My Peace Of Mind Vs. A Piece Of Suicide

Is it possible to actually say No to suicide when it stares you in the face? Maybe not. However, we could definitely reduce the number of people who are faced with making such a tough decision and in the process, save the precious lives of millions of Ghanaians.

Everyone knows what suicide is but more often than not, we delete the word from our mental dictionaries to avoid any temptations. In recent times, Ghanaians have had to grapple with the nightmare of living in communities where the act of committing suicide is soaring particularly among young people. In less than a month, many people including a 14-year-old teenager have taken their lives across the country. This has forced us to question our sociocultural and moral education in terms of how the future of our very existence are rejecting the choice to live in this unimaginable way.

There is no denying that our Ghanaian existence has become synonymous with several instances of hibernation wherein we only react to urgent issues after they turn into Goliaths. Responding to the underlying issues of such crises more often than not escapes us till it becomes too late to properly respond to them. It remains a legitimate introspection in a society where the avenues for people with psychological, emotional among other personal challenges are nearly non-existent right from within the family to the state level. It is often said that the head cannot be likened to the papaya fruit whose contents are easily accessible and thus, to access the contents of one’s head, it behooves on us as a society to present all and sundry - physically and emotionally challenged people, those abused and carrying post traumatic syndromes, with enough platforms to share their individual burdens.

Most of us are faking a smile even when we are so broken inside and as we silently shout for help, people around us fail to notice more often than not. It boils down to the reality that we are chasing after life, not making real connections with people we can share our problems or life with. In this cut-throat competitive world, it remains a herculean task to surmount the plethora of psychological pressures thrown at us from all angles – family, schools, work places, churches, mosques, banks, traffic jams, high cost of living, Galamsey, Dumsor, Kumkum Bhagya, politics, sports, unemployment, low salary, relationships, marriages, divorces, health problems, rape, physical abuse, smartphones and internet use etc.

Be that as it may, there is no denying that the aforementioned deficit has given certain uncontrolled agents of our society to step in as the authority which take care of such burdens. The two main agents which come to mind are that of alcoholism and social media. The phenomenon of many Ghanaians particularly young people resorting to alcohol to distress and lessen their burdens is soaring alarmingly. To date, they are still looking for life-changing solutions in glasses and bottles. Like seriously? Instead of priding ourselves with the rise in chronic alcoholics particularly among youngsters, could be begin to create support groups like Alcoholics Anonymous for these perishing youth? We all know that they are yet to understand the far-reaching consequences of washing one’s dreams down the alcoholic drain.

The responsible usage of mobile technology and the Internet by users remains a great challenge that many societies face across the globe. Yet, the narrative has been on expanding access to Internet facilities in less advanced communities with little emphasis on advocating for a respectful, kind and responsible use with the greater good of the society in mind. Nonetheless, many organizations have taken up the challenge to stand up and promote a safer internet environment for all especially the youth. Unfortunately, the youth find the evils of social media and the Internet much more attractive than the positive aspects. However, they are incapable of dealing with the consequences of the malicious online activities - internet fraud, trolling, cyber bullying, cybercrime, SPAM, identity theft, browser hijacking, pharming, phishing, sexting, online pornography and revenge pornography and blackmailing. What measures have been put in place to track and punish perpetrators of malicious online activities which aim to cause physical or emotional damages to victims and their families? Even how social media users have handled this tragedy of suicides is quite appalling. Splashing pictures and videos of suicide victims remains a step in a very slippery direction and the earlier we desist from it, the better. Could we begin to legally limit the posting of photos and videos of people who died under unnatural circumstances in traditional and new media? This only serves to beef up the views, likes and approval ratings of the offline and online publishers for commercial or non-commercial purposes to the detriment of the victims’ family’s woes. Here, the cycle of disgraceful stigmatization continues unabated.

Our societal apparatus has done very little to protect members from the negative tendencies of social media activities whereby education, monitoring and enforcement have been carried out in a laisser-faire manner. We cannot but appeal for compassion for every victim of such heinous crimes and proactive efforts to mitigate the inherent consequences. These things take place to the detriment of the aspirations of parents, teachers, leaders and Ghana’s future potential. We need a complete reorientation towards the current template for tackling issues regarding the use of the Internet and digital technology in general as a preventive step towards finding a lasting solution to the situation. Thus, instead of relegating proactive efforts to campaign for a better Internet to the background in favor of issues such as access to affordable health, electricity, water and housing, we need to start allocating much more priority to the Internet as it is becoming a basic universal right just as the aforementioned human needs. What are you doing to make the Internet a safer and better place?

Many more issues push us to reflect as a society on how well we have miscommunicated to a point of irrevocable consequences. We ask ourselves, as a society, how long we can continue to outsource our duty of identifying and counselling members in times of psychological and emotional de-stress.

• Have we given too much emphasis to the never-ending drama of Ghanaian politics to the detriment of the real communication channels which bind us together as a multicultural society?
• For how long can we continue to turn a blind eye to the total disregard of the code of conduct and ethics as sex tapes, photos and videos of mob justice, mob sexual abuse etc. are flaunted on social media and hosted by many websites?
• How can we cash in on the Digital Age to effectively reach out to suffering members in order to wrestle them out of the suicide pit?
• How can we begin to remedy the trust deficit which makes members continue to entertain the dangerous act of internalizing their problems?
• Can we begin to respond to the issues which provoke people towards such fatal cliffhanging heights as soon as possible?
• How can we continue to stigmatize people who reveal their mental health problems and sympathize with those who reveal their physical problems like diabetes or hypertension?
• Can we begin to look at corruption as a mental disorder to help all the kleptomaniacs who are overburdening our meagre national resources?
• Can we begin to investigate the origins of violence, greed and power abuse by our political leaders within the psychiatric framework of Megalomaniac grandiose delusion as in the case of Adolf Hitler?

To all these introspective questions and more, we need result-oriented approaches as a matter of urgency. Thus, this project aims to adopt a multifaceted approach to engage all and sundry – mental health professionals, social workers, family members, educational authorities, religious leaders, political leaders, you and me – to end this scandalous trend in the near future and beyond.

The need to identify and rehabilitate people with suicidal tendencies through a cycle of outreach activities is the rallying theme for this clarion call. We need to provoke discussions and actions such as establishing free mental checkup facilities at educational institutions, job centers, factories, prisons etc. Facilities with enough capacity to delve into key mental diagnostic issues such as running blood tests to reveal Neurochemical imbalances instead of relying only on interviews to assess such imbalances. We need to also add our voices and might to the need to learn a second language among young people. In a multi-linguistic society, many are still stuck in their mother-tongue cocoons. Yet, learning a second language is not only academically and professionally strategic but also an advantage for one's mental health.

It is expected that tackling these issues will also bring onboard concerns about people terminally burdened with Dementia and Alzheimer's in dire need of palliative care.

My name is Kwasi Mensah Nyarko (Monsieur Pk) and I am ready to do something about ending suicide. Do you want to join me?

Je m’appelle Kwasi Mensah Nyarko (Monsieur Pk) et je suis prêt à contribuer vers l’annihilation des suicides dans notre société ! Voulez-vous me joindre ?

Welcome onboard this social enterprise!
+233 205 763 300
@monsieur1_pk
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