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cause and effect of suicide
The cause and effects of suicide
suicide causes and effects
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“Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.” - Phil Donahue. As a complex, tragic public health issue, suicide occurs in men significantly more often than in women. Suicide is simply defined as the act of intentionally ending one’s own life, but the factors that play into a person making that decision are anything but simple. The most obvious and severe effect of suicide is the loss of a valuable, meaningful human life. According to Harvard School of Public Health (n.d.), suicide affects parents, children, siblings, friends, lovers and spouses; the loss for society is psychological, spiritual, and financial. People who lose a loved one to suicide often experience devastating effects and deal with a complex grief. These “suicide survivors” typically feel a range of emotions from sadness, blame, and guilt to extreme anger and confusion. “Suicide among males is four times higher than among females and represents 79% of all U.S. suicides” (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, 2012). This gender paradox is one of the most compelling components regarding who is most at risk to attempt suicide. Why is it that men commit suicide more often than women? More than four times as many men as women die by suicide because depressed men are less likely to seek out help, men typically use more violent, lethal methods and cannot be resuscitated, and men carry the pressure of employment, providing for and protecting a family, and maintaining relationships.
In the past decade, suicide rates have been on the incline; especially among men. According to the New York Times (2013), “From 1999 to 2010, the suicide rate among Americans ages 35 to 64 rose by nearly 30 percent… The suicid...
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...o is most affected by suicide?. Retrieved from http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/means-matter/basic-suicide-facts/who/
Samaritans. (2012, September). Masculinities. Retrieved from http://www.samaritans.org/sites/default/files/kcfinder/files/Men and Suicide Research Report 210912.pdf
The New York Times. (2013, May 2). Suicide rates rise sharply in U.S.. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/03/health/suicide-rate-rises-sharply-in-us.html
WebMD, LLC. (n.d.). Depression in men. Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com/depression/depression-men
Weissmann, J. (2013, September 3). The overhyped rise of stay-at-home dads. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/09/the-overhyped-rise-of-stay-at-home-dads/279279/
Wang, W., Parker, K., & Taylor , P. (2013, May 29). Breadwinner moms. Retrieved from http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2013/05/29/breadwinner-moms/
Suicide displays wide variation in race, gender, religion, and socioeconomic lines. Males are three to four times more likely to commit suicide than females (Moore, Recker, & Heirigs, 2014). By studying suicide and their triggers we can isolate issues in society and address them accordingly. That is a reason we need to know which changes are making more impact on individuals the rapid or slow ones and how they are affecting individuals’ acceptance within their groups?, Is technology advancement part of the problem? How is society facing suicides and what has been done to slow down the suicides rates? Which could be the lowest level where we can teach about reasons to commit suicide? By answering these questions I believe that more data can be collected to understand reason individuals commit suicide and society is deal with the
"Suicide in the U.S.: Statistics and Prevention." NIMH RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2014.
World health Organization (WHO) (2011). Facts and figures, Suicide. Retrieved November 2, 2011 from http://www.WHO.int
According to an article written by Daniel Reidenberg, every year in America, there are over thirty-four thousand deaths due to suicide. Every thirty-eight seconds there is a person attempting to take their own life. Every fifteen minutes, someone succeeds in their attempt of suicide. Reidenberg mentions that in the last decade, the number of deaths by suicide has increased. He states that we, the people of America, need to take mental illnesses more seriously. They are just as bad as any other disease, just a disease that unfortunately lands in the brain and changes one’s “thoughts, feelings, and behavior.” Mental illnesses are a huge cause of suicide. According to a presentation made by Dr. Lakshmi Vijayakumar, the suicide rates in the Americas have increased by forty percent since 2000. Marsha Linehan preaches about how the suicide rates today are the highest they have ever been. Linehan, Dr. Vijayakumar and Reidenberg, despite being unable to predict the future of suicide rates, all know that without a change in the way we treat it,
There have been many instances of suicide that have occurred in the past years at universities across the country, and since it is such a sensitive subject, there have not been nearly enough coverage as this topic deserves, considering this issue does not seem to be going away. When collecting data about suicide statistics, the age range is broken down as people ages 15-24, which spans most developmental years. Within this bracket are college-age students and this age-group has by far the most troubling statistics around it.
A mother finds her 17 year old teenage son hanging from the rafters of their basement. To hear of this occurrence is not rare in society today. Every 90 minutes a teenager in this country commits suicide. Suicide is the third leading cause of death for 15-24 year olds. The National suicide rate has increased 78% between 1952 and 1992. The rate for 15-19 year olds rose from two per 100,000 to 12.9, more than 600 percent. (Special report, Killing the Pain, Rae Coulli)
Men are more likely to carry out a suicide and women are more likely to attempt
So begin the episodes of anguished soul-searching, of horrific "if-onlys" experienced by the family members of countless suicides. Anyone who has faced what Mr. and Mrs. A now grapple with knows that the girl is wrong: they will not be better off, not feel happier, without her. Yet each year, thousands of suicide victims express similar convictions: I am killing myself, they reassure us, for your own good. This thinking – this appeal for selflessness that our society cannot condone – where does it come from? Why, in truth, do people kill themselves?
Among American civilians, whites have historically and significantly led the way in the rates of suicides. Although leveling off after the 1990’s, the rate of white suicides has still been almost twice as much as minority groups. It has also been shown that males commit suicide significantly more than females.
The rates of suicide when focusing on gender differ from region to region, providing conflicting information on whether males or females are more at risk for suicide. Of teenagers aged 15-19 in ______, 9 out of 100,000 kids successfully committed suicide from 2005-2010 (Suicide Attempts)*. LGBT or other sexual minority children and teenagers also are at risk for committing suicide. Approximately 1 in 3 youths that consider themselves part of a sexual minority reported attempting suicide, compared to 1 in 12 heterosexual youths (Intersecting Identities)*. Warning signs of suicide include depression and withdrawal, risky or harmful activities, showing an interest in death or “making comments that things would be better without them” (Teen Bullying & Suicide)*.
Suicide is a sad story many people are reluctant to approach. But when somebody nearest to them kills themselves, they feel the compelling guilt of trying to understand the motive behind the death. It is a complex and rather devastating subject. Many who kill themselves can never come back to tell us what happened and why it did. Suicide takes an emotional toll on it's survivors and wreck havoc in the wake of the surrounding victims. What causes suicide is a probing series of many theories, and yet not one definitive answer. The prevention of suicide is also difficult to pinpoint, but only because the intent is unknown. The importance of researching the motives of the suicidal is essential to modern humanity as a whole, because in the era we live in, suicide rates are climbing faster than ever. Understanding the driving force behind suicide is what can help the field of social science to save the conscience mind of many people from self-destruction - and save their lives, and the emotions of their loved ones.
A useful framework to analyze male suicide is Baumeister’s escape theory of suicide. This theory states that suicide is a method of problem solving which is used when people are unable to recognize other options for themselves in stressful situations. It occurs when people become fixated on their failures (Coleman, Kaplan and Casey, 2011). Studies have shown that men, specifically unemployed men, tend to score higher on scales which measure social perfectionism (Wyllie et al, 2012). Social perfectionism is defined as the belief that one must always meet the expectations of others and society even when those expectations are unrealistic. The unrealistic cultural expectations that males strive to achieve is likely associated with cultural expectations of gender behaviour, showing the interplay between anthropological and psychological factors. These high levels of social perfectionism can lead to fixation on failures and lead to a narrowed state of mind, or cognitive rigidity. This cognitive rigidity can drive men to suicide as they are not able to recognize other methods of coping with their stress and problems. A point of note is that certain aspects of masculinity, such as fathering, can play a positive role and be protective against suicide (Coleman, Kaplan and Casey, 2011). In fact, studies have shown that scoring higher on scales measuring masculinity can be protective against suicide (Coleman, Kaplan and Casey, 2011). These studies show that masculinity itself is not inherently problematic, but that the feeling of inadequacy at failing to live by a masculine set of standards is the main cause for
Suicide is when someone takes their own life. There are various reasons why someone might end their own life. Most of the time depression has a significant impact towards suicide. For the 2020 measurement, the value we are working toward is to reduce the rate of suicidal deaths. The baseline measurement is 11.3 suicides per 100,000 population occurred in 2007. The target is to bring suicide rates to 10.2 suicides per 100,000 population. The target- setting method is a 10 percent improvement on suicidal deaths. The data that is measured is measured by the numerator representing the number of deaths due to suicide and the denominator representing the number of people per
“Suicide is not chosen; it happens when pain exceeds resources for coping with pain” (I-10). Ending a life is a big step in the wrong direction for most. Suicide is the killing of oneself. Suicide happens every day, and everyday a family’s life is changed. Something needs to be done to raise awareness of that startling fact. Suicide is a much bigger problem than society will admit; the causes, methods, and prevention need to be discussed more openly.
Some perpetrators, when realizing their actions, also commit suicide. Many more Americans die from suicide than homicide. Most of these suicides involve male victims, some of whom kill thei...