Each year, thousands of children are dying, not from cancer, getting shot, or car accidents, but by their own hands. They make the choice to take their lives; they commit suicide. To begin, what is “Suicide”? According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, suicide is the act or instance of taking one’s own life voluntarily and intentionally. The number of teenagers who take their lives is rapidly increasing each year. Teen suicide is escalating out of control and no one seems to realize just how severe the issue has become. Every day and average of 18 young Americans end their lives, one every 90 minutes. The National Institute of Mental Health believes that as many as 50-150 suicides are attempted for each one that is completed , meaning that for every noted suicide completed, about 50-150 more attempts are made (Adolescent Suicide). With these alarming statistics people need to be more aware of the causes and warning signs that often lead to suicide in young adolescents.
By being aware of the causes of teen suicide, one has the ability to prevent an occurrence from happening. Many of the factors that contribute to teen suicide are not new, but most people do not connect the effects that they can have on teens. The leading factors that contribute to suicide among teens include: psychological disorders, drug and alcohol abuse, physical or sexual abuse, poor relationships with family and peers, or sudden trauma (teen Suicide: Systematic Analysis of Quality). Psychological disorders tend to include depression and bipolar disorder. Depression is the most common of the two because a person usually looses interest in their favorite activities and feels as though they can no longer go on. Drug and alcohol abuse are also major causes of ...
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... purpose for living. Teen suicide can be prevented and it is our duty to help prevent it.
Works Cited
Cohen, M., Bright, G., Dudenhoeffer, F., Guthrie Jr., A., Hammar, S., Ice, A., et al. (1980). Teenage Suicide. Pediatrics, 66(1), 144. Retrieved from Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection database.
Nock, M. (2008). About Teen Suicide & Suicide. Retrieved February 24, 2012 from Kids Health website: www.kidshealth.org/teen.
Szumilas, M., Kutcher, S. (2009). Teen Suicide Information on the Internet: A systematic Analysis of Quality. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 54(9), 596-604. Retrieved from Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection database.
Wodarski, J., & Harris, P. (1987). Adolescent Suicide: A Review of Influence and the Means for Prevention. Social Work, 32(6), 477-43. Retrieved from Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection database.
The main argument in this article is that there needs to be more ways to help people that are suicidal. The main point of this article is that they want to people to be more aware of how to help someone, and it is also full of information. The topics that are covered in the article are the issues at hand, the background with suicide in teens, and the next step that society needs to take. This article is about helping people that are suicidal and how to help them and let us know the next step that we need to take.
Approximately, five teenagers attempted suicide each day (Haesler 2010 para. 1). The fact makes some group of people (especially the ones who are part of the society) concerned. Somehow, youth suicide will result in an unintentional sign for help (Carr-Gregg 2003, para. 1). Communities related to the victims will be affected mentally and they will feel grief, pain, and loss that are so great that it overcomes the economic ...
Vidourek, Rebecca A., Ph.D., and Keith A. King, Ph.D. “Teen Depression and Suicide: Effective Prevention and Intervention Strategies.” Prevention Researcher Nov. 2012: 15-17. Print.
Her eyes were heavy, her body weak. As she crawled into the bathroom two feet away, Abby felt her body slowly succumbing to the numbness. All of her pain would be gone in less than 10 minutes, so why would she want to turn back? What about the senior trip Abby had planned with her best friend? What about the chair at the dinner table that would now be vacant? A couple of hours later Abby’s family came home from her little sister’s soccer game. Little did they know what they would find as they approached the top of the stairs. Her little sister, Ali, stood still as she looked down at her feet. There on the cold floor lay her big sister, her role model, and her super hero. Ali was crushed when she saw the pill bottle in her hand and the pale color of her skin. Her mom fell to her knees screaming and crying, wondering where she
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)
Suicide is one of the youth’s ways out of their problems, not only in the United States but the world. What does drive teens to suicidal thoughts and actions? What are the ways communities help prevent teenage suicide? Perhaps there are signs can be pointed out that would indicate a problem. In two surveys in 1996, both reported in the Journal of Adolescent Health, both also asked relatively the same questions of the violent actions that some people may see in life’. Surprisingly, the numbers for many of the questions were the same, such as teens who witnessed a shooting first hand; they both were about 37% (Pastore, Fisher, and Friedman 321-2). Using information such as this, one cannot blame the recent rise in teenage suicide with the violent problems of life, but more along the lines of depression caused by multiple things, for instance body image. According to many researchers, alcohol is many times a solution to a teen’s problem with life and the hardships people face in it. Many people in the United States overlook the major problem of teenage suicide; this is a mistake
In 2011, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention established that 6.3% of high school students have attempted suicide in the preceding year. Given the lethal consequences of suicide attempts, determining risk factors among adolescents becomes especially important. Generally speaking, psychiatric disorders and substantial psychosocial impairments are known to be associated with suicide attempts. However, previous research attempting to identify specific risk factors in adolescents is somewhat ambiguous. Nonetheless, one thing is consistent. When measuring the risk of an adolescent committing suicide, information must come from a variety of sources and perspectives. These sources may include but are not limited to a clinical interview with the adolescent, information provided by the parent or guardian, standardized assessments and previous psychiatric documents from the individual.
Teen suicide should never be on the minds of our youth. It’s a dreadful circumstance that happens almost on a daily basis. I chose this topic for my core assessment because I can relate to this topic. My cousin committed suicide when he was 19 years old. The pain and suffering that we as a family went through can’t even be described. Some say that people who commit suicide are selfish cowards who don’t think of their families when they act. Others say that the individual isn’t in their right mind to comprehend what is going on. I usually tend to lean towards the last assumption because personally, I feel that my cousin never committed suicide, his state of mind did. Teen suicide is one of the leading causes of death for adolescents in addition to accidents such as vehicles and drugs. My future career in law enforcement will deal with teen suicides. It’s inevitable. In addition, it’s the police officers responsibility as well as the families, and schools to detect the risk and prevent these suicidal behaviors by these teenagers. Yet, how are people supposed to know what teens are feeling deep down inside? Most teenagers can hide or act their feelings like professionals. Personally the best way to know what your teens are thinking or going through is talk to them on a daily basis; whether it’s at the dinner table or even while watching television. These measures will change your teenager’s life because he/she will know that someone cares and loves them.
Depression in teenagers is a very serious condition. Many are thought to be attention seekers, moody or just going through a phase typical of the age, yet, each year the amount of teenagers committing suicide is alarming. Suicide is actually the third leading cause of death in people between the ages of 10 and 24 years old at a rate of approximately 4,600 deaths a year (Pappas, 2016). More teenagers die from committing suicide than from car accidents, cancer, heart disease, stroke, pneumonia, AIDS and influenza combined.
A problem today that should be addressed is suicide among teens and young adults. Several lives are taken every year due to several unknown and known factors. Terribly shameful knowing all the help and hope that’s out there for victims, while on the other hand none of the victims may have ever even known a proper way to seek help (Miller). Risk factors leading up to suicide (also the known factors) include but not limited to: mental illness, childhood issues, isolation and loneliness, bullying and broader issues such as loss and personal pain (Bower). Not only should suicide be looked at as a big deal it should be looked at for what it truly is; “the third leading cause of death for ages 15-24 (Bower).” The problem does not stop when no longer mentioned, that only leaves room for more problems to occur. Not everyone with suicidal thoughts is willing to seek help, making the problem too common, something our society must deal with more and more today (Teen). Suicide is an important issue that should not be overlooked or merely talked
There are multiple negative effects of teen suicide. Large numbers of teens that do not have support from friends, peer groups, family, or religious association may and can feel isolated from the world and disconnected. (Larry’s). The tragedy of a young person dying as a result of overwhelming hopelessness is devastating to everyone. Suicide rates differ between boys and girls. Girls think about and attempt suicide about twice as often as boys, and attempt suicide by overdosing. Boys die by suicide about four times as often as girls, due to using more lethal methods, such as firearms, hanging, or jumping from heights. (Nock). There are several different factors that may lead a teenager to take their life, but the most common is depression. Feelings of hopelessness and anxiety, along with feelings of being trapped in a life that one cannot handle, are contributors to teen suicide. It is important to be on the lookout for signs that your teen may attempt suicide. Some of the warning signs are similar to normal adolescent behavior. At times, preventing teen suicide means treating teen depression. Since 75 percent of the people who commit suicide are depressed (according to the University of Texas), it is a beneficial start to begin treating the symptoms of teen depression. (Teen Suicide Overview).
Now the eighth-leading cause of death overall in the U.S. and the third-leading cause of death for young people between the ages of 15 and 24 years, suicide has become the subject of much recent focus. U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher, for instance, recently announced his Call to Action to Prevent Suicide, 1999, an initiative intended to increase public awareness, promote intervention strategies, and enhance research. The media, too, has been paying very close attention to the subject of suicide, writing articles and books and running news stories. Suicide among our nation’s youth, a population very vulnerable to self-destructive emotions, has perhaps received the most discussion of late. Maybe this is because teenage suicide seems the most tragic—lives lost before they’ve even started. Yet, while all of this recent focus is good, it’s only the beginning. We cannot continue to lose so many lives unnecessarily.
Suicide is the third leading cause of death for 15 to 24 year olds, and the sixth leading cause for 5 to 14 year olds. Suicide accounts for twelve percent of the mortality in the adolescent and young adult group. Young males are more common than young woman suicides. These are only children who followed through with the suicide. For every successful suicide there are fifty to one hundred adolescent suicide attempts. In other words, more than five percent of all teenagers tried to commit suicide, and the number is still rising. It is scary to think that four percent of high school students have made a suicide attempt within the previous twelve months. In a small safe town like Avon, in the Avon High School where you and I practically live, you can see the faces of 22 students that have tried to commit suicide. That is enough to fill a classroom.
Keith A. King, and Rebecca A. Vidourek. "Teen Depression and Suicide: Effective Prevention and Intervention Strategies." The Prevention Researcher (2012): 15. Web.