Farmers’ suicide and mental disorders perspectives in research approaches-comparison between- India and Australia

Abstract

Background: Almost 90% of persons who commit or attempt suicide has a diagnosable mental disorder. Farmers are an occupational category with high suicide risk and their risk is more than   that of the non-farming population. But there is no conclusive evidence as to whether farmers have more psychiatric morbidity than the general population. Are other causes also attributable to the increased suicide risk of farmers? Since research data about this is inconclusive, we decided to compare the research approaches and findings on farmers’ suicide conducted by mental health professionals with that of other professionals.Methods: A systematic search of published literature on farmers’ suicide for a period of 10 years from 2002 to 2012 was conducted using the electronic databases, PubMed and Google Scholar, using the keywords “farmers’ suicide”.Results: 49 articles were retrieved through PubMed search and 24,800 articles through Google scholar search. PubMed retrieved and Google Scholar retrieved articles were then compared keeping Australia and India as reference points.Conclusions: Comprehensive studies on farmers’ suicide, analyzing the diverse perspectives and causes, objectively and concurrently were lacking, especially from India. The Australian studies had attempted to include multifaceted perspectives on research about farmers’ suicide .There were no studies from India about interventions or their impact on farmers’ suicide. A segmented approach into farmers’ suicide research has its limitations. Novel methodologies incorporating diverse perspectives is needed from India for better understanding of the enigma of farmers’ suicide, so that steps can be taken to address such a public health and social issue.