From all accounts, all newly convicted prisoners irrespective of crime or status, are thoroughly searched before they are turned in to their cells. In some countries, they are compelled to go under the shower with supervision. The rooms are also laid bare and swept clean. The major reason is to prevent them from concealing weapons – you would be surprised what could become lethal weapons for the desperate. So, these measures are more to save the convicts from harming themselves than from harming others. Studies have shown that many newly convicted people are at their most emotionally vulnerable and therefore, most suicidal, at the start of a prison term. Many reasons have been adduced; loss of freedom, loss of control, severance of emotional connections to haunts and habits including relationships. But the starkest of reasons when guilt is established, sentence has been pronounced and the lonely walk to the cell is over, is the overwhelming feeling of rejection by the society, of being a letdown to loved ones, and the attendant low sense of worth it brings. Only the mentally tough – and they are few at this point – will not have suicidal thoughts. Hence the need to keep them away from anything which might be construed as a weapon. Unfortunately, the process of striping them is humiliating and only adds to their low self-worth.

These thoughts which had been fleeting in and out of my consciousness in recent times because of the economic situation in the country, came to the fore when I went to a neighbourhood supermarket last week to buy some household stuffs including disinfectants and pesticides. Starring at me in rich array, were several cans of sniper. It was my first time of noticing them. I was filled with curiosity. I picked one up with the intention of reading the instructions. Instead, I found myself glancing furtively around to see if anyone was watching me and wondering if I had suicidal thoughts. Sniper might have many uses, but the kind of use that has unfortunately gained prominence, especially on our shores, is suicide. I am sure it is not the intention of the manufacturers. But it is what it is and no effort has been made to my knowledge, to change the mindset of people. For this reason, I believe it should no longer be made easily available. If a razor which is found in most homes, or even a knife can be banned from prison premises virtually all over the world; if any liquid container however innocuous looking is banned from all commercial airplanes, then known sources of suicide should not be bought off the counter.

There are many people who are in a dark place right now and struggling with low self-worth bordering on depression. The reasons are varied; it could be work or lack of it; it could be love or lack of it; it could be children or lack of them; it could be someone getting into your life or someone getting out of it; it could be the perceived emptiness of wealth and the real emptiness of poverty; it could even be fame or lack of it. There is no telling what constitutes the high of a person’s life or predicting when it would happen. The same thing with the lows of life. Those who have spent their professional lives making people laugh have been found to be incredibly sad. Famous athletes and entertainers who thrive in crowds have been found to be very lonely – talk about being lonely in a crowd. Couples who are seen to be lovey-dovey and spiritual by fellow church parishioners have been discovered to be in loveless relationships. Barbara Walters, the first female face on TV who was widely regarded as the queen of the tube, once said to those who aspired to be like her that ‘they would have to take the whole package’. That package for her and for many, contains the good, the bad, and the ugly because no one has it all. Many great people have their own skeletons in the cupboard, thorns in the flesh that buffet them. Many succumb. Most don’t. An example of one who succumbed was a Publisher of one of the most powerful newspapers in America. He routinely wined and dined with the Presidents of his time and was an important addition to societal events. It was after he shot himself in his country home that many interpreted his mood swings which they had earlier thought to be arrogance, as traits of depression.

The number of those suffering from mental health issues bordering on depression is alarming. But happily, many of them do not eventually take to the gun, or the rope, or to poison. There are well known stories of at least two very popular Nigerian pastors who pulled back from the very brink – one had bought a rope while the other had stopped his car on the Third Mainland bridge. There is another story of a Nigerian billionaire who thought of ending it all when he lost millions of dollars in his line of business. Today, he is riding the crest again and had recently celebrated his 60th in style.

My message to those who are in a dark place and feel the walls closing in is to seek professional help – there is no shame in it. It is also to focus on the positives. These include loved ones and people to whom life would be meaningless without them. It is also positive to think of those who have pulled back from the brink and have turned their lives around. There is nothing you are going through that some people before you have not gone through and some people after you will not go through. (Knock on any door and there is a story as my boss used to say). And like it is said ‘it always looks better in the morning’. There is usually light at the end of the tunnel.

The rest of us should realise that times are hard and people have different thresholds. With the dwindling family support system which had helped in the past, many people might today fall into depression. My antidote as a layman to depression is for us all to reach out in love and care to people around us. Make calls to friends and family. Show love. Help whenever you can. You could be saving lives.

•Muyiwa Adetiba is a veteran journalist and publisher. He can be reached via titbits2012@yahoo.com

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