‘More girls dial 104 post board exams’

One of the counsellors, attending the helpline, said that the spike in calls from students were evident after the announcement of board exam results. He said, “We have seen that girls tend to be more depressed than boys and Class 10 students are more vulnerable, as the results decide their choice of stream.” 

“We coordinate with Sneha Suicide Prevention Centre that has been working in the field for more than three decades. We take their expertise in handling the callers and refer chronic cases to them,” said Prabhudoss, Head of Marketing and Hospital Relations, 108 and 104 helplines. Prabhudoss added that the callers suffering from depression reported a number of factors —from work-related stress to a sense of homelessness among the elderly.  

“Ever since, we started the services, we have been receiving as many as 1,800 to 2,000 calls relating to mental health per month. Out of that, we have been able to prevent as many as 900 to 1000 cases of suicides or suicide ideations in the last three years,” he said. Interestingly, the helpline that receives calls from across the state, has been seeing an equal number of calls from the rural and urban areas. “We really cannot attribute it to one region or one profession or an age group. There have been senior officials who suffer from work-related stress. Even mental condition like bipolar disorder or schizophrenia could push someone  towards contemplating suicide,” he explained. 

Among the rare cases attended by 104 was a woman caller in her 20s, who recently delivered. She told the counsellor of the state-run helpline that she couldn’t feel the sense of warmth or affection for her new born. The psychologist, who handled this case, identified it as postpartum depression—that affected 10-15 per cent of the women soon after delivery due to hormonal changes. The woman was referred to a physician and in a follow-up action it was found that the caller was doing well and attending to her baby in a normal way. 

Prabhudoss said that like the young mother, depression was the commonest reason among callers, cutting across various age groups. According to studies, depression when left unattended could lead to suicide and due to hormonal factors, women were more prone to developing the condition. 

With a team of four counsellors— three clinical psychologists and one social psychologist, the services were offered round-the-clock. “To ensure that we are effectively handling them, we constantly do follow-up course and at times, the callers themselves keep in touch,” he added. 

Sneha helpline can be reached at: 044-2464 0050 for counselling.