The ‘Werther effect’ in juvenile suicide in Guyana

Jun 08, 2014 APNU Column, Features / Columnists

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The high incidence of suicide in Guyana reflects “a chronic state of unhappiness and poor mental health” that requires urgent action, said Dr. Bernadette Theodore-Gandi, PAHO-WHO Resident Representative, over twelve years ago. She urged Guyanese to avoid denying that suicide was a “major health problem.” The problem was ignored then and has worsened now. The World Health Organisation – WHO – reported that Guyana’s suicide rate is among the highest in the Caribbean.
The landmark study – The Shadow of Death: A Recent Study of Suicides in Guyana, Incidence, Causes and Solutions – belatedly aroused the government’s interest in this previously neglected sector of public health. The Study conducted by Dr Kenrick ‘Ken’ Danns of the Centre for Economic and Social Research (CESRA) reported that the majority of persons committing suicide were young males below the age of 35 years. They were likely to be poorly-educated, employed in low-income occupations, residing in the same community all their lives and to be less likely to have children. A ‘suicide cluster’ was identified in Black Bush Polder, a community of the East Berbice-Corentyne Region (No.6). 52 per cent of all Guyanese suicides occur in that Region.
The concentration of deaths by suicide in limited geographical areas and among limited demographic clusters in Guyana’s countryside suggests the element of emulation or ‘copycat suicides’ known as the ‘Werther effect.’ This theory had its origins in Johan Wolfgang von Goethe’s novel Die Leiden des jungen Werthers (The Sorrows of Young Werther), published in 1774. Werther, as related in that novel, shot himself after an ill-fated love affair. Many reports were made of young men using the same method to commit suicide shortly after the book was published.
The term ‘Werther effect’ was coined by researcher David Phillips in 1974 to designate copycat suicides. The ‘Werther effect’ not only predicts an increase in suicide but suggests that the majority of those suicides would occur in the same or a similar setting as the one publicised. A well-known suicide, therefore, could serve as a model, in the absence of protective factors, for the next suicide. This is referred to as ‘suicide contagion’ and seems to have occurred in some measure in Guyana.
The research of Michael Fallahay, a collaborator with the Mibicuri Community Developers (MCD) in Black Bush Polder, East Berbice-Corentyne, in September 2012 seemed to reinforce the explanatory relevance of the ‘Werther effect.’ Fallahay conducted a house-to-house community survey in Mibicuri and published a report titled “Suicide in Black Bush Polder”. He suggested that persons of East Indian descent in Guyana, especially in farming areas, were more likely to attempt suicide.  Eighty-one per
cent of suicides were by Indian-Guyanese who comprise 44 per cent of the country’s population.
Annual suicide rates have been consistently highest in the East Berbice-Corentyne Region (50 suicide deaths per 100,000 persons). This was followed by the Pomeroon-Supenaam Region (36 deaths), the Essequibo Islands-West-Demerara Region (24 deaths), the Mahaica-Berbice Region (22 deaths) and the Demerara-Mahaica Region (20 deaths).
Suicide came to be recognised as a serious public health issue in Guyana only within the last decade. Suicide is ranked seventh of the ten major causes of death in Guyana. The suicide rate is approximately 20-25 per 100,000 population, and it has been consistent for years. Data indicated that suicide became the leading cause of death among young people age 15-24 and the third leading cause of death among persons age 25-44.
Dr Leslie Ramsammy, a former Minister of Health, reported in September 2010, that more than 5,000 persons had lost their lives to suicide in the previous 25 years.  There were 946 reported suicide deaths in Guyana during 2003-2007. Available statistics indicated that 201 suicides were recorded in 2003; 186 in 2004; 171 in 2005; 202 in 2006; and 186 in 2007.
The PPPC administration’s response to the ‘suicide contagion’ has been ineffective. It promulgated a National Suicide Prevention Strategy, but this, apparently, seems to have been abandoned. The next step was to establish a National Committee for the Prevention of Suicidal Behaviour (NCPSC) and, subsequently, a National Committee for Suicide Prevention – NCSP – under the chairmanship of the Minister of Home Affairs.
The NCSP’s objectives were laudable. These were to: reduce premature deaths due to suicide; lower the rate of suicidal behaviour; decrease the harmful aftermath and stigma associated with suicidal behaviour and the traumatic effect of suicide on family and friends and promote awareness that suicide is preventable, and train more persons in recognising mental health problems.
The administration’s strategies and structures, however, have all failed to curb the incidence of suicide. These expedients apart, the administration has been largely complacent about the ‘contagion’ of juvenile suicide which seems to be plaguing Guyana.

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