Study of Suicide Using Sociological Perspective

The sociological view and perspective will provide a way through which humanity can be defined in different forms. Sociologists try to study the nature of human societies and thereby explain the interaction of decisions taken, the behaviours of the individuals, and the external aviaries of the society (Condorelli, 2016).

It might thereby happen that there could be either rational decisions taken or no rational decisions taken in the case of incidents such as suicides. As Durkheim views, suicide is not just an individual action taken but it is caused due to power which is over and above the individual (Grima, Seychell, & Bezzina, 2017). Also, there could be certain negative acts taking place in the surrounding environment of the victim that will force him or her to commit suicide. It is thereby important to understand the incident of suicide from the sociological perspective, which will provide an additional layer for the understanding. In addition, it will also define the pathological state through which a given individual will be passing through and will be encouraged to commit suicide.

It is important to understand the different types of relationships between the individual and the society in a given environment wherein the role of different variables will be different. Based on that, there are different types of suicides found such as - egoistic suicide, altruistic suicide, anomic suicide, and fatalistic suicide (Hagamanc et al., 2018).

Now, in the case of an egoistic suicide, it will make an individual isolate from society and will make them feel that they are not worthy for it. They will thereby have the ideas of committing suicide so that they can completely disconnect from the given social world. Such individuals are lacking in altruistic feelings and thereby try to cut off from mainstream society.

On the other hand, in the case of altruistic suicide, it will be taking place when the individuals and the given society will be too close with each other (Katrnák & Tyrychtrová, 2016). It will result in social integration of the individual but when feelings will be hurt in such cases, there will be no other option left for the individual but to commit suicide.

In the case of anomic suicide, it is found that there will be disturbances observed in social equilibrium, due to which an individual will not be able to bear the pressure from the external environment. For example, if an individual turns bankrupt or even after winning a lottery will not be able to have control over their life variables (Kral, 2016). It will thereby psychologically affect them suddenly and will result in suicide.

Fatalistic suicide takes place due to overregulation in society. For example, when a woman will be committing suicide, it might be due to cases such as domestic violence, rape incidents, or similar other social crimes taking place in a given society (Kral, 2016). It is thereby more important to understand the stress levels of the individuals that they are facing in each of these types of suicides. In addition, it will be even observed that there will be certain personal or biological factors responsible in different cases that will allow these individuals to commit suicide. Researchers are thereby trying to understand on the level of interaction between the internal and external situations (Kral, 2016).

They will be focusing on the social factors and social relationships that a given individual is impacted with and will thereby try to understand the cause of suicide. Suicide is an act of intentionally causing one's own death and there could be different reasons identified for committing such an act (Lachal et al., 2015). These include - depression, personality disorders, schizophrenia, substance abuse, anxiety disorders, and bipolar disorder. There could also be external risk factors such as financial difficulties, bullying, breakups, or even problems at a social level (Lachal et al., 2015). It will thereby become more important for the individuals to overcome the impact of such factors and they will be able to get the desired support.

As per one of the statistical reports, it is found that in a given year around 12 per 100,000 people are committing suicide (Lachal et al., 2015). Further, the rates of suicides are more in the case of men compared to women. Also, suicides are more found among the individuals whose age is around 70 years or more (Lau et al., 2017).

The views on suicide will keep on varying based on the type of incidents taking place and based on the level of interaction between an individual and society. As mentioned earlier, there could be also psychosocial factors responsible for committing suicide.

The factors related to this category include - depression, loss of pleasure in life, poor coping skills, anxiousness, rigid thinking, and agitation. Such individuals will not be able to solve their problems in life, will have poor ability to perform, will have poor impulse control in their life, and will not have the required skills to improve on their interaction levels in a given environment (Lau et al., 2017).

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Thus, social researchers have commented that due to high levels of neuroticism and introvertedness, these individuals will be committing suicide. It is thereby more important for the healthcare experts and other psychological professionals to focus on the stress factor and thereby determine the causes first (Lau et al., 2017); they should accordingly then treat such patients that will allow them to reduce the probability of committing suicide in given cases. Besides, it will even increase the confidence levels of these individuals and they will put in effort to improve on their overall life. It will be important to improve more on social isolation and support through which the risk of suicides can be decreased (Lau et al., 2017). Furthermore, there is a need to address financial concerns as well. It will thereby allow the healthcare organizations and government regulatory agencies to manage the risk factors, provide recommendations and other support to these people and thereby reduce the rate of suicides in a given environment (Ozanne-Smith & Li, 2018).

It will be equally important for the healthcare experts to reduce substance abuse so that individuals will stop consumption of such drugs that could directly impact on their lives. It will otherwise create an acute intoxication among them. Trauma is another important factor identified in such cases that could disturb both families and children (Ozanne-Smith & Li, 2018). In these cases, it is observed from the sociological perspective that there could be bullying or prejudice issues faced by the victims and hence it will be difficult for them to recover from it (Ozanne-Smith & Li, 2018). There are also cases of childhood sexual abuse and due to which these children are not able to overcome the faced incident.

Sexual abuse is found to be contributing to more than 20% of such cases. It will thereby impact in early stages of life (Ozanne-Smith & Li, 2018). Further, it is found that gambling is another major issue due to which the risk of attempting suicide has increased a lot. As per the research reports, low levels of brain-derived neurotropic are also responsible for committing suicide.

The victims will be found to be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and even schizophrenia. It is thereby more important for the social researchers and healthcare experts to look out for the options on suicide prevention. Despite such high rates, they need to look out for the treatments through which suicidal behaviour among the individuals can be controlled and modified and thus the risk of committing suicide can be decreased (Ozanne-Smith & Li, 2018). Also, it will be important for the healthcare experts to carry out screening process of these individuals that are suffering from such issues. They can thereby deploy self-treatment methods and make sure that the overall confidence levels will increase and they will be able to recover from their present situation (Press, 2018).

Researchers, however, have claimed that obstructed belongingness and perceived burdensomeness are the two major interpersonal constructs found in the suicidal desire that will motivate the individuals to commit suicide. Based on this concept, individuals will feel that they are either alone in society or they are burdensome for society (Press, 2018). They will not have any further desires to live in the current society and will thereby engage them in such fatal behaviours. It is more important to understand the intent to die in such situations.

There are also other factors found related to committing suicide. These include - family conflict, social isolation, unemployment, and physical illness. Hence, it will be more important for the people to manage their ongoing problems and when they fail to, they will be committing suicide. Family conflict will include - familial discord, stress among the family members, and also domestic violence (Press, 2018). On the other hand, mental disorders will include - social phobia, bipolar disorder, PTSD, and anxiety disorder etc. (Press, 2018). The individuals will have control over their impulses and instead, they will be constantly at conflicts with the external social environment.

Conversely, social researchers have found that individuals facing healthcare problems such as hypertension, arthritis, and diabetes would even get motivated to commit suicide. They want to overcome their pain and contrary will not be in a position to handle such issues (Stack, 2018).

Thus, the risk will increase and ultimately will result in committing suicide. Social isolation is another important factor identified wherein due to suicidal ideation, lack of support, loneliness, living in non-intact families, losing a spouse, and also residing in a prison cell will encourage suicide (Stack, 2018). It is thereby more important for the researchers to overcome this issue through implementation of different mental and physical treatments. In addition, they need to identify the warning signs, through which they will be focusing more on the aspects of suicidal behaviour (Stack, 2018).

The role of the government, regulatory agencies, and healthcare organizations are vital as they need to address this issue from different perspectives. They even need to identify the best solution that can be implemented in a given environment. Furthermore, it will be crucial for the individuals that are victims of such incidents, social interactions, and suffering from mental healthcare issues to undergo the suggested treatment and thereby manage on the key challenges identified in this case scenario (Stack, 2018).

The role of the medical experts will be to first inspect on the case of such individuals and thereby motivate them to overcome from such thoughts. They need to provide them with support and resources through which the current major problem of these individuals can be solved. Moreover, it will be important to engage into physical exercise routines and also perform meditation; it will thereby allow them to overcome the negative sentiments and instead will motivate the individuals to start their interactions with the external social environment. They need to inform about the ways through which they will be able to re-focus on their daily work routines and that will guide them to manage their daily work activities (Thimmaiah et al., 2016). Their senses need to be activated that will allow to imagine themselves in a safe and calming space. In addition, they need to focus more on relaxation techniques and thereby overcome the stress; only then they will be able to manage their present suicidal thoughts in a given environment.

This essay explains the view of suicide from a sociological perspective. It reflects on the key mental illnesses, devastating life circumstances, and problems like unemployment, substance abuse, and even family history due to which these individuals are found to be committing suicide (Ward, 2018). It is thereby more important for the government, social researchers, and medical experts to examine such people, their behaviours, and also their approach toward life. They thereby need to make attempts to reduce the impact of such factors that could motivate them to commit suicide. This essay has thereby identified such factors and in addition, the role of the social researchers should be more focused on improving behaviour, interactions, and overall communication of these individuals. Their burdens should be reduced and at the same time, their loneliness should be overcome that will further prevent them from committing suicide in a given societal environment.

Bibliography and Reference List

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