The Epidemic of Meaninglessness and the Rising Cases of Suicide in Nigeria

Recent reports suggest that suicide is on the increase in Nigeria. Although governmental and private organisations are making efforts to address the menace with mental health awareness campaigns and the push to decriminalise suicide attempts, these efforts seem oblivious to a critical aspect of the problem, that is, the crisis of meaninglessness that potentially leads to suicidal ideation. This paper highlighted the link between existential meaninglessness and suicidal ideation. It then demonstrated how some of the recent changes in Nigeria’s social landscape could be triggering subjective experiences of existential meaninglessness and despair, thereby leading to higher rates of psychopathology and resulting in deaths by suicide. The following societal factors were identified: Changing family values and structures, shrinking human connections, decline in religion, social media inauthenticity, and poverty and economic frustration. Evidence-based pathways to meaning in life, such as religion, social connectedness, and self-connectedness, were also reviewed and recommended for preventing or reducing the experience of meaninglessness and suicidal thoughts. The paper concluded that suicide prevention efforts in the country and suicide-specific psychotherapeutic interventions could be more effective if they go beyond mental health awareness creation to involve strategies that could promote a subjective sense of meaning in life despite the changing social realities in the country. Future research could focus on measures of meaning in life to determine the extent to which Nigerians feel their lives are significant, purposeful, and coherent amidst external social factors. Findings from such research could point the suicide prevention efforts in the right direction.