Suicide, Humanity, and the World

While chatting with a friend the other day, he mentioned that two people he knew had died by suicide. Both were middle-aged and married. Both had children. We talked a bit about the reasons. "One had quite a lot of debt and thought he couldn't pay it off," he said. I asked about the other, and he replied, "He was about to get a divorce, but he didn't want to." Incidentally, those two people who are no longer with us were both men.

In The Book of Disquiet, Pessoa says: "Yesterday the tobacconist told me the cashier had committed suicide. Poor man, so he existed! We had completely forgotten him, we who knew him just as much as those who didn't. Tomorrow we will forget him even more. It turns out he had a soul.."

It is unknown what kind of sadness, pain, grief, or happiness and joy remain within a person as time passes, and what kind of effect those remnants leave on them. Language speaks, but only the heart knows what has been experienced. In this respect, every person has a separate journey, story, and lived experience. Those experiences have consequences in one way or another. Suicide is perhaps one of them. It is perhaps the point reached at the end of dead-end streets, nights longing for the sun, debts, separations, poverty, unceasing anxieties, and many other troubles. 

These expressions belong to Kierkegaard: "No one who commits suicide these days commits suicide in a frenzy. Before taking the first step, they weigh things so carefully that they are literally breathless with thought.."

According to TUIK figures, 4,460 people died by suicide in Turkey in 2024. The province with the highest crude suicide rate (the number of suicides per 100,000 people) was Karaman. In other words, the highest suicide rate occurred in Karaman. This province was followed by Bartın, Aydın, Tunceli, and Burdur, respectively. The cities with the lowest suicide rates were recorded as Sinop, Ağrı, Rize, Amasya, and Giresun.

According to an article analyzing suicide rates between 2011 and 2023, it was concluded that suicides in Turkey increase during youth and adulthood, are seen more in men than in women, and similarly, occur more among married people compared to singles, divorcees, and those who have lost their spouses; and that suicide rates are higher in socio-economically developed regions and cities. 

Again, as a result of a study covering the years 2002-2019, it was determined that 70.11% of those who died by suicide were men and 29.89% were women. Another piece of data concerns education levels. It is stated that suicide rates are gradually increasing among middle school, high school, and higher education graduates. Conversely, it was recorded as another piece of data that primary school graduates commit suicide the most (33.94%).  

As we mentioned above, the suicide rate of men compared to the female population is quite high. We can say that the same situation applies to other countries as well. Accordingly, in a study conducted in 34 countries, it was determined that 80.1% of those who died by suicide were men and 19.9% were women.  

What Dr. Tolga Köskün, a faculty member in the Department of Clinical Psychology, says at this point is important. According to Köskün, men experience serious difficulties in expressing the psychological problems they face and in seeking help. At the root of this lie societal masculine norms. These words belong to Köskün: "Society teaches men to be individuals who are strong, do not show their emotions, and keep control in every situation. This causes men to hide their vulnerabilities and suppress their mental health problems." 

Again according to Köskün, ailments such as depression, anxiety, and stress disorders experienced by men often go unnoticed. Subsequently, serious problems arise. "Men," says Köskün, "usually react in the form of anger, aggression, or withdrawal. Since these symptoms are not perceived as classic symptoms of depression, they are often overlooked." 

Sociologist Funda Şerbet approaches the subject as follows: "Society expects men to provide for the family, shoulder economic burdens, and be strong. Situations such as unemployment, economic crises, and bankruptcy lead to a sense of loss of identity and reputation in men. This is one of the most important factors fueling helplessness and hopelessness."

According to Şerbet, who served on the suicide cases commission in 2021, which was a joint effort by the Aydın Governorship, the Provincial Health Directorate, the Provincial Gendarmerie Command, and Aydın Adnan Menderes University, male suicide rates are higher in rural areas. The reason for this is that economic difficulties in agriculture, indebtedness, and social isolation make men more vulnerable. Again according to Şerbet, factors such as domestic conflicts, divorces, and substance abuse also increase the risk of suicide. 

In other words, a person does not commit suicide all of a sudden. Death is spread over time. When we look at their region, their homeland, their surroundings, we encounter pain in one way or another.

Pain..

Rilke, in a letter written very close to his death, asks: "But are we, after a certain level of pain, still ourselves..?"

Whether we are is certainly open to debate. Let this question remain in our minds; I want to continue with world statistics. Accordingly, approximately 740,000 people die by suicide worldwide every year. This tells us that a death occurs on average every 43 seconds.  According to similar data, four men and six women receive inpatient treatment for suicide attempts every minute in the world. As we mentioned above, male suicide rates are higher than women's, and similarly, men's suicide attempts result in death three times more often than women's.

The country with the highest suicide rate in the world is Lesotho. This country is located in Africa. We are talking about a very poor country with a population of nearly two and a half million. According to World Health Organization data, 87.5 out of every 100,000 people in the country take their own lives every year. According to the 2022 report of the World Population Review, 86 percent of women in Lesotho have been subjected to gender-based violence. The World Bank states that two out of every 5 young people are not working or receiving education. According to news reports in the press, the country has only one psychiatric unit, and it has not employed a psychiatrist since 2017. 

Lineo Raphoka, who organizes group therapy sessions in Lesotho, says, "They mostly experience situations such as rape, unemployment, and loss due to death. They use drugs and alcohol. They do not receive enough support from their families, friends, or any relationships they have." Ultimately, what one of the country's members of parliament, Mokhothu Makhalanyane, says is also very striking: "Mental health has become an epidemic." Lesotho also points to a single necessity: Pain..

It is always said that "the state of the world is not good." It is exactly like that. Famines, civil wars, direct attacks that emerge after imperialist plans or proxy wars, and of course, problems such as income inequality, poverty, and deprivation that capitalism creates at inhumane dimensions signal that we have entered an age of crisis. That is why the 21st century is called the "Goleman Age of Depression." In fact, the World Health Organization had long ago predicted that depression would occupy the first place among all diseases in 2020. 

We are in those years now.

We are trying to survive, to live by failing to hold on, with the epidemic, with scarcity, with loneliness, with deprivation, by being imprisoned in rooms, by being isolated, by being subjected to violence, by being unseen. Suicide is perhaps another name for exhaustion, for struggling, for being a voice unheard in the crowds. I think we need to see the result in order to face the facts. I wish we would focus on the causes, not the result.