In Costa Rica, during 2015, 138 young people under 35 years old, decided to commit suicide.
This number is alarming and frightens the authorities, because Costa Rican population is full of life and young people have many dreams and goals.
Doctor Alberto Morales, director of the Adolescent Clinic of the National Children’s Hospital (HNN) states that
that quantity reveals a lack of attention to young people and many disorders are not treated on time. As a result, the problem explodes among people aged 20 years old and 35 years old.
Data and statistics from the Judiciary show that 37 out of the 138 people were teenagers under 19 years. Among the latter there were seven young people who were under 15 years old.
Many of them were probably dealing with depression and it wasn’t treated. In addition, other aspects such as unemployment and lack of education could have a great influence on them. There are many conditions that threaten people and could have a huge impact on them and we are not paying enough attention,
declared Morales.
Bullying, emotional and eating disorders, as well as domestic violence are some of the problems that are affecting people who decide to commit suicide. During 2015, 328 people committed suicide. 84% were men, while only 15% were women.
It is important to mention the 1408 suicide attempts recorded last year. 80% of them were women.
As consequence, Allan Ramola, director of the Department of Mental Health from the Ministry of Health, expressed that in October a national strategy will be presented to face this problem.