Irish Expert:India's Spiritual Values defence against Suicide

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India's religious values defence against suicides: Expert

 

Indo-Asian News Service

 

London, October 5, 2005

 

An Irish expert on suicides believes that the support provided

by Hindu religious values in India is a strong protection against

suicidal tendencies -- a defence that the West is lacking.

 

Lack of spirituality is behind the increasing rate of suicides among

the young in the West, says Dan Neville, chairman of the Irish

Association of Suicidology.

 

Neville pointed to research in India, "which is predominantly

Hindu", showing that religion was a strong protective against

becoming suicidal, while Muslim countries also had low rates of

suicide.

 

"Studies among the suicide bereaved reveal that religious belief

helps them to cope with their distressing loss," he said.

 

According to him, the reasons people took their own lives were

complex. In answering the question why people committed suicide,

multifaceted influences must be considered, he said.

 

"The fall-off in the practice of religion is accepted as part of the

societal change that has influenced an increase in suicide levels."

 

"Many of the supports which people could depend on and which

prevented them from considering suicide have been eroded.

 

"Along with economic success has come a decline in spirituality and

the loss of a sense of life as a gift from a supreme being. We no

longer accept that suffering in this life will be rewarded with

happiness in a life after death."

 

The expert added that Australian research suggested that what is

known about spirituality in young people -- its development, its

place in recovery from mental illness and its importance as a

protective factor against suicide -- makes it an important topic for

open discussion for therapies and prevention strategies.

 

The Irish Association of Suicidology, at its 10th annual conference

from October 5 to 7, is scheduled to discuss how the relative

weakening of religious and spiritual values has left people without

the support that they would otherwise have to prevent them from

committing suicides.

 

The meeting, being held in Armagh town, will also discuss the ethics

of assisted suicide and the implications of euthanasia on patients,

doctors and palliative care.

 

Neville said he hoped the conference would throw some light on an

extremely complex area.