The suicide of the 23-year-old Arjun Bhardwaj who jumped off a hotel room in Bandra highlighted the need for parents and peers to identify signs of depression and sound an alert, said doctors.
According to experts, Bharadwaj, who recorded a video minutes before jumping off the 19th floor of the hotel, had shown enough signs of risk. His claim that he was addicted to drugs and was fascinated about death in the video were clear signs that something was churning within him.
Dr. Shubhangi Parkar, head of psychiatry department, KEM Hospital., said, “He was definitely struggling from inside and that was visible through his curiosity about death and his addiction to drugs. Very often, a suicidal person starts talking about death, reads more obituaries and tries to get others into discussing the philosophy of death. This is a red alert.” Dr. Parkar said, “Timely intervention and counselling can help these people who definitely have an underlying mental condition.” Dr. Parkar saidthe case of the 23-year-old did not look like one with encapsulated depression, “but there was a mental condition that was unfortunately never addressed.”
Obvious signals
Psychiatrist Dr. Amit Desai, who practices at Jaslok Hospital, said people who plan to take the drastic step often start showing signs like mood swings, difficulty in socialising or over socialising. He said they start winding up things and write letters of gratitude to people around them. “At times, many suddenly express the wish of writing a will. All these signs can be considered as indications of something being wrong with the person and the family and friends should alert each other in such cases,” said Dr. Desai.
He added that in thiscase, Bhardwaj had been planning on taking the drastic step for quite some time and was firm on his stand. “Suicidal people are initially in a quandary. But when they decide to take the extreme step, they put out signs which people around them need to catch in time.”
