Soni Schilz Causal Analysis Suicide is a primary communal health matter. It is the tenth leading cause of death overall in the United States and the second leading cause of death among individuals between the ages of 10 and 34.(CDC, 2017) Every day more and more people are taking their own lives. Suicide is a national problem caused by three main categories; biopsychosocial, environmental, and sociocultural. Biopsychosocial causes account for most suicides and suicide attempts. These causes include mental health disorders such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and anxiety disorders. About 90 percent of the people who commit suicide have a mental illness at the time of their death. Mental health can affect people …show more content…
of any race, age or gender. Depression is the top risk factor relating to suicides and is prevalent in our country. It can distort a person’s thinking to the point that they do not see there is any other way out of their problems other than completing suicide.
Depression can be described as an emotional state that can have feelings that range from mild sadness to total hopelessness. Anxiety disorders are also rising in numbers every day. In a world where everything moves so quickly and there is a demand for perfection it has become a superb environment to feed anxiety. Bipolar and schizophrenia are also players in the suicidal ring. They are mind altering disorder and when in a bipolar or schizophrenia episode, it is difficult to make decisions; especially when those decisions can be fatal. There are additional biopsychological causes that should be discussed too. They include substance abuse, family history of suicide or previous suicide attempts. Substance abuse,whether it is alcohol or other drugs, will be negative to a productive life. It can be especially dangerous when it is combined with other factors such as an underlying mental disorder. Alcohol and drugs are mood altering substances. Whether it be a stimulant or depressant, there is a point of coming down from that state, that a person either has to feed the need again or suffer the withdraw. Both options leave your mind in an unclear state to make proper decisions. According to the research team, led by Dr. David …show more content…
A. Brent from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, “Parental history of a suicide attempt conveys a nearly five-fold increased odds of suicide attempt in offspring at risk for mood disorder, even after adjusting for the familial transmission of mood disorder.” (Caba, 2014) There is a fine line between the biopsychosocial cause of family history of suicide and the environmental factor of being exposed to suicide. The environmental factors that increase the risk for suicide and can be triggered from stressful life experiences or situations.
These include, but aren’t limited to, a social loss, access to lethal means, being exposed to suicide or being a victim of bullying. As mentioned above, being exposed to suicide, which is sometimes referred to as suicide contagion, increases the likelihood of suicide attempt. There is some controversy that suicide is “contagious” and this suggestion has always been disputable. Another environmental cause is access to lethal means, including firearms and drugs. Although there are laws and measures required to be able to purchase or own a firearm, there are many cases where individuals have access to them via friend or family members. It is important to always use safety precautions as an owner of a firearm such as locking them up to prevent accidental access. Suicide attempts by drug overdose are an expanding healthcare problem, now reaching widespread proportions. These drug overdoses are by means of both prescription and illegal drugs. When in desperation people do not look into the possible effects of a failed suicide attempt, they are just desperate to make the pain stop however they can. Since drugs are easily obtainable this route is near the tops of the list for suicide attempts, especially in the elderly who usually have access to several prescription medications. It is no surprise that there is an epidemic of bullying in today’s
world so it is recognizable that this would also be a cause of suicide. Bullying, can happen in person but also cyber bullying is a growing problem in today’s society. It has become easier to bully people using social media or other internet methods. Approximately 43% of the students report experiencing cyberbullying during their lifetime and 15% of students admitted to cyberbullying others during their lifetime. (Patchin,2015) The last environmental cause, to be discussed, is a social loss. This could be the loss of a person, pet or job. These losses affect people differently and can cause some individuals to tail spin out of control. Whether it be the loss of a person through death or divorce it can be devastating to a person’s emotional wellbeing. The loss of a job can become a vision of financial ruins that in turn cause an overwhelming fear of never being able to recover. That fear can consume a person’s thoughts and lead to suicide as a way out. Lastly, the sociocultural cause of suicide is the feeling of being isolated or not accepted by others. Feelings of isolation can be caused by many different situations such as sexual orientation, gender identity or even religious beliefs. It seems more now than ever, people are revealing nontraditional sexual orientations and also gender identity. Although there is more support available in modern day for these sociocultural causes there are just as many people stating it is wrong. Being a person with nontraditional sexual orientation or gender identity is stressful enough to sort through in private, but today it is thrown into the public view facing controversy. This adds pressure and feelings of not being worthy to others and can cause them to spin into the top risk factor of suicide, as stated above, depression. Transgender and people who have same sex relationships are often times rejected by their family and have a lack of social support. These individuals can also experience prejudice and discrimination as well as harassment, bullying and victimization. Any one of these may increase their risk of suicidal feelings, and a lot of times they will experience several of these inflictions at the same time. It can be detrimental to be different in a society that is so judgemental. In closing, it is evident that though there are many causes of suicide. There is also a very thin line where biopsychosocial, environmental and sociocultural causes cross over into each other. It is important to know and recognize these causes. The rate at which people are dying by suicide is increasing every year. Each year, 34,000 people commit suicide, about twice as many deaths as caused by homicide-about one death per 15 minutes.(Melnick, 2014) It is likely every person will be affected by suicide at least once in their lifetime, possibly more. People need to be educated and aware of the causes to take the first steps necessary in recognizing someone who may need help. Works Cited CDC (Ed.) (2017). Suicide Statistics — AFSP. Retrieved April 20, 2017, from https://afsp.org/about-suicide/suicide-statistics/ Caba, J. (2014, December 31). Could Suicidal Behavior Be Genetic? Retrieved April 22, 2017, from http://www.medicaldaily.com/family-history-suicide-parents-suicidal-behavior-could-influence-childs-315954 Patchin, J. (2015, October 21). Our latest research on cyberbullying among school students. Retrieved April 22, 2017, from http://cyberbullying.org/2015-data Melnick, M. (2014, August 11). Robin Williams' Death Reveals How Hard It Can Be To Climb Out Of Depression. Retrieved April 22, 2017, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/11/robin-williams-depression_n_5670256.html
People have different reasons to die by their own hands. Emotional, environmental, and, mental are the three categories that most people's reasons fall into. Undoubtedly, emotional causes often spur from breakups, or other drastic negative changes in social life. Oftenly, teens will commit suicide to “ escape feelings of pain, rejection, hurt, being unloved, victimization, or loss”(Tracy, 2016). Consequently, when teens have no solutions for their problems they feel that suicide is the solution. “Bullying, cyber bullying, abuse, detrimental home life, loss of a loved one or even a severe breakup” are ways that the environment can increase the chances of voluntary death (Tracy, 2016). Also, “Most teens who attempt suicide do so because of
Suicide is the eleventh most common cause of death in the United States. According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, a person takes their own life once every fourteen minutes in the United States (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention [AFSP], 2011). Still, with suicide rates so high, suicide is a taboo topic in our society. Though suicide is intended to end one person’s pain, it causes an immeasurable amount of pain and suffering to loved ones close to the deceased.
There are many risk factors associated with suicidal ideation and attempts. Risk factors include self-destructive behavior which may be related to life events, unfavourable home environments, or a genetic component. Personality traits like aggression and hostility or feeling introverted or hopeless play a role in suicides. Loss of control, poor problem solving techniques, or rigid cognitive life styles are also characteristics of suicides. Similar traits are found in depressive behaviors. Teenagers may have been exposed to others who have had suicidal behaviors.
The only tools that eventually predicted the suicides were the Hopelessness Scale and the pessimism items on the Beck Depression Inventory. This study is to prove the importance of hopelessness as an indicator of eventual suicide. Another study proved the extremity of suicidal attempts is more correlated with hopelessness than depression. Hopelessness seems to be more correlated with suicide in patients with alcohol and drug abusers. To run the experiment, researchers administered the self rating scale and the standardized assessment as soon as the patient was willing and ready to take them.
Suicide is arguably one of the most major controversies. Suicide is the act of taking one’s own life as a result of a psychiatric disorder that sometimes is brought on with certain life threatening illnesses, stress, genetics, or other influences like physical or emotional abuse. There are many conditions that are known for having suicidal thoughts and ideation as a side effect; major depression, manic depression, or bipolar disorder, anxiety, borderline personality disorder, and many more. Most suicidal individuals want to avoid emotional or physical pain by killing themselves to escape the pain they can’t bear and solve their insoluble problem. Sometimes, suicide is also done out of anger. Suicide may not be the answer to their problems, but sometimes suicide is the only way to escape.
These are often complex and involve a range of different factors. Difficulty in relationships, as in the Social Model, is a common reason. Repeated conflict and difficult family systems often lead to mental illness. Events that effect a young persons independence, identity and autonomy can have an impact on a young person. “Fleming et al(2007) found that knowing someone who has attempted suicide. Having symptoms of depression, alcohol misuse, and lesbian, gay and transgender relationships were associated with an increased risk of suicide.” (Claveirole and Gaughan, 2011). A young person is often more vulnerable to suicide if they suffer from depression, low self-esteem, and hopelessness. Often those who abuse substances; are aggressive; have risky sexual behaviour; and suffer from health problems have a higher rate in mental illness. Having a relative with a mental illness creates a risk for a person to develop mental health problems. Stressful situations can lead to illness, for example, financial problems, a loved ones death or divorce. Brain injuries and abuse as a child are also risk factors. Lack of friends or if a person has had a mental illness in the past means that a person is more
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 however is typically caused by more than just depression. Many things increase one’s risk for suicide, including substance abuse, past attempts, the severity of depression symptoms, and bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder highly influences suicide, as it frequently goes unnoticed for a very long time, and can be mistaken for general depression and irritability. In 2006, Williams had an interview with Terry Gross from Fresh Air in which he said he had depressive and manic episodes, but had never been diagnosed with clinical depression or bipolar disorder.
Before elaborating on what causes suicide it should be understood what we mean by cause. The Oxford English Dictionary defines cause as “a person or thing that gives rise to an action, phenomenon or condition.” This essay will in part examine the methods employed by suicidal patients though this is secondary to whatever caused them to make this decision. The essay will consider the epidemiology of suicide (also regarding suicide clustering) followed by the potential genetic risk factors. This will be followed by the psychological factors such as depressive disorders, and finally the environmental risk factors such as low socioeconomic status and substance abuse.
Suicidal tendencies in adolescents begin around the ages of 10 through 19, with warning signs, prevention, treatment, and the causes and effects it has on the human psyche. Suicide is when someone decides to take his or her own life because they are suffering from a painful mental illness and have lost hope in who they are. Because when hope is lost, some feel like suicide is the only solution to truly make the adolescent pain go away permanently. Scientific evidence that shows the people who have committed suicide have a diagnosable treatable mental disorder or substance abuse disorder (The National Institute of Mental Health, 2010). Those people might have been suffering from illnesses such as depression, mood disorders, personality disorders, and or suffering from bullying.
Committing suicide probably sounds like a foreign idea to most people, but to the people who think about it, they deal with it every day. More importantly, the question is what leads people to kill themselves? In general, most people do not want to actually kill themselves, even though many people joke about it on a daily basis. Being a human, we all have a certain amount of will to live. Depression is the major cause for suicidal thoughts and ideas. After a long enough period of time, people become worn down and become less and less happy.
academic failure, financial stableness, not reaching the goal that is desired and many more. According to the National Association for Suicide Prevention everyone has different reasons for being depressed and the extent of that depression will also vary from person to person. Some common causes of depression that have been found to lead to college suicide are not feeling loved or understood, the feeling of rejection, trouble with friends and family, or the feeling of being “no good”, and not reaching the academic standards (42). Kay Jamison, a professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University said in the Universi...
Depression has a high rate of co-occurrence with both anxiety (up to 60%) and substance use disorders. 25 million Americans suffer from depression each year. Over 50 percent of all people who die by suicide suffer from major depression. Depression is one of the main causes of suicide or suicidal thoughts and one of the things that triggers depression is not getting enough sleep. However, schools still start too early knowing these devastating, both mental and physical risks exist.
“Studies show that untreated depression is the number one cause of teen suicide. Depression is an illness that affects twelve percent of teens. More than 60 percent of all people who kill themselves have major depression.” (Rohdart). There is no reason to not think depression is one of the top reasons why people take their life. “The pain of existence often becomes too much for severely depressed people to bare. A lot has been learned about suicide just from reading suicidal experience from the victims’ stories including: notes, diaries, and autopsies.” (Vorvick). Many go on with their life blaming their self for what happened to their loved one that has chosen suicide could have done something more to help. They may also keep themselves from creating any new relationships due to the excruciating pain they have experienced through a life take by suicide. Deaths that involve a mixture of things including hanging, overdosing, slashing, jumping show a big desire to die. “Repeatedly, it has been found that when a person is prevented from completing suicide, he or she is extremely grateful later. With rare exception, a suicidal person is ambivalent about dying. Often, if the pain can be reduced only slightly, the person will want to live and can proceed to have a rich and rewarding life.” (Portner) Anyone and everyone can be
Suicide is one of the most common death around the world. Life is just taking away very easy by someone or yourself. We have study the causes of someone killing themselves, but our human behavior can easy change and eventually make that deciduous. The causes and effects of suicide are depression, the past meaning your life before, and feeling unloved or lonely. The effects are the people that loved you are going to be depress, never reach those goals that you set for yourself, and people that loved you will feel the guilt.