家庭や家族とのつながりを大切にすることを強調しながら、自殺対策の重要性も訴える記事です。自殺率が増加する3月のストレス要因や、自らも自殺未遂を経験した律子さんの話が含まれます。律子さんは家族との関係が大きな支えであり、彼女の人生における関係性の変化も述べられています。友人や恋人に振られた経験を通じて、家族の存在の重要性を再確認する内容となっています。
Written by Ayako Yoshino.
Often, we take the presence of our family for granted, and we rarely feel grateful for having a family. The importance of family is truly felt when we are separated from them due to reasons like a child’s independence, bereavement, or parents’ divorce. We will hear from people about the changing dynamics of relationships from the past to the present.
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Every March has been designated as “National Suicide Prevention Month” under the Suicide Prevention Basic Act. March was chosen because there is a tendency for the number of suicides to increase every year. This phenomenon is believed to be caused by the stress that comes with significant life changes such as starting a new job, changing jobs, or advancing in education, all of which often happen in March. In 2020, the highest number of suicides occurred in March (2,031 people) (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare: Current Situation of Suicide in 2020 (released on March 29, 2020)).
During our interview, Ritsuko (pseudonym, 40 years old) mentioned that she attempted suicide after breaking up with a previous boyfriend.
She is often passive; the only person she can open up to is her mother.
Ritsuko lives with her parents as a family of three. She was raised by a kind father and a mother who was not strict but respected her wishes without being overprotective. Looking back at her student days, she never had trouble sleeping due to worries.
“I’m not the type to dwell too deeply on things. Of course, I had troubles with friends during my student days, but I never suffered from sleep disorders, and I felt like I could reset,” she said. Since she doesn’t talk about it after sleeping, her friends seem to think that way.
Although she didn’t worry much, she consulted her mother about difficult things. Her mother listened to her until the end. That was enough.
Ritsuko had her first boyfriend in high school but always felt like she couldn’t treat him as special and was always the one being dumped.
“I don’t want to slow down just because I have a boyfriend. When I didn’t have a boyfriend, I used to hang out with friends after school, but when I got a boyfriend, it felt strange to prioritize him. In the end, there was nothing more than that.” Even though she really liked him more than her friends or boyfriend, she was told, “You want to break up, right?” and then he dumped her.
While she was often dumped in short-term relationships, the first long-term relationship she built was with a boyfriend who attempted suicide.
“I met him through a friend’s introduction when I started working. To be precise, he’s an acquaintance of my friend’s boyfriend. He’s two years older than me. We hit it off at a drinking party and started dating after meeting a few times.” “Second rate.”
“When he was with me, he seemed calm, but he was a bit too reserved. However, instead of getting angry, I felt sympathetic and worried about not being able to contact him, so it wasn’t that bad. Since I’m not the type to initiate contact personally, I thought it was appropriate for him to contact me.”
[He mentioned his parents by saying, “Not my parents, but other blood relatives I have a relationship with.” Continued on next page]