Sociocultural Discourses of Suicide in Sri Lanka: An Overview of Literature

Abstract

Suicide and self-harm are some sort of the critical public health concerns in Sri Lanka. In the global context, Sri Lanka still reports a very high rate of deaths by suicide despite and its declining trends during the last few decades. Meanwhile, studies had described different sociocultural factors that trigger suicidal behaviours. Thus, synthesizing previous works on sociocultural factors of suicide will be vital in forming preventive strategies. This paper, therefore, aims to answer what are the sociocultural factors triggering suicide and how they could be connected with historical and structural social dynamics in Sri Lanka. The study used content analysis to analyze 84 peer-reviewed articles selected via Google Scholar using appropriate search terms. The study finds that masculinity and feminine properties of Sri Lankan culture are essential factors in describing suicidal behaviour. Socio-political and structural changes that occurred in the post-independent era also been contributed to increasing suicide. Further, literature widely recognized issues around love, sex, and romance as critical risk factors that trigger suicide and self-harm among young people. Moreover, men’s alcoholism and domestic violence are crucial aspects of suicide in Sri Lankan society. The review concludes that suicidal behaviour has been established in the social context as a form of problem-solving or a method of escaping from the distress caused by issues related to everyday social life rather than mental problems. Thus, preventive measures must address these socio-cultural dynamics, while addressing the essential mental health problems that contribute to suicide in Sri Lanka.