Suicide in Syria:

Introduction:
News of suicides in Syria has become common and recurring, unfortunately. The news says, “A 19-year-old girl committed suicide in Haas camp, Hattan village, rural Idlib, by consuming a gas pill.” That’s the end of the news. With it, ended the life of a young woman who should have contributed to the nation’s glory and pride, become a positive member forming a family, pursued academic achievements, and embarked on beneficial life projects, serving as a cornerstone in politically, socially, and religiously fortifying the nation.

Causes and Motivations:
Suicide is the act of intentionally killing oneself, often a tragic response to life’s distressing situations. Its reasons and motivations include:

• Mental illnesses like depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or multiple personality disorder, leading to despair, entrapment, isolation, and helplessness.
• Addiction to drugs, alcohol, or narcotics affecting mood, rational thinking, and impulse control.
• Environmental and social factors like poverty, unemployment, violence, persecution, isolation, or belonging to a marginalized or bullied minority.
• Genetic factors, increasing susceptibility to mental illness or suicide, especially with a family history.
• Traumatic or painful events like divorce, death, separation, betrayal, serious illness, or HIV infection.

Main Reasons for Suicide in Syria:
Depression, poverty, security and political situations, violence, persecution, torture, and arrests by the Syrian regime, foreign forces, and armed militias are direct and significant causes. Some psychologists affirm that the dire economic situation is the primary cause in most northern Syrian suicide cases, alongside emotional reasons, marital disputes, and adolescent academic difficulties.

The Issue of Suicide in Syria:
There are no reliable official statistics on suicide rates in Syria before and after the 2011 revolution. However, some reports and studies indicate a significant increase in this phenomenon with the exacerbation of the country’s political, economic, and humanitarian crises.

• Pre-revolution, the rate was low, at 0.4 per 100,000 in 2009, according to the World Health Organization.
• Post-revolution, the rate rose significantly to 3.5 per 100,000 in 2015, as per a study by Arab researchers at the University of California.
• Save the Children warned in 2020 of a sharp increase in suicide attempts or suicides among children in northwest Syria, with one in five recorded cases committed by teenagers. The charity reported an 86% increase in suicide-related deaths in the last three months of 2020 compared to the first three months of 2019, as published by “Middle East Eye.”
• According to official statistics from Assad’s regime, 124 suicides were recorded in 2019, and 116 in the first eight months of 2020, indicating a fivefold increase since 2011.
  Suicide is clearly a serious health and social problem threatening many Syrians’ lives, necessitating urgent and effective intervention by humanitarian, health, and psychological organizations, and an end to war, violence, injustice, corruption, siege, and sanctions destroying the country and depriving people of their rights and dignity.

Prevention and Treatment:
Suicide prevention involves alleviating pressures and problems leading to suicidal thoughts and behaviors, including:

• Psychological, behavioral, cognitive, group, or family therapy, improving mood and overcoming depression, anxiety, obsessions, traumas, conflicts, and learning to handle negative feelings and thoughts, and adapting to difficult circumstances.
• Medicinal, chemical, hormonal, neural, or genetic treatments, modifying brain and body balances, and alleviating symptoms related to suicide, like bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or genetic disorders.
• Alternative, complementary, natural, spiritual, or religious therapies, enhancing mental, physical, spiritual, and religious health, reducing stress, anxiety, depression, pain, and improving sleep, nutrition, immunity, satisfaction, happiness, peace, confidence, and hope. This includes meditation, prayer, fasting, reading, and sometimes music, art, sports, and positive thinking.
• Social, emotional, family, or community support, offering assistance, advice, guidance, and encouragement to those with suicidal thoughts and behaviors.
  These are some methods to address suicide, but they are not the only or sufficient ones. There’s also a need for reform in environment, society, politics, economy, culture, education, media, law, ethics, art, science, technology, history, geography, nature, humanity, and life to serve the common good and protect individuals and groups from suicide.

Conclusion and Recommendation:
There is no doubt that our current Syrian reality is extremely dire, and the issue of suicide is important for those concerned with social and national issues.
As part of the Syrian Future Movement, given our civil perspective, we are interested in addressing these issues that concern our people and our community. Therefore, we are exploring the subject of suicide to work on solving and reducing it. We extend our hand to all those with expertise and interest in solving this issue through our offices inside the country. We also offer these recommendations to readers:

1. Emphasize the importance of psychological support, and the necessity of spreading the culture of psychological treatment as a medical treatment.
2. Implement economic projects to try to combat poverty, considering that many cases of suicide have an economic nature.
3. Stress the importance of a political solution as it is the root of economic, social, and psychological problems, and strive to implement a political solution according to the resolutions of the United Nations and the implementation of Resolution 2254.
4. Direct society and discuss the dangers of the spread of the phenomenon of suicide in Syria through schools, mosques, and temples, and hold regular courses and specialized lectures, especially for youth, to present the problem and plant the seeds of treatment in their minds before they burn in the fire of ignorance and become victims of themselves and society.

Finally, we extend a helping hand and coordinate with any component, group, or individuals who have projects that need support and mobilization in this aspect, through: ‘And whoever saves one life, it is as if he saved all of mankind.’

Sources and References:

• The United Nations announces the number of civilian casualties in Syria since 2011 | DW Arabic News | 28.06.2022
• The first since 2014… The United Nations issues a count of documented war deaths in Syria | DW Arabic News | 24.09.2021
• [Various sources on the topic of suicide, its causes, and prevention]

Eman Al-Mohammed
Researcher in the Department of Research and Studies
Family Office
Syrian Future Movement.