On Sunday afternoon when the news across the social media platforms travelled of the sudden death of Bollywood star Sushant Singh Rajput, it shook the whole country. He died just 34 after he ended up his life at his Mumbai apartment and was found hanging. The stardom he had achieved after acting with top Bollywood actors had made him earn millions of fans across the world.
His outstanding performance in PK movie with Mr perfectionist Amir Khan promised him a successful career and until his death, there was no look back. But it was not PK’s super performance that people remember him for but another movie Chichore in which Sushant encourages people to fight the odds and discourage any extreme step in life. As that was his reel life in real life Sushant himself could not stand against the odds and challenges of his life and eventually gave up on Sunday.
“The guy who made an entire movie (chichore) on how killing oneself isn’t an option, embrace failure, etc. – committed the act! This is Why reel life and real life are two different ball games!,” writes IdreesulHaq on his Facebook wall.
“No No No!!!!! Horrible heart-breaking news of the passing of #SushantSinghRajput! Shocking & sad beyond words!!! Goodbye Sushant.. you were such a wonderful performer and had such a long long way to go! Don’t know what you were going through but I’m sorry for your suffering!” mourned film star Swara Bhaskar. “Deepest condolences to his family and close ones.”
Hundreds and thousands of people expressed their shock and extended the condolences to the family of the rising star of Bollywood. As the age was on his side, Sushant had a promising career in the Bollywood industry with many projects already in hand. So no opinions are building around his career as a cause for ending his life. No one knows exactly what prompted Sushant to take this extreme step but it has definitely brought the issues of mental health again in the public domain. Amid the ongoing pandemic in the world, the opinion is built that people may be facing a huge mental crisis and it is the time to address that instead of allowing people to take their lives.
Experts believe that the times ahead might be very difficult with millions of people losing jobs and facing financial crises. Amid such a crisis, it is necessary to find the social remedies and try to stand by the person emotionally, socially, and economically until he is out of the situation. Normally, such tendencies evolve in a person for a long time before he ends up his life. It develops gradually when he is failed by his own people,” says psychologist, Waseem Ahmad. “When he is not appreciated for his struggle or his success is not endorsed especially by the people he or she is counting on. When he has nobody to fall back and even before his failure he is feeling heartbroken and dejected that generates lots of negativity in the person,” he adds.
The psychologists believe that majority of those committing suicide are actually the victims of family or peer pressure where they face lots of criticism or dejection.
“Instead of criticizing him or her, you need to understand the person. Encourage him in his endeavour whatever he wants to pursue. In case the person is not treading the right path, you can start a gradual counselling and try to make him realize instead of hurting his ego,” said ShowkatAyoub.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) claims that close to 80000 people die after taking an extreme step in life every year, which is one person every 40 seconds. It states that the problem is a global phenomenon and occurs throughout the lifespan.
“Effective and evidence-based interventions can be implemented at population, sub-population, and individual levels to prevent such extreme steps of taking one’s life and attempts. There are indications that for each adult who died in this way there may have been more than 20 other such attempts,” it reports.
Dr. Abdul Maajid a renowned psychiatrist of Kashmir, however, stresses for engaging socially the people facing mental disturbances.
“They need to be engaged socially by relatives and friends whenever you find an iota of stress in any person. If you don’t talk about mental health it becomes a problem and sometimes complicates the situation,” he told The Legitimate.
“Paying much attention to such tragic stories and sensationalising them increases suicidality in vulnerable youth, he adds, “suggesting that the word suicide must be omitted from conversations.”
According to Dr.Maajid, the person begins to develop such tendencies from various factors that they technically call biopsychosocial disorder.
“While you see some people having all the luxury in life with no stresses related to social and economic issues and we wonder why he takes away his life. That is happening due to hormonal disorder,” he explains.
“We need to do away with stigma attached to certain things in our socio-economic life. And ensure we keeping talking positively and engage with all those who we believe are vulnerable to such situations,”.
