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Anastasia Balezdrova

Increasingly, the criminal records of Greek news media report about suicides. In most cases, they are about people with financial difficulties who find themselves in a complete impasse and unable to stand up and deal with them, so they decide to end their lives.

According to the Ministry of Citizen Protection, the total number of suicides and suicide attempts in the period 2009 – 2011 was 1,727. The comparison with the data of the Statistical Service of Greece up to 2009 is dramatic, as before then only a gradual increase in the number of suicides was seen. In 2007, they were 328, in 2008 - 373, and they reached 391 in 2009. Most of those who took their own life were men aged 50-59 years and women aged 30-39 and 40-49 years. The majority of them were not married, divorced or widowed. Something else connected them: A very large percentage of them were unemployed, pensioners, students, housewives, i.e. economically inactive people.

A hotline "1018 suicide intervention" is operating in the non-governmental organization Klimaka. Its purpose is to prevent suicide through assistance from psychologists and psychiatrists. GRReporter talked to the psychiatrist Eleni Bekyari minutes after the end of her session with one of the many potential suicides, who seek help.

"Every day we meet with many people, who reach us mostly through the telephone line "1018 suicide intervention." We have about 20 calls every day and then psychiatrists and psychologists, depending on the case and the need, monitor many of the people who call."

Calls to the hotline of Klimaka are anonymous and confidential. Nobody asks people about their names. Usually, they themselves seek more help and contact professionals who answer the calls. Do they manage to prevent suicides?

"This is the purpose of operation of the line - intervention in emergency cases. Many people who call are in bad mental condition or suffer from melancholy. They think about suicide, but in a common, inexplicit way. We, however, have calls from people who are so close to suicide and so determined that they say, "I took the pills now" or "I am sitting on the balcony and will jump now" or "I am holding the knife in my hands." This is to show that calls are between the two extremes. We always strive to help. If the situation is very urgent, then it is very important to be able to deal quickly with some things, to gain some time and then, see how we can help this person."

We often hear the words "I feel like killing myself," but fortunately, very few of the people who say this really do it. Who are the people who take this step?

"Most people, about 75-80%, say they have suicidal thoughts, they want to take their own life. In many cases, this is due to the presence of an existing mental health problem, a state of stress or depression. Things like financial difficulties of accumulated debts, domestic and family problems, mourning, when they lose someone close, the end of any connection or loneliness further burden these people. Recently, they talk more often about issues related to the crisis. Often, these people have debts and they cannot pay them because their wages have been reduced or they are unemployed and unable to pay their duties. Unfortunately, we have been hearing such stories more often lately."

People seeking help on the four-digit phone number are of different ages, from teens to old men of advanced age. "So far, we have had no calls from children under the age of 12, but in contrast, there are teenagers who seek help. Their problems are related to their relations with others – in family and school environment. Very often, they are victims of harassment by their classmates or of domestic violence; children, whose parents do not care about them and others, who have set high goals, without being able to meet them. This is exemplified by entry examinations for universities. These are young people of unstable psyche who break down under the weight of a failure. This instability is the result of various factors that are related to their way of life so far, how their family environment supports them, how they have formed as individuals. In other cases, children say that they have homosexuality, which, generally speaking, makes difficult their communication with their peers and the acceptance of this fact by their family and peers."

Is the crisis actually the main reason for the increase in the number of suicides and suicide attempts in recent years?

"We cannot say that only the crisis has increased the number of suicides. It would be an extreme conclusion. This phenomenon is due to many factors, one being the mental health of people. The other factors relate to the environment in which we live, to the financial and social pressures to which we are subjected. Therefore, we cannot isolate the crisis as a factor and say that it is the only reason.

Our telephone line has been operational since 2007. Calls have increased fivefold since then. In 2011, they were twice as many as in 2010. This is explained by the increase in the problems in Greek society. Many people who call us have experienced a very deep social crisis. Another reason is that more people know about the existence of the line and they can seek help from us.

The Greek Statistical Service, with which we cooperate, has data of suicides up to 2009. To date, there is no official information about the following two years. Our assessment, based on the number of calls to the hotline is that there is an increase. Unfortunately, we have no accurate data."

Finally, I asked Eleni to send her message as a specialist.