Muneeba Shakil.
A qualitative analysis of suicides committed by the students in Pakistan.
Pak J Med Res Jan ;58(1):35-40.

Suicide rate in students have increased in Pakistan during past few years and despite the fact, official statistics are still unknown. Suicide is the common unnatural cause of death and the cases are often not reported subject to social stigma. Therefore, diagnosing and covering such cases is usually difficult. The objective of the study was to carry out a qualitative analysis of suicides committed by the students in Pakistan. A Retrospective study was done and 68 cases were retrieved from 11 renowned e-newspapers over the period of eight years (i.e. 2010-2017). Suicide rate was higher in male (76.5%) than females (23.5%). Of them 42.6% were from schools, 23.5% colleges and 22.1% from universities. Methods for suicides were hanging (33.8%), gunshot (27.9%), poison (13.2%), jumping from height (5.9%), burn (4.4%), and wrist cutting (1.5%). Reported cases were from Punjab (52.9%), Sindh (23.6%) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (8.9%). Common reasons were failure in exams (23.6%), scolded by parents (11.8%), failure in love (8.8%), domestic issues (5.9%), harsh attitude of teachers (5.9%), life dissatisfaction (4.4%), ragging (2.9%) and poverty (1.9%). The figures are believed to be an underestimate due to lack of reporting, socio-cultural and religious stigma. Thus, to determine the epidemiology of suicide by students in Pakistan, a standard system of recording should be established to help design effective suicide prevention programs.

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