He said: “As a country we cannot prevent suicide if there is no strategy or plan to curb it and, as such, we must come up with a national policy which would help build evidence for preventing suicide, which has currently become public mental health problem in Ghana.

“When we understand the dynamics of suicide as a people it would help the way we relate to suicidal persons.” Dr Osafo made the observation at the climax of a two-day workshop organised for Supreme and Appeal Court judges on Wednesday in Accra.

The workshop forms part of series of workshops organised by the Department of Psychology, University of Ghana, in collaboration with the Mental Health Advocacy Group and the Mental Health Authority.

He said the workshop seeks to, among other things, advocate for the decriminalization of mental health issues, address mental health issues, engage stakeholders to understand mental health, and address specific issues of mental health.

He said suicide was not a disease, an immorality, biological anomaly, nor a crime, but there was always an internal logic to suicide and had a history.    Dr Osafo, who is also a Clinical Psychologist and Suicidologist, said people who normally attempted suicide were always looking for a solution, were helpless, hopeless, wanted to communicate an intention, or escape and have a lifelong coping pattern.

He said currently there was no concrete statistics on suicide in Ghana however police records from 2006 to 2008 indicated that 287 people engaged in the act of suicide with 243 fatal outcomes, representing 84.7 per cent.

Dr Osarfo said media reports also indicated that suicide was gradually increasing in Ghana and among children between the ages of 13 to 19 years.  Some reasons why people commit suicide or attempt suicide include financial, emotional, existential, status crises, cultural oppression, academic problem, depression, hopelessness, parental abuse, family conflict, poor supervision and poor neighbourhood, he said.

He said suicidal behaviour was strongly proscribed in Ghana and attitudes continued to be negative towards the act and the suicide person adding that these attitudes include mockery, condemnation, silence, and stigmatisation. Dr Osafo said they believe that raising public awareness, holding stakeholder workshops, providing media guidelines and building collaboration would help reduce the stigma associated with the act.

He urged the judiciary to collaborate with health officers to address the law regarding suicide and work towards decriminalizing suicide since the law prevents people from reporting suicide crises earlier, saying suicide is a problem with its roots and solution found in the health sciences. He urged all to be aware of the fact that life would continually bring about problems and they need to build the capacity to stand them.

Dr Eugene Dordoye, the Director of Ankafo Hospital, said depression and anxiety were mood disorders which would form about 20 per cent of the reasons people would seek healthcare.   He said depression affected more women than men and also affected more than 300 million people of all ages adding that 15 out of every 100 people would suffer depression at one point in their lives.

 Dr Dordoye said some physical symptoms of depression include fatigue, loss or gain of appetite and weight, reduced libido or difficult arousal, delayed orgasm, headaches, muscle tension, palpitation and burning or tingling sensation.

Some emotion symptoms of depression include depressed mood, irritability, anxiety and nervousness, reduced concentration, lack of interest, inability to enjoy activities, indecisiveness, and hypersensitivity to rejection or criticisms.

He said depression could be genetic and could be managed through effective treatment and screening.