CHANDIGARH/LUDHIANA: In a pioneering study about mental health of farmers in worstaffected districts of Punjab, Maharashtra and Telangana, a Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana, report points out that indebtedness — generally perceived as most common reason for suicides among farmers — was not the sole factor responsible for farmers’ suicides in these areas.
Stressing on the need to identify other key factors, which trigger distress and suicide among farmers, the report recommends psychological autopsy and mental intervention at early stages besides other measures to identify these factors, claiming these can reduce farmers’ suicides drastically.
PAU STUDY
‘Economic distress not the only reason for suicide in several cases’
The 400-page project report, ‘Addressing Farmers’ Distress Issue through Capacity Building of Farming Families’, surveyed 1,448 households and has identified drug addiction, diseases and ailments, disputes, depression, death and disrepute as major triggering factors responsible for farmer suicides. It points out that in the absence of psychological autopsy studies of farmer suicides, it is not possible to ascertain the exact reason leading to suicide and often only the debt aspect gets highlighted.
The report was recently submitted to the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Delhi.
In this project, taken up under the
National Agricultural Science Fund
(NASF) of ICAR, volunteers interacted with farmers and their families for over a period of two years and focused on the mental health of farmers who were facing hardship.
“Case–control psychological autopsy studies can be a touchstone and recognised method. There is an urgent need to take up psychological autopsy studies with objectives of exploring the socio-economic and psychological correlates of farmers’ suicide, as economic distress is not always and not the only reason for a farmer to commit suicide in several cases,” says Dr Harpreet Kaur, head department of psychology, Patiala University, who had been involved in the project.
Kaur and several other experts suggest that state governments must take immediate steps to introduce psychological autopsy in such cases. They suggest that a mandatory detailed psychiatric appraisal after each suicide attempt can be an important step in preventing future attempts by farmers.
“A comforting thing about suicides is that they are preventable and that’s why the issue of farmers’ suicides needs immediate attention,” says Prof Sarabjeet of PAU, who is the principal investigator of the project.
He emphasises the need to evolve a multipronged methodology, including financial, material and psychological support to reduce suicides by farmers.
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