India's suicide rate up by 16%, Maharashtra tops list

If the National Crime Records Bureau's report on the number of suicides in the country is to be believed, during the decade (2004–2014), it has recorded an increase of 15.8% (1,31,666 in 2014 from 1,13,697 in 2004). The highest incidents of 16,307 suicides were reported in Maharashtra followed by 16,122 suicides in Tamil Nadu and 14,310 suicides in West Bengal accounting for 12.4%, 12.2% and 10.9% respectively of total suicides.

The NCRB report further mentions Mumbai and the other three metropolitan cities — Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi as the top mega cities to report higher number of suicides. Dr Harish Shetty, senior psychiatrist at LH Hiranandani Hospital, said that the "sense of helplessness and hopelessness has been on the rise in last few years".

"People are fed up. The cost of living is always rising. And then there is corruption which compounds the problem. Tolerance levels are plummeting; this can be dangerous," he said.

According to city psychiatrists, for a metropolitan city like Mumbai that has a fast-paced life, people need to be more cautious and vigilant for tell-tale signs in people as more number of Mumbaikars are now vulnerable to depression and suicide.

The doctors have been regularly pointing on the dipping tolerance level in Mumbaikars.

Dr Parul Tank, head of psychiatry department in Rajawadi Hospital, said, "Tolerance level is a manifestation of our emotional state. Like a healthy heart can take the strain of climbing stairs to an extent, healthy brain also can tolerate strain of any behaviour or situation to an extent. Person suffering from substance abuse like drugs or alcohol or person suffering from depression has poor tolerance level and we need to check why it is so." Doctors blame the dipping tolerance level to the metro city lifestyle.

Dr Sanjay Kumawat, senior psychiatrist, said, "A metro city like Mumbai has its own psycho-social status to make you worked up and stressed out. Hectic schedules, traffic congestions, commuting problems and rising cost of living have led to rising level of frustration and low tolerance level."

He further added that the trend of nuclear family in the city has further worsened the situation. "Family is the biggest stress buster. In tough times, you can always look toward family for support. That has disappeared. Also, with social networking sites and technology, human contact has become less. You don't know your neighbours these days. Many dry relationships have cropped in," added Dr Kumavat.

NCRB data showed 'Family Problems (other than marriage related issues)' was the major cause of suicide in cities which accounted for 24.9% (4,888 out of 19,597) of total suicides followed by 'illness'. Majority of victims of suicides were 'married' persons, forming 64.7% of total suicides in cities.