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. 2020 May 28;290:113145. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113145

Aggregated COVID-19 suicide incidences in India: Fear of COVID-19 infection is the prominent causative factor

Deena Dimple Dsouza a, Shalini Quadros a, Zainab Juzer Hyderabadwala a, Mohammed A Mamun b,c,⁎
PMCID: PMC7832713  PMID: 32544650

Abstract

Many Indian COVID-19 suicide cases are turning the press-media attention and flooding in the social media platforms although, no particular studies assessed the COVID-19 suicide causative factors to a large extent. Therefore, the present study presents 69 COVID-19 suicide cases (aged 19 to 65 years; 63 cases were males). The suicide causalities are included as follows – fear of COVID-19 infection (n=21), followed by financial crisis (n=19), loneliness, social boycott and pressure to be quarantine, COVID-19 positive, COVID-19 work-related stress, unable to come back home due to lockdown, unavailability of alcohol etc. Considering the extreme psychological impacts related to COVID-19, there emerges a need for countrywide extensive tele-mental health care services.

Keywords: COVID-19 suicide, COVID-19 fear, COVID-19 stress, Psychological impact & pandemic, Press media reporting suicide, Indian suicides

1. Introduction

The Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has ignited many debates and has undoubtedly shaken up the core foundations of the health-care system worldwide (Pakpour and Griffiths, 2020; Usman et al., 2020). Currently, massive transmission rates are observed with the absence of specific treatment (Mamun and Griffiths, 2020). At present, public health measures such as isolation, social distancing, and quarantine are being implemented throughout the world to combat COVID-19 (Bodrud-Doza et al., 2020). The entire world is arguably under lockdown, which disrupts the normal lifestyle. Studies have found that lockdown, isolation and quarantine elevate psychological symptoms such as depression, anxiety, phobia, trauma, etc. (Brooks et al., 2020; Hawryluck et al., 2004; Sakib et al., 2020; Shammi et al., 2020). Besides, there is economic fallout and occupational deprivation due to lockdown existing everywhere, which also mediates individuals to have been suffered from psychiatric issues like depression, anxiety, stress, etc. (Rafi et al., 2019; Mamun and Ullah, 2020). Besides, India, being the second largest populated country in the world with limited mental health care professionals and knowing that professional mental health care may not reach every individual; the psychological distress caused due to COVID-19 may go unnoticed. Consequently, psychological state along with employment and economic status, and lifestyle of individuals are substantially affected in the Indian population. These psychological issues are likely to have accounted for 90% of the suicide causalities (Mamun and Griffiths, 2020b, Mamun and Griffiths, 2020c). In the sense of pandemic aftermath, suicide rate dramatically increases as of elevating psychological comorbidities; for instance, higher suicide rates are reported among the elderly in Hong Kong during and aftermath the SARS epidemic in 2003 (Cheung et al., 2008).

Concerning the COVID-19 outbreak (since late January 2020 in India), the first Indian suicide case (occurred on February 12) is stated due to fear of being infected with COVID-19 (Goyal et al., 2020), followed by two more cases (Sahoo et al., 2020). Similarly, COVID-19 suicide occurrences were reported as of fear of infection, economic crisis and social boycott in Bangladesh and Pakistan, the most neighboring countries of India (Bhuiyan et al., 2020; Griffiths and Mamun, 2020; Mamun and Griffiths, 2020; Mamun & Ullah, 2020). However, many of the suicide cases in India are turning the attention of the press and are being flooded in the social media platforms although, no particular studies assessed the COVID-19 suicide causative factors to a large extent that are indisputably the essential components for ensuring the public mental health wellbeing during the crisis. Hence, the present study aims to summarize the causative factors for suicide in times of COVID-19, as reported in the Indian national newspapers.

2. Methods

The present study followed to utilize the press media reported suicide cases like the previous retrospective suicide studies conducted in developing South Asian countries (e.g., India, Armstrong et al., 2019; Bangladesh, Mamun and Griffiths, 2020; Mamun et al., 2020a, Mamun et al., 2020b; Pakistan, Mamun & Ullah, 2020). We used a purposive sampling method in selecting the seven popular English Indian online newspapers from March to May 24, 2020. Duplicates identified of same news in multiple reports and suicide reports unrelated to COVID-19 were excluded from the study.

3. Results

A total number of 72 suicide cases from 69 newspaper reports met the inclusion criteria for the study. Most of the suicide cases were males (n=63), and the age of the individuals ranged from 19 to 65 years. The most common causative factors reported were fear of COVID-19 infection (n=21), followed by financial crisis (n=19), loneliness, social boycott and pressure to be quarantine, COVID-19 positive, COVID-19 work-related stress, unable to come back home after lockdown was imposed, unavailability of alcohol etc. (Table 1 ).

Table 1.

Distribution of the Indian COVID-19 suicide cases.

Cases Suicide date Victims' city/state Gender Age Reported suicide reason Reporting newspaper
1. March 22 Meerut Male 30 Fear of COVID-19 infection The Statesman
2. March 23 Uttar Pradesh Male 32 Fear of COVID-19 infection Times of India
3. March 23 Uttar Pradesh Male NR Fear of COVID-19 infection Deccan Herald
4. March 23 Uttar Pradesh Male NR Fear of COVID-19 infection Deccan Herald
5. March 25 Karnataka Male 56 Fear of COVID-19 infection Hindustan Times
6. March 29 Karnataka Male 56 Fear of COVID-19 infection Hindustan Times
7. April 1 Telangana Female 20 Fear of COVID-19 infection Hindustan Times
8. April 2 Uttar Pradesh Male 38 Fear of COVID-19 infection Times of India
9. April 3 Karnataka Male 40 Fear of COVID-19 infection Deccan Herald
10. April 4 Amritsar Male 65 Fear of COVID-19 infection Hindustan Times
11. April 4 Amritsar Female NR Fear of COVID-19 infection Hindustan Times
12. April 6 Uttar Pradesh Male 35 Fear of COVID-19 infection The Statesman
13. April 6 Punjab Female 65 Fear of COVID-19 infection Hindustan Times
14. April 8 Uttarakhand Male 56 Fear of COVID-19 infection The Telegraph
15. April 11 Maharashtra Male NR Fear of COVID-19 infection Deccan Herald
16. April 29 Haryana Male 30 Fear of COVID-19 infection Hindustan Times
17. May 02 Telangana Male 60 Fear of COVID-19 infection Hindustan Times
18. May 13 Jammu & Kashmir Male 50 Fear of COVID-19 infection The Telegraph
19. May 15 Maharashtra Male 24 Fear of COVID-19 infection Hindustan Times
20. May 20 Bihar Male 35 Fear of COVID-19 infection Deccan Herald
21. May 01 Haryana Male 54 Probable fear of COVID-19 infection as of his wife tested positive Hindustan Times
22. March 19 Kerala Male 47 Financial crisis The Hindu
23. April 17 Haryana Male NR Financial crisis Hindustan Times
24. April 28 Uttar Pradesh Male 45 Financial crisis Hindustan Times
25. May 04 Bihar Male 35 Financial crisis Deccan Herald
26. May 04 Bihar Female NR Financial crisis Deccan Herald
27. May 08 Gujarat Male 38 Financial crisis Indian Express
28. May 11 Punjab Male 38 Financial crisis Hindustan Times
29. May 15 Chandigarh Male 35 Financial crisis Hindustan Times
30. May 15 Chandigarh Male 25 Financial crisis Hindustan Times
31. May 15 Gujarat Male 45 Financial crisis Deccan Herald
32. May 22 Karnataka Male 51 Financial crisis Hindustan Times
33. May 22 Uttar Pradesh Male 38 Financial crisis Hindustan Times
34. May 18 Haryana Male 54 Financial crisis Hindustan Times
35. May 18 Maharashtra Male 32 Financial crisis The Statesman
36. May 23 Uttar Pradesh Male 19 Financial crisis Times of India
37. March 30 Chhattisgarh Male 35 Loneliness as of wife deaths in last year and sons’ separate living; and alcohol addiction Deccan Herald
38. April 9 Uttar Pradesh Male 32 Feelings of missing wife Hindustan Times
39. April 17 Uttar Pradesh Female 22 Being unable to go to her parents' home due to lockdown Deccan Herald
40. April 24 Madya Pradesh Male 30 Did not wish to be kept in isolation and wanted to be with his children Deccan Herald
41. May 06 Maharashtra Male 22 Feelings of loneliness Indian Express
42. May 13 Maharashtra Male NR Missing family due to lockdown Hindustan Times
43. May 22 Karnataka Male 40 Fear of being quarantined Deccan Herald
44. April 17 Uttarakhand Male 24 Social boycott and pressured to be quarantined Telegraph
45. April 9 Odisha Male 29 Social boycott and pressured to be quarantined Hindustan Times
46. April 14 Noida Male 32 A financially distressed Muslim man mistakenly alleged to be supporter of Tablighi Jamaat was socially boycotted and intercepted, also his beard notching videos were uploaded in Tiktok Hindustan Times
47. April 24 Gujarat Male 30 Social boycott and pressured to be quarantined by villagers Hindustan Times
48. May 19 Uttarakhand Female 24 Got divorced after 15 days of marriage in April 2019, then searched for job before coming back to home, where she was pressured to be quarantined Hindustan Times
49. April 5 Arunachal Pradesh Female 38 COVID-19 related work stress being disaster management officer Hindustan Times
50. April 20 Haryana Male 38 COVID-19 related work stress being police officer Hindustan Times
51. April 29 Delhi Male 55 COVID-19 related work stress being medical college lab technician Hindustan Times
52. May 16 West Bengal Male NR COVID-19 related stress Deccan Herald
53. April 11 NR Male 30 COVID-19 positive Hindustan Times
54. April 15 Mumbai Female 29 COVID-19 positive Hindustan Times
55. April 16 Mumbai Male NR COVID-19 positive Hindustan Times
56. April 27 Karnataka Male 50 COVID-19 positive Hindustan Times
57. May 01 Uttar Pradesh Male NR COVID-19 positive Hindustan Times
58. May 10 Maharashtra Male 60 COVID-19 positive Hindustan Times
59. May 13 Delhi Male 31 COVID-19 positive Hindustan Times
60. May 12 Uttarakhand Male 45 (Migrant worker) unable to return home due to lockdown and probable financial crisis Hindustan Times
61. May 12 Uttarakhand Male 32 Unable to return home due to lockdown Hindustan Times
62. May 13 Haryana Male NR (Migrant worker) unable to return home due to lockdown and financial crisis Hindustan Times
63. March 27 Kerala Male NR Unavailability of alcohol Hindustan Times
64. April 02 Karnataka Male 42 Unavailability of alcohol Deccan Herald
65. April 5 Uttar Pradesh Male 19 At quarantine center reasons not reported Hindustan Times
66. May 18 Chhattisgarh Male 26 At quarantine center reasons not reported Hindustan Times
67. May 11 Rajasthan Male 30 Out of free will as reported in suicide note Hindustan Times
68. April 15 Maharashtra Male 35 Lockdown extension made the priest terribly depressed Hindustan Times
69. May 11 Punjab Male NR Depressed due to postponement exams Hindustan Times
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NR – Not reported

4. Discussion

Public health measures such as isolation, social distancing, and quarantine as there are no available effective treatments or vaccines to combat COVID-19 are being suggested throughout the world. The term 'isolation' is associated with the restriction of the infected cases, whereas 'quarantine' refers to the restriction of social movement in large scales such as group, or community level (Hawryluck et al., 2004). The quarantine time may be extremely burdensome to some individuals, as reported in 15% of the SARS quarantined persons in Toronto, did not feel the need of quarantine (Hawryluck et al., 2004). Besides, individuals escaping from the quarantine can be conflictive because quarantine is mandatory to slow down the virus transmission rate. On the other hand, quarantine time without meaningful and purposeful occupations may lead to life-threatening circumstances in the suspected cases (Hawryluck et al., 2004). Moreover, such a dilemma can impact people emotionally and psychologically, resulting in higher rates of loneliness, fear, anxiety, depression, stress, boredom, etc. (Brooks et al., 2020). Besides, the fear of infection, the psychological distress due to pandemic also arbitrates by the stressors such as frustration, inadequate information, and financial loss (Brooks et al., 2020; Hossain et al., 2020; Sakib et al., 2020; Pakpour et al., 2020). Consequently, the unstable mental health conditions may easily lead the individual to suicidality that is more prominent among individuals with preexisting mental illness due to unable to cope with the stressful situation (Mamun and Griffiths, 2020). Besides, a significant proportion of the population in the country reside in rural areas with a lack of literacy and elevated mental health stigma in India (Venkatesh et al., 2015). The persons with a lack of knowledge on COVID-19 and higher mental health stigma might be prone to psychological distress and, in extreme cases – suicide completion.

The analysis of the present 69 Indian suicide cases shows various causes for suicide during the COVID-19 outbreak. Of these causal factors, fear or anticipation of COVID-19 infection was the most prominent suicide causality, although most of the victims were later diagnosed with COVID-19 negative in the autopsy (as being reported in the press media). This presents a significant concern to the community and health-care professionals because most of the COVID- 19 suspected cases who had committed suicide is due to fear of infection (even though before the test result announcements – in many of the cases). Non-representative studies report that misinformation is a trigger for suicide completion among the suspected cases as well as among the non-suspected cases. For example, two suicide cases reported in India because of direct contact with a positive case and meeting with a foreign couple, respectively, despite not infected literally (Sahoo et al., 2020). A similar incident in Bangladesh reported a COVID-19 suicide case, who tested negative for the infection in the autopsy but had a fear of infection (Mamun and Griffiths, 2020).

As the country was under lockdown, the restricted movement may have resulted in psychological distress and loneliness, leading to suicide. Nonetheless, the lack of access to addictive substances like alcohol and drugs led to extreme psychological distress, compelling individuals with addiction to carry out self-harm activities in the Indian context (Mamun and Griffiths, 2019). Besides, other lockdown stressors such as economic crisis and recession, unemployment, poverty, etc. may be highly associated with psychological distress and suicidal behaviors (Bhuiyan et al. 2020; Mamun & Ullah, 2020; Rafi et al., 2019). Thus, the factors such as stress of losing job, feelings of hopelessness or helplessness, inability to provide support to the family, etc. are not unusual in simplifying the way of having persistent suicidality and committing suicides and were reported in the COVID-19 suicide context (Bhuiyan et al., 20202; ; Mamun & Ullah, 2020).

5. Limitations

The study was based on a newspaper reports (and only eight newspapers were included); and was extracted with the secondary data that could not be verified; this may not represent the extensive nationwide incidence; some information may be missing in the press reports as all of the suicides are not reported due to existing social and cultural norms and values (i.e., suicide is stigma) in south Asian counties – are the arguable limitations of the present study (Mamun and Griffiths, 2020d, Venkatesh et al., 2015).

6. Conclusions

Considering the COVID-19 related extreme psychological impact on individuals, there emerges a need for extensive mental health services. This can be bested through services like Tele-mental health care, where the mental health professionals are required to play an essential role in facilitating psychological and emotional well–being, enhancing problem-solving and health-promoting behaviors in service users (Mamun and Griffiths, 2020; Sahoo et al., 2020). Additionally, appropriate and authentic information regarding COVID-19 and (mental) health-care seeking opportunities is necessary to increase the knowledge of COVID-19 in the public. Furthermore, social media platforms, news media such as televisions, news portals, etc. can take measures to promote positive mental health in combating further COVID-19 suicides.

Role of the funding source

None.

Financial disclosure

The authors involved in this correspondence do not have any relationships with other people or organizations that could inappropriately influence (bias) the findings.

Data share statement

Data will be available on request.

Author agreement

There is no conflict in submitting the final version.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors of the paper do not have any conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments

None.

Footnotes

Supplementary material associated with this article can be found, in the online version, at doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113145.

Appendix. Supplementary materials

mmc1.xml (196B, xml)

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