Suicide attempt and "social suffering": Disrupting dangerous binary discourse and fostering kinship between the mental health and legal systems in Ghana

The increase in the trends of the repealing of anti-suicide laws especially, in the High Income Countries, is largely due to the growth of evidence that suggests that difficult psychosocial factors and existential adversities are responsible for suicidal behaviour, which thereby warrant advocacy to help rather than punish persons who attempt suicide. Despite this trend, suicide attempt is still criminalised in Ghana. Thus, persons in the country who attempt suicide are apprehended and prosecuted, and upon conviction, receive criminal penalties ranging from hefty fines to prison terms (between 1 and 3 years). This chapter explores the sociohistorical, cultural and political antecedents to anti-suicide laws; highlights the dangers in the predominant binary discourse on decriminalisation efforts; and situates suicide and suicide attempt within the notion of "social suffering" in an attempt to foster a kinship between mental health and the legal system for an effective population-based suicide prevention in Ghana.