bengaluru arogya sahayavani 104 the state governments health helpline handled 426 lakh calls pertaining to mental health issues since its inception in 2013 preventing 2062 suicides and providing counselling in nearly 7000 cases of depressionmental health issues accounted for 18 of 23 crore calls received by the tollfree helpline out of 100 valid calls at least two will be related to mental health issues including suicide said health department officials the number of calls seeking help for depression and suicidal thoughts have gradually reduced per week the helpline gets around three genuine calls pertaining to suicidal thoughts in 2013 13 suicides were averted which increased to 491 in 2019 but dipped to 173 in 2020 in 2021 there have been 120 such cases the experience is not the same at bengalurus other suicideprevention helplines sahai suicide prevention helpline run by the medicopastoral association mpa receives 1015 genuine calls every day and the number crossed 20 on a few days at the height of the pandemic samudra yuva helpline gets nearly 25 calls a day while not all are from those taking the extreme step depressed callers admit to having suicidal thoughts say counsellors what ails the helplines most are nuisance calls and high attrition rate of staffersaccording to data with arogya sahayavani a majority of the callers are aged 1524 the helpline has prevented 1156 persons of this age group from taking the extreme step officers said though psychiatrists say no specific reason can be attributed to suicide the helpline has categorised the top four reasons as love failure family problems career guidance and emotional issues bharathi singh founder and managing trustee of samudra yuva helpline that began in 2008 says her objective was to provide free counselling to youngsters to guide them in career emotional and anxiety issuesthe callers are given love and comfort and a patient hearing we try to find out what their support system is and if they have parents friends colleagues or elders around and what has been their coping system we do not judge the callers and dont necessarily sympathise with them says dr singh the helpline has got calls from as far as dubai and australia too calls to the helplines increased during the pandemic a majority were related to job loss youngsters struggling within the confines of home during the lockdown stress due to virus fear and lack of joy says aneesh thomas coordinator and counsellor at sahai helpline while most callers are those who seek help when they feel depressed the helpline has also got calls from those who were just a step away from self harm each genuine call takes 3045 minutes and there are followups too