UAE teen commits suicide, cops find book on depression near body

Ajman - Police said anyone reading the book would get swayed by what was written in it.

A 16-year-old Arab girl, who was reeling under depression and was on medication, committed suicide by hanging herself from the ceiling of her bathroom with her scarf in Al Rawdah area in Ajman. A copy of the bestselling classic 'An Unquiet Mind' written by American clinical psychologist Kay Redfield Jamison was found near her body. The teenager was apparently reading it, which police suspect could have driven her to take the extreme step.

On being informed, the police team rushed to the house and found that the girl had hanged herself from the ceiling and was already dead. The police collected fingerprints and evidence which proved that the girl had decided to take her own life.

During the investigation, the cops found near the girl's body the book 'An Unquiet Mind' whose last page the girl is believed to have been reading. A passage from the last page went like this: "I think I hit the point of life where I'm just done. I cried, I fought, I tried, but everything is crashing down. My demons are screaming louder, trying to eat away the rest of me and this time we're not going to fight back."

In the book, Jamison examines bipolar illness from the dual perspectives of the healer and the healed, revealing both its terrors and the cruel allure that at times prompted her to resist taking medication. Jamison is one of the foremost authorities on manic-depressive (bipolar) illness; she has also experienced it firsthand.

Police said anyone reading the book would get swayed by what was written in it, especially if the reader suffered from depression. The investigation revealed that the girl had bouts of depression and was on medication.

Major General Shaikh Sultan Al Nuaimi, commander-in-chief of Ajman Police, said the presence of the book near girl's body does not mean it could be the main reason behind the suicide and could just be one of the key triggers.

He pointed out that there are books and websites that may affect the children and cause them depression, especially the young and the adolescent.

The police chief urged parents to pay attention to what their children are reading and the kind of websites they are visiting to ensure their safety.