People become suicidal for a lot of reasons, but chief amongst them is worsening mental health. Because of this, the suicide trend in South Africa can be linked to different factors. However, at the core of the vast majority of these factors would be mental health challenges. As a developing country in Africa, South African society can be challenging for a lot of people. For example, men, women, youth, people in rural areas and LGBTQ+ people. The more likely it is for these groups to face difficulties in life, the more likely it is for their mental health to be affected. Also, this means it is more likely for them to feel suicidal.
Overview of Suicide Trends in South Africa
Suicide is responsible for 11% of non-natural deaths in South Africa. The youth suicide rate stands at 9.5%, almost as high as the adult rate. South Africa ranks 10th globally in the rate of suicides, with approximately 800,000 deaths annually. While women are more likely to report suicide attempts than men, men have a higher suicide rate. Adolescents and young adults are a vulnerable group. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among youth in South Africa and worldwide. Mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety typically affect people across different demographics. However, studies show that over 75% of South Africans with mental disorders may not receive sufficient treatment.
Factors Contributing to the Suicide Trend
The suicide trend in South Africa does not exist in a vacuum. There are factors behind the rising rates. These include both socio-economic and cultural factors. Poverty is a leading cause of sadness, depression and anxiety worldwide. People who experience lack are more likely to experience difficulties in other aspects of life and end up depressed. Also, financial uncertainty among South Africans can generally increase people’s chances of developing a mental disorder and, in turn, becoming suicidal.
Apart from all that, cultural attitudes towards mental disorders can force people to choose to end their lives. The same can be said about cultural attitudes towards LGBTQ+ people who are discriminated against and neglected. All these can significantly increase the suicide rate in the country and worsen the suicide trend.
Mental Health and Suicide Risk
Mental health in South Africa is a big problem. It is well-established that bad mental health can put people at a higher risk of suicide. Depression, anxiety, and substance abuse are common mental health issues linked to suicide. Trauma can also be a contributory factor. As mental health in South Africa continues to get little attention, we have increasing suicide rates.
Cultural Stigma and Its Effect on Mental Health
South Africa isn’t exactly a progressive country when it comes to attitudes towards mental health issues. The overwhelming attitude is ‘stigma’. People who experience or report mental health disorders are more likely to be stigmatized than helped. This cultural stigma affects these people’s mental health negatively. It tends to isolate them and make them feel worse than they already do.
Barriers to Mental Health Care
Mental health in South Africa is in a sorry state. One of the reasons is that access to mental health care is made nearly impossible by certain factors:
Limited Access to Mental Health Care
Generally, limited or lack of access to needed services is a strong barrier to mental health in South Africa. In many instances, the necessary mental health care may not be readily available or affordable for people who need it. Living in rural areas is an added challenge for people who live outside the major urban areas like Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, and Pretoria.
Lack of Mental Health Professionals to Combat the Suicide Trend
In addition to this, mental health in South Africa suffers from a lack of mental health professionals and infrastructure. This barrier is too problematic because it will take a lot of resources, which are limited in a developing country, to provide mental health professionals and infrastructure. The relegation of mental health issues in mainstream South African society worsens this. Without these professionals, social stigma against mental health patients grows, preventing individuals who need mental health care from seeking help. A lot of people end up dying in silence.
All of these barriers act to shoot up the suicide rates because the more difficult it is for people to receive mental health care, the more likely it is for them to consider suicide as an option.
Bearing all the above in mind, a couple of things are more than clear: one, more mental health crises mean higher suicide rates; and two, mental health challenges cannot be resolved if mental health care is not integrated into broader health care efforts. The government, as well as concerned NGOs, need to be more intentional about curbing the mental health crises among South Africans as a means of fighting the terrible suicide trend that is plaguing the country’s population.
