suicides in happy countries

i'm testing browsers. this is done in explorer - but i don't want to use explorer.

i wonder if anyone has read about these news on suicides in thailand & bhutan:

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Study: 8% of youths think of suicide

By: BangkokPost.com

Published: 30/06/2009 at 01:58 PM

A study by the Department of Mental Health has revealed that eight per cent of Thai youths think about committing suicide.

Health Department deputy director-general Sophon Mekthon said on Tuesday the study involved 3,000 students from grade seven to nine nationwide.

"The main causes are family problems, such as the parents' lack of attention, and violence in schools," Dr Sophon said.

Yuwadee Nimsomboon, chair of the Senate's standing committee on social development and children, women, the elderly, disabled and underprivileged, said the government was busy focusing on economic issues and its social policy was only secondary.

Youth problems had accumulated and become a crisis, she said.

"If all sides do not solve these problems quickly, the future of Thai youth could be destroyed by drugs and other vice," she said.

bkk post, jun30, 2009 @

http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/147484/eight-per-cent-of-youths-think-of-suicide

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Concern over Bhutan suicide rate

The authorities in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan say that they are increasingly worried about a recent spate of suicides.

Last week alone there were three suicides of two girls and a man.

The country's main newspaper, Kuensel, says that in January there were 15 suicides and seven in February.

Correspondents say the figures are shock for a country that puts "Gross National Happiness" (GNH) at the heart of government policy.

Mental illness

"People tend to commit suicide when they lack the social skills to cope with stress," psychiatrist DK Nirola told Kuensel.

He said that old age, unemployment and depression are the most common causes of suicide which is far higher among males than females.

However excessive alcohol consumption, money worries and mental illness are also thought to be significant factors.

Under Bhutanese law, committing suicide or attempting to commit suicide is not punishable. However, abetting a suicide is regarded as a crime.

Police provide counselling to those who have attempted suicide and they or their family are asked to give an undertaking, in writing, that it will not happen again.

Keunsel found that the problem is particularly acute in rural areas.

"In some villages, committing suicide has almost become a norm," it says.

Official figures show that the highest number of suicides was in 2001, when 58 people killed themselves. The lowest number was in 2006, when 34 people committed suicide. Bhutan's population is 682,000 people.

The figures have concerned the government - which is expanding a counselling service in schools to help teenagers who feel depressed.

Correspondents say that the figures are surprising, especially when the country's two main religions - Hinduism and Buddhism - believe that a person who commits suicide will not be reborn as human being.

The figures are also something of a setback for the policy of successive governments to promote Gross National Happiness.

"It means there has to be a better balance between the spiritual and the material," Karma Tsheetem, the secretary of the Gross National Happiness Commission told the BBC's Chris Morris last year.

"Whatever choices we make from now on - whether it's to do with urbanisation or globalisation or the type of economy we develop - we will make sure it is in harmony with our tradition, our culture and the environment."

bbc, jul01, 2009 @

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8128227.stm

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