Suicide; Why Do People Choose It?

A young boy of about 17 years had a minor disagreement with his parents and the following morning his lifeless body was found dangling from a cord tied to the ceiling fan in his room. A suicide note was neatly tucked under his pillow and read in part “I decided to end it all and have peace since you never believe in me and would not allow me have peace…”

But what is suicide?
Suicide is the act of killing oneself, or the act of taking one’s own life. Terrible! Isn’t it? But what could make a teenager contemplate it at such a tender and promising age? Several factors actually contribute to one using suicide as a way of solving one’s problem or as a way of trying to escape from them. Some of these contributory factors include:

1.Rejection: Some people, having suffered from rejection either from parents or from friends see suicide as a way of ending it all. Most people who use this method of trying to escape from the problem of rejection are people who are from broken homes, whose parents went their own ways leaving them in the care of either their grand parents or their aunts/uncles. They eventually feel completely rejected by their parents and decide to end their lives.

2.Shame: This is one of the greatest reasons for suicide. Having been involved in an act that is so shameful e.g. stealing, adultery, etc some people decide to end their lives since they cannot stand the shame such act has brought. Others could be as a result of some shameful health problem such as epilepsy, or even sexual failure/impotence.

3.Failure: Failure in marriage, academics, business, dating, landing a job, etc could make one conclude he can never succeed in life and instead of living a life devoid of success the best option they conclude, is to take their life.

4.Hard drugs: drugs are capable of causing a distortion in the individual’s reasoning process, making him do what ordinarily he would never contemplate. An individual who is under the influence of drug is capable of doing any unreasonable and unthinkable thing including suicide. Suicide is contemplated when provoked while under the influence of the drug, or as a result of frustration due to failure or inability to obtain the drug at a particular time.

5.Terminal disease: Living in pain due to a terminal disease could be so traumatizing, and fed up with their emotional, psychological or mental pain, some decide to suffer no more by taking the option of suicide as a way of stopping further pains. Some of the terminal conditions that can make one think of suicide include Liver cirrhosis, aplastic anaemia, cancer of the bowel, cancer of the lungs, leukemia, sickle cell disease, HIV/AIDS, etc.

6.Psychiatric illness: Suicide is very common in people suffering from one form of psychiatric illness or the other. Notable among such psychiatric illnesses are Depression, Schizophrenia, etc

7.Loss of fortune: Loss of estate, business, dear one, personal property, etc can also make one think of ending one’s life due to frustration or loss of hope of ever regaining what has been lost.

8.Poverty: Poverty/Penury is one thing nobody ever wishes to experience – one is unable to afford three quality meals daily, unable to properly clothe oneself and one’s family, unable to pay children’s school fees, can’t afford decent accommodation, and sometimes one is victimized or oppressed. Passing through harrowing experiences for a long time could make one think of a way of ending everything.

9.Discrimination: Discrimination of whatever type could bring emotional and psychological stress which could eventually culminate in suicide.

However, it should be noted that suicide does not actually solve a problem; it is rather the cowardly way of trying to escape from it. The best way to solve a problem is to face it squarely and deal with it. The word of God makes it clear that murderers shall go to hell fire (Matt.5:21-22, Exodus 20:13, Deut.5:17). Suicide is murdering oneself and when one takes that option he invariably takes the option to go to hell fire. Avoid it for it does you no good.

Criminal Record; What Is It?

Every second a crime is being committed somewhere in the world and every second too somebody gets convicted for one form of crime or the other. The rate or frequency with which this occurs varies from country to country. Some countries are relatively calm and quiet while some others are volatile and prone to crimes.

Criminal record therefore, is the record of a person’s criminal history. This record may be of crimes committed recently or in the distant past. It does not matter whether the records are old or new, what is important is that there is a record kept in the database or archive of the state or country which can be referred to should there be any need. Meaning that the criminal history of an individual can easily be researched at any time it is needed by individuals, institutions, state or the nation.

Why keep criminal records?
Keeping a criminal record enables the state to understand or keep a track record of past criminal behaviours of individuals, whether they have at any time in the past be convicted of any crime, and also to be able to predict their tendency to commit more crimes in the future. This also enables the state or judiciary to determine or differentiate a habitual criminal from one who has just committed a crime for the first time, and know how to plead on their behalf when arraigned before the court of law.
Furthermore, keeping a criminal record ensures that criminals are not appointed into sensitive public positions such as the office of the finance minister, Accountant General, minister of defence, or other positions that require trust and probity. Employers also use this record to recruit men of proven character for their companies; they are saved the pain of employing people with questionable character and those that cannot be trusted with confidential records/files or public funds.

Criminal record also helps to prevent ex-convicts from contesting elections and be voted into public offices. In several countries ex-convicts are not allowed to contest in an election; so having criminal records will enable the state or political parties to filter out those who have dented records.
It also helps reduce the rate of crime. When people know that whatever crime they commit would dent their image and prevent them from enjoying certain privileges they will do everything humanly possible to abstain from crimes. This invariably brings to the barest minimum the rate at which crimes are being committed.

Sources of criminal records
Criminal records can be gotten from the following sources: The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB), the federal bureau of prisons, family watch, court records, police records, Nationwide Criminal Records website, Public record Finder, Integra scan, Criminal Records search engines, Neighbourhood Watch (criminal searches), free public information, etc.

Though some states’ laws require you inform the person involved before carrying out a background check on him, some others make it easier by passing laws that allow access to sources of information concerning individuals’ criminal records. The laws of the state or country must be respected when you want to run a criminal record check on an individual.

It should be noted that not all crimes committed by an individual and entered into records are capable of preventing such persons from seeking public positions or being employed by reputable companies (e.g. misdemeanour). However, the following crimes can make it very difficult or impossible to seek positions of public trust – Sex offenses (e.g. Rape), theft, burglary, murder, fraud/embezzlement, serious traffic crimes, armed robbery, impersonation, forgery, tax evasion/tax dodge, assassination, arson, drug trafficking, gun running, hijack, kidnapping, carjacking, treason, assault and battery, etc

When next you are tempted to commit a crime remember there’s criminal record and that yielding to such temptation may dent your reputation for life. Run away from crimes and enjoy life and freedom to the fullest.

How To Succeed In Your Career

Success is sweet and everyone wants to succeed in his/her chosen career; but success does not just come on a platter of gold, it has to be worked out. Getting to your desired goal or destination in life depends on how you map out your journey and how well you stay focused to see that your goals are achieved.

Success, they say, has many parents but failure is an orphan. Therefore, no one wants to be a failure and live in isolation or be intentionally segregated by friends and family. Having made up your mind to succeed there are steps you must take to achieve your desired goals irrespective of the area of life you choose to follow. There are no areas that are entirely bad; what is needed on your part is the determination or the zeal to be the best of what you want to be. The following steps should be judiciously followed if you are to make it in your Endeavours.

1.Acknowledge your weakness: The first step to success is to acknowledge your areas of weakness and your areas of strength. In other words, you should know the areas where you are not good and you are aware that toeing such path would lead you to failure. Also know your areas of comparative advantage. What edge do you have over your peers, friends or competitors? Where are you doing better, maybe in your academics, crafts, or talents? Find out things you do easily and very well without struggling.

2.Determine to succeed: Determination is one of the greatest ingredients to success. You may have an area of comparative advantage, or you may not even know where you have an edge but determination to make it in whatever sphere you have chosen can propel you toward success. If you have all the other ingredients but lack determination, any slight distraction or challenge can make you loose your steam and drop out.


3.Stay focused: Once you have made up your mind on the direction you want to go, you must maintain your focus and never drift from one plan to another. If you allow people to persuade you to leave your chosen career you may never make it and sometimes you end up in a place where you will never be happy because you are convinced that you are in the wrong place. Once you make up your mind resist all influences – peer pressure, or parental indoctrination and move ahead in your line of conviction.

4.Make research: Find out if there are prospects in your chosen area e.g. if you decide to work in a particular company and develop your career there, what prospects have you to develop your career further? What are the possibilities of rising in your position in the next few years? Would your impact ever be felt? Do you have the possibility of making any input as far as the decision making process is concerned? If there are no such possibilities look for a place where you can advance to a higher level in the future. Also find out if the kind of profession you wish to go into has any societal value or recognition. Don’t just study any course for the purpose of acquiring a university degree, but think of what impact you can create in the society with your degree. Think of taking professional courses such as Engineering, Law, Medicine, Nursing, Accountancy, ICT, etc. The other areas you could also think of are theater arts, music, fine arts, sports, etc. While you do your research find out areas you can easily establish on your own with little resources should there be no job or loans from banks. You should develop a career that makes you less dependent on people, government or companies before you can make a headway in life.

5.Associate with successful people: Make friends with people who have succeeded in the same profession you wish to go into or similar professions. Find out what they did right to come out with such great success. Even associate with those who have made it in business or managerial positions. Success does not come in isolation; it comes most times by influence. When you tap from their knowledge you add it to your resources and you come up with something tangible and worthwhile.


6.Take action: When you have gathered all necessary information the next thing you should do is take action. Information without action is useless; it is like a piece of computer with the latest software but is never powered for people to make use of. It is your action that co-ordinates all the information for a purposeful achievement. Make up your mind and take a bold step toward bringing your dreams to reality. Unless you move into action your dreams remain within you and would never materialize for the world to see.

7.Take stock: Having taken action and you have moved in the direction you dreamed of, take time to take stock. Find out if you are achieving your dreams. Find out if you are at the place you hoped to be at a particular time in life. Check your results; find out areas where you need to improve; check what principles had worked for you and the ones that never worked.


8.Repeat your success: When you determine the principles that gave you positive results repeat them over and over again. Discard the useless ones and build more on the ones that would keep bringing positive results for you. You discover that each time you set targets using the same working methods you will always achieve your desired goals and dreams.

Drug Abuse And Drug Dependence: The Differences

Drug use has certain terms which have been mistaken by so many people to mean the same thing. The truth of it is that they are not the same and there are features that set them completely apart. These features when fully understood enable us to distinguish between the terms.

Drug Abuse: This is the inappropriate use of a drug, other than the legitimate medical purpose especially the psychoactive ones. Simply put, it is the use of drugs without a doctor’s prescription. So many drugs can easily be abused because of easy access to them, especially ‘over the counter’ drugs. For example, when one walks into a patent medicine store demanding for tab paracetamol or an antibiotic capsule, tablet, injection, syrup or pessary without a written prescription from the physician and without full knowledge of the dosage, side effects, contraindications, drug interactions, indications, etc of the drug he is requesting for, he is practising drug abuse. Even though he understands the dosage but as far as these drugs are not prescribed by a medical doctor he is abusing them. Drugs that are commonly abused include pain killers, anti-pyretics, anti-inflammatory, topical drugs, eye drops, suppositories, aerosols, etc.

Drug Dependence: it is a state of periodic or persistent intoxication, detrimental to the individual, to society or both. Drug dependence is characterized by the following:
1.A strong desire, drive, need or compulsion to continue the use of the drug.
2.Physical and emotional dependence on the drug.
3.The development of tolerance and as such the tendency to increase the dosage in order to produce a desired effect.
4.There is withdrawal syndrome when the drug is stopped.

These afore-mentioned characteristics differentiate drug dependence from drug abuse as in drug abuse there is no strong desire, drive or compulsion to continue the drug; the drugs are only taken for the purpose of curing an ailment though may sometimes be wrongly applied.

Some of the drugs of dependence include Narcotics, opiates such as morphine, heroin; amphetamines, cannabis sativa (Marihuana, hashish), cocaine, volatile substances such as premium motor spirit (petrol), tube parching fluids, etc. These drugs have the capacity to alter the individuals’ psychosocial pattern of life and make them detrimental to themselves as well as to the society at large. They affect negatively the individual’s thought process and make them commit crimes they would naturally not commit – Rape, robbery, murder, suicide, etc.

What Are The Known Causes Of Alcoholism?

The actual causes of alcoholism are unknown, but there are factors which contribute to one becoming an alcoholic. Some of the contributory factors to it are:
1.Occupation: Those who work in alcohol factories or those whose parents brew alcohol are more likely to be influenced in the long run to taste the drink and eventually succumb to its overwhelming effect and become addicted to its use.
2.Heredity: Alcoholism is known to run in families as about 45% of alcoholics are children whose parents had had alcoholism problems. This is more likely to be an act of imitation rather than genetic problem.
3.Childhood deprivation: One who had as a child suffered deprivation due to marital disharmony or divorce of the parents is likely to become an alcoholic when he grows into adulthood.
4.Psychological factor: some people turn to alcohol during periods of stress, frustration e.g. as a result of failure in an exam, loss of dear one, marital breakup, loss of personal property, etc as a way of trying to overcome the stress or depression.
5.Socio-Cultural: Alcohol use is commoner in some cultural set up e.g. among the Irish and Russians. I do not mean to spite any particular people, but it is a known fact that alcohol intake among these people is relatively high.
6.Sex: Alcohol intake is higher amongst men than in women. This may not be purely due to constitutional differences but as a result of environmental factor, and it may also be related to cultural values as well; though these days women are competing as far as the use of alcoholic beverages is concerned.
7.Psychiatric causes: Alcohol intake also increases during periods of anxiety in youths, depression in middle age and loneliness in old age.
8.Spiritual causes: It is also believed in some cultures and religions that the influence of witchcraft, spell, curses, demonic manipulations, etc could make one become an alcoholic or indulge in alcoholism as the case may be. This belief is very strong in the African continent and explains why spiritual help are sought when other sources fail to help the patient.

Ways We Can Help Rehabilitate An Alcoholic

There are different ways we can help an alcoholic to get rid of alcoholism or excessive drinking. Left alone, he is helpless, hooked on alcohol and does not know what to do to help himself; but with our concern, sympathy and intervention we could really do much to deliver such a one from heavy drinking and possibly from the complications that could come with it by referring him/her to the appropriate source of help.
Some of the sources of help include:
1.Medical help: We can do much to seek help for the sufferer by referring him/her to see the doctor who can give some of the under-listed drugs:
a.Apomorphine: This drug acts by causing persistent and repeated nausea and vomiting in the patient. The drug makes the alcoholic to develop a strong dislike for alcohol; so the drug causes a conditional aversion or repugnancy for alcohol. Note that this is usually prescribed by the doctor and the doctor also carries out some physical examination on the patient before commencing treatment. So you must reserve the administration of this drug for the medical doctor.
b.Antabuse: Antabuse acts by interfering with alcohol breakdown in the body. This makes the toxic substance of alcohol (Acetaldehyde) to accumulate in the blood stream thereby giving rise to unpleasant side effects such as headache, flushing of the face, nausea, vomiting, increase in pulse rate, drowsiness, cyanosis, dyspnoea, hypotension, etc. This eventually makes the patient hate to take alcohol.
2.Psychotherapy: We could also help the sufferer by referring him to the psychologist who can help him with psychological treatment, using his professional skills to try to persuade the patient to stop taking alcohol. Occupational therapy or other forms of treatment may also be employed.
3.Alcoholic Anonymous Association: This involves introducing the patient to the Association where he can get tangible help from people who had suffered from alcoholism and have recovered from it. They would teach him how best to go about setting himself free from the power of alcoholism. This association can really equip him with a lot of resources that could help him.
4.Admission into Alcoholic Clinic: The patient may need to be admitted into an alcoholic clinic for proper monitoring by the health team. While prescribed drugs are administered, the nurses may also do much to cater for his physical needs, ensure adequate diet and fluid intake, and help with his personal hygiene as he may not be able to do so as a result of the side effects of some of the drugs he might be placed on.
5.Spiritual help: As alcoholism has been attributed to spiritual causes so it is curable through spiritual intervention. I have actually seen a lot of people recover from alcoholism through prayers made for them by pastors. So we can help seek for a pastor gifted in this area to deliver the patient in the name of Jesus Christ. The name of Jesus Christ has the power to set people free from all kinds of spiritual bondage.

Alcohol, Alcoholic, Alcoholism; How Related Are They?

The words alcohol, alcoholic and alcoholism may sound the same way but they mean different things though they are closely related and interwoven. The definition of each of the words and other related terms would give us a clearer understanding of what they are.

An alcohol: This is the intoxicating part of any drink fermented from sugar. It is also defined as drinks that can make people drunk; this include beer, wine, whisky, etc. It is also the volatile liquid distilled from fermented saccharine liquids and which forms the basis of all wines and spirits.

An alcoholic: This is a person addicted to the use of alcoholic beverages in excess. Simply put, it’s a person addicted to excessive, uncontrolled consumption of alcohol. The person involved has become used to drinking alcohol in large quantity, drinks regularly and finds it difficult to stop it. Trying to stop its use abruptly could lead to some illnesses.

Alcoholism: A state of poisoning which arises from excessive alcohol consumption. It is a medical condition which arises as a result of regular consumption of alcohol in high quantity.

Drunkard: A person who gives in to excessive alcohol intake. This term has now been replaced with ‘alcoholic’.

Hangover: It is the body’s reaction to excessive alcohol taken the previous day or over a short period of time. The signs and symptoms of hangover include headache, nausea, vomiting, abdominal spasm, tremor, etc and they usually start 8-12 hours after the consumption of high quantity of alcohol.
The alcohol content of some of the drinks are as follows: Ethanol (ethyl alcohol) =95%, Whisky =40%, Wine = 10-14% and local beer =3.5- 5%.

Social and mental Effects of Alcohol

There are social and mental effects associated with the use of alcohol. Some of these effects include but are not limited to the under-listed:

Social effects
Social effects are connected with the way the individual’s interactions with the society are affected.
1.Body odour: Alcohol odour can be disgusting; those who depend on alcohol reek of its smell and so may find it difficult to socialize with friends and they are likely to be avoided.
2.Absenteeism from work: Alcoholism is associated with absenteeism from job or normal duties, as it makes the individual think less of his/her social responsibilities. Alcoholics lose their jobs often because of habitual lateness to work or complete absence from duty posts from time to time.
3.Crime: Crime is most times associated with alcohol. Crimes such as Rape, automobile accidents, murder, traffic offences, theft, etc are most times committed under the influence of alcohol, because of its ability to make one lose self-control.
4.Poor hygiene: Alcoholism also results in neglect of personal hygiene – poor dental care, leaving hair unkempt, dirty clothes, etc thereby making the individual prone to diseases.
5.Marital breakdown: Marital problems such as assault, wife battery, child abuse, etc are majority of times due to effect of alcohol. The end product of such conflicts is divorce, child neglect and wife neglect.

Mental effects
Some of the mental effects of alcohol use include:
1.Memory defect: The person suffers from memory defect and would most times confabulate (produce fictitious memories, and relate experiences that are untrue to fill the gaps in memory loss). This gets worse with time if he does not stop alcohol. He may also suffer from nightmares.
2.Apprehension: He can become unconditionally fearful and restless.
3.Impulsiveness: The person becomes impulsive and acts rashly even when there is no need to do so. He may also have incoherence of speech which people find difficult to understand.
4.Hallucination: This is a false perception in which he believes he sees, hears, smells, tastes, or feels an object or person whereas in actual sense there is no evidence to justify his claims. The person may also feel some crawling sensations over the skin.

10 Physical Effects of Alcohol

Alcohol use produces some physical effects which may be unpleasant or altogether damaging to the health of the user. They are unpleasant because to a large extent they are capable of causing discomfort and even irreversible damage to the person.

1.Loss of appetite: Excessive use of alcohol produces the direct opposite of its mild use – it leads to loss of appetite. Those who use alcoholic beverages in high quantity (alcoholics) end up with suppressed appetite and subsequently develop malnutrition.
2.Anaemia: Alcohol also causes vitamin deficiency (especially vitamin B12 and folic acid) which play a vital role in red blood cell formation. When the body is deprived of the ingredients necessary for haemoglobin formation the individual suffers from anaemia.
3.Peripheral neuritis: Vitamin B1 plays an active role in maintaining the health of the peripheral nerves. With chronic alcoholism vitamin B1 deficiency occurs leading to inflammation of the peripheral nerves, accompanied with pain and oedema.
4.Liver damage: Alcohol especially whisky or spirit leads to hepatitis with prolonged usage and if not stopped, repeated inflammation of the liver finally results in a terminal condition of the liver known as liver cirrhosis.
5.Tremor: It also brings about an involuntary, muscular quivering of the face, tongue and hands. This may get worse as the use of alcohol continues unabated.
6.Peptic ulcer: Alcohol has been implicated in peptic ulcer. Its effect is just like the effect of the Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) because it (spirit) is able to gradually destroy the mucosal lining of the stomach and expose it to the effects of hydrochloric acid and gastric acid.
7.Cancer: Research has recently shown that alcohol could be responsible for the high incidence of cancer of the breast, mouth, pharynx, larynx, gallbladder, pancreas, bowel, kidneys, oesophagus, lungs, etc. These conditions are on the increase in Great Britain and the United States of America where the use of alcohol is very high.
8.Dehydration: Alcohol is also known to cause dehydration.
9.Abortion: It can cause abortion of the unborn baby in mothers who are heavy drinkers. It also gives rise to low birth weight babies.
10.Sexual disorder: Some form of sexual disorder is also reported among users. This disorders include impotence in males and frigidity in females.

10 Reasons Why People Use Alcohol

Alcohol is used by certain persons for several reasons, based on several factors. Its use is related to factors ranging from emotional, social, religious, physical, to psychological.

Some of the reasons why people take alcohol therefore include:
1.To quench thirst: Some see alcohol as an alternative to water when they are thirsty and need something to wet their throat. This is common among palm wine-tappers in villages (palm wine is a special alcoholic sap derived from the palm tree).
2.To promote sleep: Alcohol when taken in small quantity helps to relieve mental tension and relax the muscles hence some make use of it to help them relax and sleep after a strenuous day’s job.
3.To spice up social gathering: Those who drink alcohol believe that without it social gatherings can never be enjoyable, hence they would always include it as part of the necessities to make their gathering lively.
4.To improve appetite: It also has the power to improve one’s appetite; as such those who suffer from some kind of anorexia would want to take it to help bring up their appetite.
5.For boldness: Some people who are naturally shy, timid or fearful see alcohol as a way of getting boldness which they cannot naturally sum up on their own. They use it to confront problems which they are afraid to face. Some even take it before approaching a lady for love.
6.To kill anxiety: Alcohol can distract the mind from worries and anxiety, so people who have some kind of worries take it to help take their minds off such worries.
7.Influence from other persons: Alcohol can also be taken as a way of imitating parents who have been watched taking it over the years. Apart from parents, older adults can also have an influence on the youth which would make them want to have a taste of it. Peer pressure and the desire to belong could make one to indulge in alcohol use.
8.Rituals: Alcohol forms the basis for some social or religious rituals. For example in some traditions, social gatherings are declared open using alcohol for blessing. It is also a means of libation to the gods, blessing marriages, offering sacrifices, invoking curses, etc and those who perform such rituals are required to be the first to taste of the drink.
9.Relieve pain: When taken in large quantity it relieves physical pains hence those with chronic pain take it in order to control the pain.
10.To produce euphoria: Alcohol like other drugs of dependence, is able to produce a state of euphoria (an exaggerated feeling of well-being often not justified by circumstances), or a state of ‘high’. Some would want to keep repeating it in order to have this feeling.