We need to overcome denial on all of our addictive behaviours, says religious leader

Sep 07, 2014 News

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It was only during the past week that the World Health Organisation (WHO) released a Global Report on Suicide Prevention which suggests that Guyana has the highest estimated suicide rate for 2012 globally.
This disclosure has triggered concern in many sectors of society.
Lending his voice to the suicide discussion is Pandit Suresh Sugrim of the New Jersey Arya Samaj Humanitarian Mission. In responding to the question ‘Why Do People Commit Suicide?’, he listed a number reasons that could lend to this daunting development.
“Pain, Loneliness, Rejection, Abuse, Deep sadness, Guilt, Depression, Helplessness,” are among the factors he outlined that can contribute to suicide. But more than anything he is convinced that people who commit suicide are overwhelmed by a feeling of hopeless.
“They are hurting so badly and want the pain to end, but they can’t imagine it ever going away. They can’t see the light at the end of a very dark, lonely tunnel.”

According to Pandit Sugrim, who has been working to combat the societal challenge through his organization, when a person’s thoughts get so negative, about their circumstances or even about themselves, they oftentimes can’t find a reason to live. They are therefore reduced to thinking that their problems are unsolvable and they feel completely out of control.
Moreover, he intimated his belief that “first and foremost, hopelessness is a serious spiritual problem rooted in lies and incorrect logic. Anytime you believe lies about yourself, you’re listening to the wrong voices.”
And the challenge of suicide becomes even worse when complemented by stigma.
Pandit Sugrim is convinced that there is “the stigma of Suicide within us…”
“We can heal from our injuries and our suffering. If we have a healthy environment, healthy behaviours, healthy relationships, we will recover. We need to identify our histories of trauma, abuse, neglect, grief, and loss.”
Moreover, Pandit Sugrim has amplified the need to overcome the denial that addictive behaviours do exist. We need to provide ourselves with good health care. We need a safe place where we can be who we are, and be welcome. We need quiet, respectful attention as we tell our stories in as much detail and as many times as we need to.”
Even as he pointed to the fact that “social stigma and prejudice are our enemies” he shared his conviction that “every human being is taught from childhood that suicidal people are shameful, sinful, weak, selfish, and manipulative—taught that we are contagious, and that we want to harm others. None of these ideas are true.”
He underscored too that no scientific study has ever confirmed that a significant proportion of suicidal people have these qualities. He went on to note that children believe what they are taught, even as he highlighted that “each person we seek help from has been conditioned to respond with fear, contempt, and aversion. Worse yet, when we became suicidal, we applied these ideas to ourselves.”
The Pandit also added that “Much of the content of depressive rumination — I’m no good, I’m stupid, I’m a failure, I’m weak, I don’t have enough will power, — is simply the reflexive response of internalized stigma. Stigma causes us to inflict pain upon ourselves and deters us from seeking help. It causes those around us to shun us, to be afraid to talk with us, to abuse us.”
He highlighted his conviction, too, that thousands of years of social oppression are an enemy, even as he noted that “our allies include millions of years of biological programming. We are born with the desire to stay alive. It is the most basic thing about us; we share it with all living beings.”
“At each moment, millions of events take place inside our bodies and inside our minds that are designed to help us stay alive.” He noted that until the present, at least, “the forces that are life-preserving have been stronger than the forces that are life-destroying”. He said that while many people are able to endure bleak periods during which “inner voices cry out ‘kill yourself. Your life is nothing but pain and misery. You might as well end it all’. Yet we did not die. The desire for life is pre-conscious, pre-verbal. It keeps us going even when the voices tell us to die”.
“We must be, at bottom, fundamentally healthy or we would not have stayed alive this long. Like all living creatures, we can heal from our injuries and our suffering. If we have a healthy environment, healthy behaviors, healthy relationships, we will recover. We need to identify our histories of trauma, abuse, neglect, grief, and loss. We need to overcome denial on all of our addictive behaviours. We need to provide ourselves with good health care. We need a safe place where we can be who we are, and be welcome. We need quiet, respectful attention as we tell our stories in as much detail and as many times as we need to.
“If we get these things we will not just stay alive, but we will have good lives. Lives that are free of the curse of depression and suicidal ideation – lives that are productive and creative; lives that are filled with friendship and love.”

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