Seeing live how a young man throws himself into the void to take his own life not only brought shock and sorrow to the citizens who for hours closely followed the case that occurred in Puerto Santa Ana this Tuesday, but also concern when thinking about how many friends, relatives and relatives will be going through a depression without it being noticeable.
Hamilton Flor, lieutenant of the Psychologists Division of the Guayaquil Fire Department, was one of the professionals who went up to the department of the 30-year-old Venezuelan. He was there for almost three hours and said that the man did not have lucid and sane answers.
“He talked a lot about the word of God and the end result was not giving him full support. The intervention was complicated because it was not possible to establish what the citizen wanted”.
He had been reading the Bible since dawn and called his daughter to say goodbye. These were the last hours of the man who jumped into the void in Puerto Santa Ana
In the end, after four hours of tension, “he didn’t even threaten us anymore,” said Major Jorge Montanero, from the Fire Department. It was 09:56, the man entered for a few seconds, while the policemen were already descending to grab him, but he noticed the rescue attempt and jumped into the void.
The psychologist Flor explained that upon arrival, the man was already at the window with two sharp weapons to prevent them from approaching him. He added that apparently the foreigner did not have a psychiatric history, but he was probably under the influence of some substance.
He said that under the premise of not having a non-psychological psychiatric history there could have been a trigger that occurred at that time or ingesting some substance.
The professional indicated that the foreigner was unstable.
The citizen spoke with his family in Venezuela. Flor said that there are situations in which contact is allowed for family members to try to convince suicides to allow themselves to be helped, but this is not always the case. Suicides sometimes call their relatives to watch them kill themselves.
In this case, said the psychologist, the presence of public order, a siren or the curious who were in the street affected the foreigner, since he was very unstable and finally jumped into the void when he realized that he was going to be rescued by the officers coming down from the terrace.
The last few years have been especially hard because the pandemic has brought with it deaths, job losses, divorces, migration, school dropouts and a slow recovery in some patients who were on the verge of death.
Since March 12, 2020, there have been 633 suicides nationwide and 1,304 suicide attempts. Most of the cases have occurred in Guayas. In this province, 112 people have taken their own lives since the start of the pandemic and at least 194 have tried, according to figures uploaded by the entity to its website.
A foreigner died after jumping from a building in Puerto Santa Ana, in Guayaquil
Health authorities acknowledge that suicide alerts largely reflect the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on people’s mental state.
According to figures from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), “in the region of the Americas, around 100,000 premature deaths from suicide are recorded each year. The suicide is the second leading cause of death among 15-29 year olds worldwide. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
Mario Twitchell is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his insightful and thought-provoking writing on a wide range of topics including general and opinion. He currently works as a writer at 247 news agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
