Mumbai: Suicide is a medical emergency, psychiatrists emphasise, requiring urgent attention from trained medical professionals. In 2023, India recorded 1,71,418 suicides, a slight increase of 0.3% over 2022, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). Maharashtra, despite being one of India’s most developed states, reported the highest number of cases at 22,687, raising serious concern among mental health experts.

Dr. Ashutosh Shah, Consultant Psychiatrist at Sir H N Reliance Foundation Hospital, Mumbai, said that he din’t know why Maharashtra leads in suicide despite being a developed state.

However, he added that from the brain’s perspective, suicide or attempted suicide is an extreme manifestation of the fight-or-flight response, where the individual perceives death as the

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