SUICIDE AND GENDER: CASE STUDIES OF SUICIDE AMONG FEMALES IN HUNZA VALLEY

Abstract

Suicide is an important social problem which is a common case of worries in all societies. Suicidal thoughts and attempts emerge, when the person is faced with a psychologically and physically destructive event and she/he cannot solve the problem. Suicide cases are increased in last five years in Hunza and day by day becoming the main issue of Gilgit Baltistan. There is a dire need of a standard system of record keeping of suicides in Gilgit-Baltistan and all over Pakistan so that, true figures can be recorded. This will assist in drafting policy and checking efficiency of suicide prevention programs. Under Pakistani law both suicide and conscious self-harm (DSH) are forbidden acts carrying a punishment of with a jail period and a weighty financial penalty. The current paper presents case studies of suicide among females in Hunza valley. Females’ youth in the main objective of this study was to explore the case studies of suicide among educated female in Hunza. The study reported in this research is descriptive in nature. The sample selected by the researcher was of 10 families of suicidal cases. Judgmental sampling technique used by the researcher .The data was gathered through interview schedule and analyzed in descriptive form. The results showed that Suicide and suicidal behavior is not frequent in married woman but increasing the rate of suicide in Hunza among young girls. . There are many socio-psychological problems, causing the suicide i.e. Failure in love, low self-esteem, unable to control situations and growing materialism are the major predictors of suicide. The study concludes that mostly behavior of the family and strict cultural back grounds are the prominent causes of suicide among young girls in Hunza. There are many resources which can be utilize to lower down tendencies of suicide i.e. parents, teachers, police, doctors and friends. Though, suicidal behavior remains an important clinical problem and major cause of death in youth. Advancing our understanding of underlying cultural and sociological issues in youth suicide will help clinicians too achieve more efficient prediction, prevention and treatment. This study might be helpful for the health institutions, educational institutions, religious institutions, teachers, policy makers, young leaders, social welfare organizations and other organizations as well. Studying the cases of female suicide might help to improve the understanding of individual suicide cases as well as providing an opportunity to search for possible preventive strategies.