Man found dead in apparent suicide on Velidhoo

Police have reported death of a 24 year-old man from Velidhoo in Noonu Atoll, after he was discovered hanged from ceiling fan in his room at 12:35pm yesterday.

An official from the island office told Minivan News that the man was discovered by his father.

“He lived a very normal life and worked in his brother’s restaurant on the island,” the official said.

”According to what most of the islanders are saying, he had this problem with his girlfriend’s father; he had not been accepted by him. He lived together on the island with his girlfriend from Male’ and they were about to get married, but her Dad sent a letter to the court saying he would not give the consent for the marriage to take place.”

Deputy Minister for Health Mariya Ali said the Maldives lacked a comprehensive mental health system, and that the number of psychiatrists in the country was inadequate.

“Normally a person with a serious mental condition will be assessed and taken to ‘Guraidhoo’ (a mental health rehabilitation centre) until their psychotic episode is over,” Mariya said. “But after being discharged, the aftercare is not very strong and patients may stop taking their prescriptions. Their condition can deteriorate and they can relapse.”

Furthermore, Mariya said that it was very likely that the country’s high rate of child sex abuse was leading to a high prevalence of mental health disorders in later life, such as post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety problems, but that there was little general awareness of mental health issues in Maldivian society.

The Maldives also lacks the equivalent of a ‘Samaritans’ helpline, common in many developed countries, offering counselling and advice for people coping with depression or suicidal thoughts.

”The former government developed a draft mental health care policy with the assistance of the World Health Organisation (WHO), but it was never implemented,” Mariya noted. “We are now revising this policy and after that we should have an idea of what a mental health response system should look like.”

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6 thoughts on “Man found dead in apparent suicide on Velidhoo”

  1. Every Maldivian, the mentally insane, the lonely and rejected, the victim of abuse, the aggressive power hungry politician, all, each and every Maldivian is special, unique, and sacred, for one reason, YOU are deeply precious to the Creator as the pinnacle of a Creation done out of the purpose of love.

    The kind of egomania one sees in many Maldivians may appear to be a case of too much self-love. But in fact, deep down it is not. It is not love at all. It is hate. It is an aggressive reaction to hatred, too rejection, and it is a demagogic display which appears to be grandiose self love. But there is no self love there at all.

    When one feels powerless to turn this hatred against another, to vent it outwardly, it is turned inward and becomes depression.

    Please. What Mariya said is correct. Not enough respect for the sacredness of human dignity, not enough compassion for the mentally challenged and for the victim of sexual abuse because not enough genuine self respect.

    The death of a young boy like this is the loss of somebody deeply sacred...

    I am sorry to get on this website and quack on and on but I have seen too much sadness in your paradise, sadness expressing itself mainly as hatred, yet I can see that underneath it is sadness. I have too much caring for your ppl, I can't help it.

    I can't wait to meet this boy in paradise where he will know how sacred he is...

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  2. i might expand a little on this comment above, rewrite it so it is 'proper' and ask you to guys at minivannews to present it as a letter... because the basic point is important

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  3. I wonder how Maria can so definitively say he had a serious mental problem while his family is saying until this he lived a normal life, meaning he showed no signs of a seriouy mental problem. The issue to me seems more like the person not knowing who and where to turn to in moments of desperation such as this, to make him think that taking his life is the best option.

    Who wants to go to Guaraidhoo? The place has so many stereotypes attached to it. What about a place/ system to deal with depressed people and those who suffer from anxiety related disorders. Do they all belong in Guraidhoo??

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  4. @ aisha. do u really think a person who is in a proper state of mind with no mental issues will commit suicide. we dont need 2 pages of mathematics and solved equations to figure that out. it either sisucide due to mental issues or murder and framed as suicide. in the later case then we should keep the gonna become father in law under watch and as murder suspect.

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  5. @ali. You'll be a laucky and grateful man if you'll never experience a moment of deep despair, an instant where the pain of loosing a loved one for ever push you through the tears to throw your life away, in the unbearable pain of the rest of your life spent in solitude, even if amongst a crowd..only the physical hug of a friend THERE, NEXT TO YOU can save you from that moment. Don't tell us that every suicide case was a mental patient, life is beautiful BUT HARD IF LOVELESS!My deep sorrow goes to the family, sincere, my hug goes to the poor girl that has lost the love of her life for the obsolete patronising decision of a family that now knows that LOVE EXISTS, WINS OVER EVERY MONEY, STATUS OR STUPID SOCIETY PLAN... may his soul rest next to hers, where ever Life takes her...

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  6. You are using the above picture without my consent. The copyright is set to "All rights reserved".

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/neobe/4807911518/

    I won't mind you guys using it if you did ask nicely. But cropping the image to remove the watermark is unbelievable. Please remove it, I would really appreciate if you ask me before using my work in the future.

    The original image of Velidhoo used for this story was found online without watermark or embedded copyright information. It has been removed and replaced as requested. - Minivan News team

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