Malaysian News

Force is a very strong word, haha. But treatment (including assessment, psychotherapy and counselling, medication if needed, and further psychosocial support plans) instead of punishment is the way to go.

Admittedly, treatment is already part of the response process for attempted suicide cases currently, in particular the government healthcare facilities have their SOP in handling attempted suicide patients that includes medical and psychiatric treatment, so it's not like the people don't get help at all. But the problem was that there is also a legal process that also has to go through - and that was the main issue (in addition to other issues). This particular article cited a study that showed often the "legal processes taking precedence over mental health care for suicide survivors, which can 'significantly delay treatment."' By removing this legal block, the idea is that treatment and rehabilitation can be the focus for post suicide attempt care.

But indeed, the post suicide attempt response treatment plan should be more specific - and inclusive - namely putting more emphasise on counselling and psychotherapy (which comes back to your question), especially if we're talking about government policies. But for that to happen we're looking at significant development in the mental healthcare system and policies. The current public mental healthcare system is, sadly, not the most adequate and balanced, that even if the government has plans to make it an official policy to have people with suicide attempts record/people with suicide risks to undergo counselling, I'm afraid that it might not be as how we hoped it would be. For one, the healthcare system is currently more geared towards medical healthcare than mental healthcare, so a suicidal person is more likely to be referred to a medical doctor (including GPs and psychiatrists) than to a mental health specialist (counsellors and clinical psychologists). But for suicide and mental health cases, specialised mental health services (counselling, assessment, therapy etc.) are often more crucial than medical services (medication). At the same time, we also have the issue of a shortage of mental health specialists (counsellors and psychologists) in the government healthcare system.

So back to your question - helping suicidal persons (with proper mental healthcare, including counselling/psychotherapy, medical treatment, and psychosocial support plans) instead of punishing them should be a no-brainer indeed. And now that we have already taken the step forward in decriminalising suicide, we have to see what comes after.