Suicide among college students

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SUICIDE AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS
Suicide has become a critical, national problem and the extent of this is mind-boggling. Suicides have been proven to be one of the leading causes of death among college students. According to Webters dictionary “suicide is the act killing oneself on purpose”. It derived from the Latin sui, meaning “self”, and caedere, which means “to kill”. But this is just a definition, because an actual suicide holds different meanings to people such as tragic, shocking, a relief, a cry for help, a shame, heroic, the right choice, punishment, revenge, protest, anger, a mistake, desperate, hurtful and many more. But why do people, like college students who have their entire future ahead of them, simply give up hope and turn their heads away from life and commit suicide. There are several causes of suicide, recent incidents of suicide on college campuses, warning signs from a suicidal. I blame the Constitution and the United States law for not taking any hard initiative on the subject of suicide. I also impose the choice of the media, which is reflecting and portraying suicide towards a wrong direction. However most important questions remain: can the growing epidemic of suicide be solved, what are communities doing about it and what can they do to help?
The first and outmost question that comes in my mind is why do college students commit suicide? Why would the quiet, shy chemistry major student sitting next to you in the library jump from his 14th floor dorm? Why would a talented athlete on the basketball team use a gun to kill herself? The causes for committing suicide can range from depression, family and relationship problems, expectations, pressure to succeed and 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...

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... suicide help phone line and on campus psychologists. But just to be more cautious, all the students in college should know more about the growing and serious epidemic of suicide. Students should put up flyers informing them on the subject of suicide and like any other societies they should have fundraisers to raise money in creating suicide help line and psychiatric offices for college students off campus. Be aware of their environment and inform any sign of suicide among their peers so that they can immediately get help before it gets too late. It depends on individual, some college students manage to survive and even flourish under the most difficult circumstances, while others flounder under the same conditions.

Works Cited:

Steven, Swanson. “Tribune National Correspondent”. Chicago Tribune Oct. 2004: 8.

Colt, George Howe. The Enigma of Suicide. New York: Touchstome/Simon &
Schuster,1993.

Portner, Jessica. One in Thirteen. Maine: Robins Lane Press, 2001.

Franz, Kafka. “The Metamorphosis.” The Idea of the Human. Trans. Willa and Edwin
Muir. Minerva Press, 1992. 402-447.

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