NIMHANS marks World Suicide Prevention Day; highlights impact of N-SPRITE, USHAS suicide prevention projects

BENGALURU: NIMHANS marked World Suicide Prevention Day and the first anniversary of its NIMHANS Suicide Prevention, Research, Implementation Training and Engagement Centre (N-SPRITE) on Wednesday. They shared that Karnataka has a high suicide rate of 20.2 per cent, compared to the national average of 12.4 per cent, recording 13,606 suicides in 2022, with Bengaluru ranking third among Indias megacities in the number of suicides. One of N-SPRITEs key projects, Urban Self-Harm Study (USHAS), has been running in 16 public hospitals across 11 districts of Karnataka since 2022. The project has helped reduce the rate of repeated self-harm to 1.19 per cent and deaths to 0.2 per cent. NIMHANS Director Dr Pratima Murthy highlighted that more than 10 per cent of people who attempt self-harm could die by suicide if they do not get support. Under USHAS, self-harm registries are maintained in hospital emergency departments to record details of people who attempt self-harm or suicide. So far, 20,861 people have been included in the registries, and 16,264 of them, about 78 per cent, have received interventions. The project also has a youth-focused component called Youth Mental Health and Self-Harm Study aimed at preventing suicide among young people. It provides screening, brief interventions, and follow-up support to help reduce future self-harm or suicide attempts.