Suicide: Ghana Psychological Association urges Ghanaians to support 10Ps Campaign

Ghana Psychological Association (GPA) and partners have urged Ghanaians to support the GPA’s 10Ps Campaign which aims at preventing suicide.

The campaign seeks to assure and encourage at least 10 Persons in distress to seek help.

Mrs Joy Anima Debrah, National Public Relations Officer of GPA, in a statement copied to the Ghana News Agency to commemorate World Suicide Prevention Day (WSPD), said the Day, which fell on the 10th September of every year created an opportunity for raising critical awareness on the reality of suicides and the attendant devastations

It said the theme for this year’s WSPD: “Working together to prevent suicide” was a clarion call for the prevention of suicide through collective efforts.

"Seen usually as an individual problem, suicide has wider consequences for the whole family, friends and colleagues, employers and employees, communities and the country in general.

"Suicide occurs at the intersection of biology, psychology, psychiatry, cultural, existential crisis, and a host of factors,” the statement said.

According to the statement, "It is best conceived as a multi-causal problem that requires multiple expertise and multi-sectoral approaches for addressing it."

The statement said for each suicide, more than 20 people attempt suicides, adding that the single most important risk factor for suicide across the general population was a previous suicide attempt.

It said recent research evidence showed that in Ghana, one in 10 adults in rural communities thought about taking their own lives and similarly, nearly three in 10 junior high school students in Ghana reported attempting suicide in the past 12 months, while two out of 10 senior high school students reported attempting suicide during the past 12 months.

It said among school-going hearing impaired adolescents, one in 10 students reported attempting suicide in the past 12 months; whereas across second cycle schools, about two in 10 students reported intentional self-injury or self-poisoning in their lifetime.