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Special Portuguese Spanish    

Year 10 - N° 488 - October 23, 2016

LUIZ CARLOS FORMIGA & LÍVIA B. FORMIGA 
formigalcd@hotmail.com
Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brasil)

 

Translation
Eleni Frangatos - eleni.moreira@uol.com.br

 
 

Luiz Carlos Formiga e
Lívia B. Formiga

There is always a tomorrow

In 1994 the "Suicide Prevention Program Yellow Ribbon" was born. Fifty point nine percent of the patients were suffering from mental disorder and made use of illegal substances. At that time, most of the therapeutic communities were maintained by religious groups. Today, there is a greater number of research and academic discussions on the interconnection of religious, spiritual and mental health.

Religious entities are important resources of the community helping out in drug treatments. If a religious community is important in giving a drug addict some hope, then it can also help in the Yellow Septembers. To work on this matter can be very important to public health, if we take into consideration the social assistance purpose of religions (1).

Suicidal behavior is an expression that covers several phenomena connected to suicide, according to its manifestations. This term is used to describe the thoughts and actions that indicate suicidal ideation, its risk, the planning, the suicide attempt and suicide, itself.

Suicide is a public health problem, epidemiologically relevant and complex, for which there is no single cause or a single reason. It results from a mixed interaction of biological, genetic, psychological, social, cultural, environmental and spiritual factors. Thus, it is difficult to explain why some people when suffering from crucial pain end up by committing suicide, whilst others in the same situation don’t.

Sabrina L. da Silva and Egle R. Kohlrausch are the authors of “Pre-hospital care to the individual with suicidal behavior: an integrative review" (2).

The purpose of this study was to identify the procedures of the nursing staff. The authors arrived to the conclusion that it is very important that the nursing staff, administrators and society itself focus on this subject in order to improve not only the care but to also better understand the desire of death. Suicidal ideation is expressed by thoughts of death that lead to the risk of life, even though the fatal action may not take place.

A study shows that the idea of suicide was more frequent among adult women, from 30 to 44 years of age; also in those living alone; among Spiritists; and in those with a higher income. Planning occurs when the person mentally organizes strategies on how to take its life.

When Spiritists become aware that there is hope because the Spirit is immortal, then there is an uncomfortable and apparent contradiction when we see Spiritists mentioned as one of the preponderant groups regarding ideation, plan and suicide attempt (3).

However, in a country with such a territorial extension, we believe that we should not generalize this result, since it was obtained in a survey based on the population of Campinas, a city in the state of Sao Paulo (4).

Nevertheless, the discomfort will not diminish, even if we consider that among this group of Spiritist patients - followers of Allan Kardec - other spiritualists were included too. It is fully known that suicide is the result of a complex interplay of factors, where one can see the influence of social and cultural rights too, and this reminds us of the supporters of the so called “twin towers”, who pressured by prejudice, have difficulty in integrating themselves into society in general (5).

According to the report of the World Health Organization, 10 to 20 million people worldwide attempt suicide. Brazil is among the ten countries with the highest absolute number of suicides.

The causes identified for suicide involve social factors such as the inability for people to integrate into society, while the struggle between two instinctive drives occurs: the life drive and the death drive, resulting in suicidal behavior, representing the final conflict between the desire to live and the desire to die.

The word suicide has the meaning of the action that leads a person to voluntary death. Suicide represents the tentative to solve a problem that is causing an intense suffering, associated with unmet needs, feelings of hopelessness and helplessness, conflict between survival and unbearable stress, narrowing of alternatives and search for escape, showing signs of distress. Thus, suicidal behavior represents a period of crisis, featured by destabilization, disruption, disturbance, conflicts and disorder, and it is considered a psychiatric emergency.

In the work of Silva & Kohlrausch, 32 nursing interventions – regarding the care of a person with suicidal behavior – are mentioned. Prevention measures, listening, guidance to the family and home visits have the purpose of providing full attention to the user.

Patients treated in an emergency should receive clinical care, but also special attention regarding their psychiatric problem, aiming at a careful action to suicidal behavior. In this sense, it is most important that the patient be referred to the health team, as well as family and social support provided, this considering that previous attempts of suicide are an indicator that it will be accomplished.

Listening is as important as the physical examination of the patient, and this means being committed, interested and linked to the person, with all its complexity and changes. Thus, one must go for qualified listening and communication. It is necessary not only to listen to the patient, but also listen to the family, which needs to be looked at, heard, accepted and well guided, so that it can become a support for those that tried to commit suicide.

The attitude of understanding, and of no-judgment with those, who suffer from some psychological distress, gives place to a relationship of safeness and trust between the nurse - patient - family, qualifying the service, and adding value to care.

We must emphasize that suicidal behavior goes through an intention scale, from ideation, planning, until it reaches suicide itself. There are signs of this behavior that can be observed and action at the right moment can prevent death.

In the 1990s, many studies showed that suicide was increasing. In addition, other studies show a frequent association between suicide and mental illness, especially depression, alcoholism, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and also impulsive and aggressive personality traits. Based on this, the view of the World Health Organization changed and it started to encourage countries to develop preventive measures. The latest WHO report, 2014, points out that 83% of the countries have succeeded in reducing these numbers. There is a minority of 17%, where suicide continues to increase. Brazil is among these countries and we find Spiritists among those who made the choice of suicide.

The differences in these countries are based on the preventive measures that have been encouraged, especially the training of health professionals and other professionals, who are on the front line, such as teachers and religious ministers.

A basic rule is to take someone seriously when he talks about suicide, and also whenever a young person starts talking more about death and accesses death sites.

Nery Jose Botega, a psychiatrist and professor at Unicamp, defends the importance of awareness about suicide and says that everyone can be involved in prevention. He warns, however, that we are not inclined to look, observe, interpret and act regarding the suicide risk signals (6)

With the good results of the treatment, the person will become aware that there is always a tomorrow, that it can fight, and wait, because a beautiful day will come. There is always a tomorrow, for those who live in suffering, so it is worthwhile waiting. And when that day arrives, the person will see that what happened was not in vain. Then, when illness is left behind, it can finally say: I am happy! (7)

When we are aware, we give importance to the warning signs, so the population must be made aware. If more aware, it starts to understand that the problem exists and that it can happen to someone near. We need to develop our ability to realize that a person is at risk and mainly be willing to listen to her with no-judgement. To pour a series of moral or religious rules does not help. Indeed, the person needs to feel that it is being heard and understood.
Isolated people fail to call, to make an appointment and to go to a health service. You will need to drive the person there and accompany her to a professional, who can help her.

Jesus left marks and signs.

In the 1960s, the psychiatrist I. Stevenson studied in India cases of children, who referred with accuracy to events, places and people, who lived in an alleged previous life. Thirty years after numerous studies, in 1990, a Professor at the University of Virginia found that signs are important to think of reincarnation hypothesis, as 35% of the children, who said to remember to have lived before, showed signs, spots or birth defects where they had received fatal injuries in the past life.

Stevenson, I. - Reincarnation and Biology: a contribution to the etiology of birthmarks and birth defects. Volume I – Birthmarks, and Volume II - Birth Defects and other anomalies. Westport: Praeger. 1997 (8) 

There are times when we need hope and support, as it happened in Emmaus, with Christ's followers. Then they told how Jesus appeared to them after the crucifixion; how He accompanied them and how they recognized Him when he broke the bread. (Luke 24: 13)

Livia, the poetess, and the song There is always a tomorrow, by Tito (7.9), tell us about that hope that came through the monitoring of Jesus. 

Winter...
Long, cold nights,
withheld feelings.
Inside me I look for answers.

The stillness, the silence...
Intuition, and awareness,
the digesting of the experiences.
I learned, rebuilt myself.
I keep in me strength and the wisdom of the bear
that hibernates to resurface in the spring.

The morning comes and the sun shines now.
Light follows darkness.
Love grew in the quietness of the heart
day and night become equal.
Leaves appear in empty branches.
From the dry ground multicolored buds bloom.
Fragrances inebriate the air...
It is time to again start, rise, grow...

Recognize the spiritual nature of the being...
Like the wolf, explore new routes, new ideas.
Eliminate weaknesses and negative thoughts...
Back to the tribe and teach the moonlight.

Be generous like spring.
Be free, find the truth of life.
Seek new horizons, new attitudes,
new interests, new life
Be happy...
 

 

References:

(1)

http://orebate-jorgehessen.blogspot.com.br/2015/09/espiritismo-suicidio-e-usuarios-de.html

http://paespirita.blogspot.com.br/2015/09/espiritismo-suicidio-e-usuarios-de.html

https://issuu.com/merchita/docs/espiritismo_suicidio_y_usuarios_de_?e=8707178/30380106

http://orebate-jorgehessen.blogspot.com.br/2016/07/foi-incrivel.html

http://paespirita.blogspot.com.br/2016/07/foi-incrivel.html

https://issuu.com/merchita/docs/fue_increible_dr_luiz_carlos_formig

(2)

http://pepsic.bvsalud.org/pdf/smad/v12n2/pt_07.pdf

(3)

http://pepsic.bvsalud.org/pdf/smad/v12n2/pt_07.pdf

(4)

Botega NJ, Marin-Leon L, Oliveira HB Barros MBA, Silva VF, Dagalarrondo P. Prevalence of suicidal ideation, plan and Attempted Suicide: A population-based survey in Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil. Cad. Public Health. 2009; 25 (12): 2632-8.

(5)

http://www.aeradoespirito.net/ArtigosLCF/TOR_GEM_AFRO-BR_PREC-EST-MID_E_ORD_JUR_LCF.html

(6) goo.gl/AawifN

(7) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65hr6R2L4ZI

(8) goo.gl/8uuNyd

(9) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65hr6R2L4ZI


Lívia B. Formiga is
Physician in Rio de Janeiro.



 


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