Ali Syeda Ayat-E-Zainab, Saleem Tamkeen
Department of Psychology, International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Department of Clinical Psychology, Shifa Tameer-e-Millat University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Front Psychiatry. 2024 Oct 16;15:1419669. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1419669. eCollection 2024.
In recent years, there has been a growing body of evidence supporting the notion that spirituality and religion can improve one's physical and mental health. Studies show that religion and spirituality play a significant role in the suicidal path. Considering the dearth of data on the patterns of suicidal thoughts, acts and related factors in Pakistan, a country with a large Muslim population and stigma with sociocultural perceptions of religious notions, the current study investigated the role of religious and spiritual factors of suicide using psychological autopsies.
Purposive sampling was used to gather retrospective data records from police stations and hospital forensic departments in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Pakistan, between January 2021 and July 2022. In total, 60 samples (30 cases and 30 controls) were used in this autopsies investigation. As with the majority of case control studies, the study sample cases were matched with the controls. At least two close bereaved family members served as the primary information sources, and data was gathered using the Semi Structured Interview Protocol for Psychological Autopsies.
According to statistical analysis, both the suicide cases and the controls were comprised mostly of Muslim individuals. They follow Islam and hold the view that suicide is prohibited, forbidden, and haram in Islam. Regarding spirituality and religion, the majority of cases, according to the respondents interviewed, were not spiritual at all, while the controls are slightly spiritual. While the majority of both cases and controls had reduced interest in or practice of religious activities over the past year, a higher number of cases rarely performed and attended the religious services/activities as compared to controls.
It was thus evident that the cases lacked significant engagement in spiritual and religious activities, and their attendance at such gatherings had notably decreased in the year preceding the suicide attempt. This decline in involvement in spiritual and religious practices might be linked to decreased levels of satisfaction, sense of belongingness, which could raise the risk of suicide. Therefore, in nations where Muslims predominate, culturally relevant suicide prevention initiatives including spiritual and religious treatments aimed at reducing the risk of suicide should be considered.
近年来，越来越多的证据支持灵性和宗教可以改善一个人的身心健康这一观点。研究表明，宗教和灵性在自杀路径中起着重要作用。考虑到巴基斯坦这个拥有大量穆斯林人口且对宗教观念存在社会文化认知 stigma 的国家，关于自杀念头、行为及相关因素模式的数据匮乏，本研究采用心理解剖法调查了宗教和灵性因素在自杀中的作用。
采用目的抽样法，收集 2021 年 1 月至 2022 年 7 月期间巴基斯坦拉瓦尔品第和伊斯兰堡警察局及医院法医部门的回顾性数据记录。本解剖学调查共使用了 60 个样本（30 例病例和 30 例对照）。与大多数病例对照研究一样，研究样本病例与对照进行了匹配。至少两名近亲丧亲家庭成员作为主要信息来源，数据通过心理解剖半结构化访谈协议收集。
根据统计分析，自杀病例和对照大多由穆斯林个体组成。他们遵循伊斯兰教，认为自杀在伊斯兰教中是被禁止、不允许且为非法的。关于灵性和宗教，据受访受访者称，大多数病例根本没有灵性，而对照则略有灵性。虽然在过去一年中，病例和对照中的大多数人对宗教活动的兴趣或参与度都有所降低，但与对照相比，更多的病例很少参加宗教仪式/活动。
因此很明显，病例在灵性和宗教活动方面缺乏显著参与，并且在自杀未遂前一年，他们参加此类聚会的次数明显减少。参与灵性和宗教活动的减少可能与满意度和归属感的降低有关，这可能会增加自杀风险。因此，在穆斯林占主导的国家，应考虑开展包括旨在降低自杀风险的灵性和宗教治疗在内的与文化相关的自杀预防举措。
