Exploring Contributing Factors of Suicide and Suicidal Behaviours to Map Research Gaps in Suicidology in Northeastern India: A Narrative Review

Abstract

Suicide has turned into a public mental health issue globally. India’s gradually increasing rate of suicide and contribution to the largest number of youth suicides has drawn the attention of government and policymakers with the recent introduction of the National Suicide Prevention Strategy. The suicide rate in some of the Northeastern states of India is extraordinarily high, but research in the field is still in the preliminary stage, with very little accessible published work. With this backdrop, the present review article attempts to synthesise factors contributing to suicide and suicidal behaviours among persons belonging to Northeastern India to understand the research gap and the need for further studies. In the findings, the review article shares that the vulnerability of suicide is higher for youth, students, daily labourers and unemployed persons. Suicide is observed to be associated with a wide range of socio-cultural factors in Northeastern Indian states. However, significant population, methodological, and empirical gaps have also been observed, which has caused a paucity of knowledge. In the end, the authors discussed the need to study vulnerable groups exclusively and employ qualitative methodologies more often to bridge the empirical gaps.