A class 11th student committed suicide by jumping off his 15th floor apartment on Saturday in Noida, Delhi. He was allegedly under depression over his physical appearance and skin complexion.
The local police station was informed at around 5 am. The incident took place in the high rise building in Sector 78.
The parents of the deceased were living separately. His mother was living in Gurgaon while his father was living in Noida where he works with a multinational company.
“His parents informed the police that their son had been battling depression due to his physical features and skin complexion. He had talked to them about his complexity because of his looks in the past also,” told Sector 49 Station House Officer (SHO), Sudhir Kumar.
The family has not filed any complaint and the body was sent for post mortem. Taking note of the incident, mental health specialist stated that the depression is treatable and suicide is preventive.
“Teenagers and people in their early 20s could suffer from ‘body dysmorphic disorder’, a mental health condition in which one cannot stop thinking about one or more perceived defects or flaws in their appearance,” said Dr Kunal Kumar, Head of Department Psychiatry in Sharda University and Medical College.
He further added, “Such health conditions are very much treatable and preventable if first observers, like parents, recognise the behavioural changes in their kids and talk to them in order to not let the kids doubt their self-esteem.”
