Amazing Story begins with us!

Mr. Shige says his approach to stopping suicides is quite simple: when he finds a likely person, he walks up and gently begins a conversation. The person, usually a man, quickly breaks down in tears, happy to find someone to listen to his problems.

“They are just sitting there, alone, hoping someone will talk to them,” Mr. Shige said.

The whole story.... (Click Here!)

Talk to someone, there is something that we all can do! A great movement often starts from a single tiny move, it starts from you, you, and you!We can do something! An amazing story begins with us.

Suicide Rate

"Think globally, plan nationally, act locally" was this year's theme for suicide prevention. ~ Mr. Obermeyer (Source: United Nation Press Conference in Observance of World Suicide Prevention Day)Re: 1

Below is the graph plotted for the suicide rate reported in Asia by 2008. In fact, many people might find this unbelievable.




The plotted graph was based on the national reports that had been submitted to WHO for documentation, and we had picked the countries in Asia only. The graph gives us a few valuable information.

1. Not all countries submitted their records.
2. Not all countries have up-to-date data.
3. Some data can be manipulated for certain purpose. (Re: China, selected rural & urban areas)

If you see the bottom, you see an eye-catching red line marking 98/100,000 as average suicide rate, and that country was India (2008). We have another record of India (1998), which marked only 10.65/100,000 as average suicide rate. The India (2008) was taken from some news-report (Re: 2,3,4).

If the statement was true, then in ten years time, the suicide rate is 9X higher. Indeed it was a steep curve.

There were another data from the news about recent China, yet because of the controversy issues, I didn't put that in the data. You may refer to reference 2 and 3 to find your own perspective. 

We can't drill much in this column, but it is interesting to observe that the situation in Sri Lanka (1967-1985), Lithuania (1990-1995), Belarus *1990-2003), Latvia (1990-1995), Kazakhstan (1990-1995), Russian (1990-1995) would have similar surge. In fact, in 2002, the record of total suicide rate in India was only 10.5/100,000 people.

Below is another graph to present the top 30 suicide rate in the world where information were sent to WHO.

1. www.un.org/News/briefings/docs/2008/080910_WHO.doc.htm

2. http://www.google.com.hk/search?hl=zh-TW&q=World+Suicide+Prevention+Day+2008+India&meta=&aq=f&oq=

3. http://in.ygoy.com/2008/09/11/high-suicide-rate-in-india-and-china-claims-who/

4. http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide/wspd_2008_statement.pdf

韩国：超过日本的自杀大国 Korea: A suicide nation that had surpassed Japan

统计
韩国统计厅公布的报告显示，韩国每10万名死亡人口中，死于自杀的平均人数为26.1名。
As of the official statistic of South Korea, in every 100,000 that deceased, average number of the suiciders is 26.1.

韩国的自杀率已经超过了位居第二的匈牙利（22.8人）和第三位的日本（20.3人），居经济合作与发展组织（OECD）成员国首位。
The suicide rate in Korea had surpassed Hungary (22.8), Japan (20.3), became the champion among the members of OECD.

韩国的烧酒、威士忌等蒸馏酒和烈性酒的年消费量居全球第4位，仅次于俄罗斯、拉脱维亚和罗马尼亚。
The sales of spirit, wine, hard liquor is no.4 in the world, second to Russia, Latvia and Romania.


原因 Factors
韩国人产生各种心理问题主要同经济发展有关。调查显示，10％的韩国国民曾产生“自杀冲动”。产生自杀想法的原因，回答最多的是经济困难（48.2％），其后依次为家庭不和睦（15.4％）、寂寞孤独（12％）。
The root of the pyschological problems of the Koreans is believed to be related with the development of the economy. According to the survey, 10% of the nation had a thought of suicide. The reason for that thought, the most frequent answer to that is "financial difficulties" (48.2%). Second is "Deformed family relationship (15.4%), loneliness and isolation (12%).

演艺界人士主要因为竞争压力和社会舆论压力，深受抑郁症的煎熬。
The celebrirites basically suicide because of extreme stress in competitions annd forceful social comments , many are suffered along with depression.

韩国社会保健研究院研究员徐东宇说，经济长期萧条，沦为贫困阶层的人们陷入赌博、信用卡透支和家庭崩溃的困境，因而自杀率剧增。
徐东宇from the institute of Korean Society Research said, the prolonged economic depression, had caused many of those who fell into poverty, trapped in gambling, overuse of credit cards, collapse of family. Therefor, we see an increase in the suicide rate.


一些上班族认为，压力大，甚至患上抑郁症的原因是“与上司的矛盾”，紧随其后的是“自己能力有限所带来的精神压力”及“有可能被炒鱿鱼”等。
Some white-collar workers believed that, overstress, and the source of depression begins with "the conflict with supervisor/boss". What follows is the stress of feeling disablity in performance, as well as fear of being fired from the job.

Re: 2007-3-2 14:06:39 环球时报 http://www.21jk.com/p/WJGY/articlecontent.asp?channelId=52&columnName=%D7%D4%C9%B1%CF%E0%B9%D8%B8%C5%C0%C0&topicName=%B9%FA%C4%DA%CD%E2%D3%EB%D7%D4%C9%B1%D3%D0%B9%D8%B5%C4%BB%E1%D2%E9%D0%C5%CF%A2&articleId=46411)

Post: Original in Chinese, translation by Rose.