Patna: The Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences gets five to six cases of patients suffering from suicidal tendencies every week.

According to doctors of the hospital, while in some cases, the patient confides in the doctor that he/she gets a random thought of committing suicide and doctors suggest that these patients won't do so but they require psychological help along with the support of family, on the other hand some patients admit that they might commit suicide because they can't handle stress in their life arising from different factors.

Experts put forth the views on suicidal tendencies at a workshop on suicide risk assessment and stress management organised by the psychiatry department of the hospital. The head of the psychiatry department of the hospital, Dr Rajesh Kumar, spoke on the rising suicidal tendencies among people, with a focus on medicos.

"We get patients with different grades of suicidal tendency. While there are patients who get occasional ideas of committing suicide, they also pinpoint that they won't do it, we also get cases in which patients say that these days he/she gets the thought of committing suicide very often and he/she is fearful of committing the act," said Dr Rajesh.

In the third kind of cases, the patients tell us that he/she was sure about committing suicide and the fourth case are those patients who are saved somehow even after their suicide attempt," added the doctor.

So how can one identify a person with suicidal tendency? "The person may remain aloof, not try to socialise, may look sad and depressed, his/her performance at workplace would also come down drastically. Sometimes these people may say that life is not worth living. A person thinking of suicide would give many behavioural indicators like they are not able to remain happy and focused, they start using drugs to cope with stress," added Rajesh.

The best way to help people with suicidal tendencies is to listen to their problems empathetically, suggested experts.