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THE SUICIDE RATE RISES IN ARMENIA
Noyan Tapan
www.nt.am
27.06.2011
(Noyan Tapan - 27.06.2011) A worrying rise in the suicide rate in
Armenia is coupled with a trend for younger people to take their
own lives.
The last registered incident was Norayr Torosyan's suicide in Yerevan
on June 8.
According to the official statistics the 592 actual and attempted
suicides recorded last year represented a 20 per cent increase on
the 498 cases the previous year.
According to the statistics of the Ministry of Labour and Social issues
around half of suicides fall within an age range of 30 to 65, and
another 28 per cent involve people older than that in Armenia, 2010.
Kamo Vardanyan, a psychologist who runs the Ayg Psychological Services
group, said to IWPR, "From the 1950s to the end of the century, more
than half of suicides involved people over 45, but since the start
of the 21st century, it has shifted more to younger people under 45."
The psychologists classify the following groups who commit suicide
much more- teenagers, gay and lesbian people, prisoners, the elderly,
soldiers and mental patients.
"Teenagers and elderly people are commonly in need of attention,"
forensic psychologist Elda Grin said. "Adolescents are highly
sensitive, may become helpless, desperate and alienated from society,
so that they see suicide as the only way out of psychological crisis."
In her words members of Armenia's conscript army were prone to suicide
because of the "savage customs and unwritten laws" that made military
service a brutalizing experience.
The statistics indicate that economic hardship is a major factor
in suicide attempts. Over 57, 3 per cent of attempted and actual
suicides last year involved unemployed people and a further 17,7 per
cent were pensioners.
"The most marked, visible factors leading to suicide are the social
problems that face people at every turn," Karine Nalchajyan, a
psychologist at Armenia's national teacher-training university, said.
There exist researches that prove that in countries where the level
of unemployment is high the suicide rate rises, by the way in the
countries going through economic collapse, suicide is widespread not
only among the poor but among the well-off as well.
"Suicide is contagious, so to prevent this, for example we need to
ban the showing of scenes of suicide in television shows and films,"
Vardanyan said.
The Ministries of Health and Labour and Social issues told IWPR that
that they had no specific programs, department or service to provide
support or counseling to those vulnerable to suicide.
From: Baghdasarian
Noyan Tapan
www.nt.am
27.06.2011
(Noyan Tapan - 27.06.2011) A worrying rise in the suicide rate in
Armenia is coupled with a trend for younger people to take their
own lives.
The last registered incident was Norayr Torosyan's suicide in Yerevan
on June 8.
According to the official statistics the 592 actual and attempted
suicides recorded last year represented a 20 per cent increase on
the 498 cases the previous year.
According to the statistics of the Ministry of Labour and Social issues
around half of suicides fall within an age range of 30 to 65, and
another 28 per cent involve people older than that in Armenia, 2010.
Kamo Vardanyan, a psychologist who runs the Ayg Psychological Services
group, said to IWPR, "From the 1950s to the end of the century, more
than half of suicides involved people over 45, but since the start
of the 21st century, it has shifted more to younger people under 45."
The psychologists classify the following groups who commit suicide
much more- teenagers, gay and lesbian people, prisoners, the elderly,
soldiers and mental patients.
"Teenagers and elderly people are commonly in need of attention,"
forensic psychologist Elda Grin said. "Adolescents are highly
sensitive, may become helpless, desperate and alienated from society,
so that they see suicide as the only way out of psychological crisis."
In her words members of Armenia's conscript army were prone to suicide
because of the "savage customs and unwritten laws" that made military
service a brutalizing experience.
The statistics indicate that economic hardship is a major factor
in suicide attempts. Over 57, 3 per cent of attempted and actual
suicides last year involved unemployed people and a further 17,7 per
cent were pensioners.
"The most marked, visible factors leading to suicide are the social
problems that face people at every turn," Karine Nalchajyan, a
psychologist at Armenia's national teacher-training university, said.
There exist researches that prove that in countries where the level
of unemployment is high the suicide rate rises, by the way in the
countries going through economic collapse, suicide is widespread not
only among the poor but among the well-off as well.
"Suicide is contagious, so to prevent this, for example we need to
ban the showing of scenes of suicide in television shows and films,"
Vardanyan said.
The Ministries of Health and Labour and Social issues told IWPR that
that they had no specific programs, department or service to provide
support or counseling to those vulnerable to suicide.
From: Baghdasarian