Teen Suicide Essay

Suicide of any kind is an act in which a person takes his or her own life. In fact, suicide is a prevalent cause of death among America's youth today. Every day more than 1000 adolescents will think about suicide and eighteen will be successful in committing it. It is an ever-growing problem that can be described as unnecessary and uncalled for. Knowledge and understanding are key factors to preventing adolescent suicide. The problem will usually originate from a period of depression, either as a medical concern, or simply because of a saddened event in a person's life. The bottom line is, suicide among adolescent is not a rare event, and it may be preventable with the proper treatment. Some other the leading causes of suicide among teenagers include bullying, depression, accident, and more.

Suicide is the third leading cause of death for 15 to 24 year olds and the sixth leading cause of death for 5 to 14 year olds, barely surpassed by car accidents and homicide (kidshealth.org). The question is why would someone want to die? Research shows that most adolescents attempting to commit suicide regret it at the last minute and wish they could live after all. Faced with the certainty of their own death, most said they suddenly realized that their problems weren't so big that they somehow couldn't be solved. Their problems weren't so bad that somehow they couldn't find a way to survive them. In the second before they almost died, they knew they wanted to live (Nelson & Galas,1994, pg.12).

Many events and warning signs lead up to a suicide. Thoughts and attempts of suicide are commonly instigated by the medical condition, depression. The person often experiences strong feelings of stress, confusion, self-doubt, the pr...

... middle of paper ...

... preventable however, in more ways than one. Greta was a firm believer in the age-old saying that sometimes the best way to overcome something is to understand it. Adults need to take the possibility of adolescent suicide seriously even if their community has not experienced one. Adolescent depression and thoughts of suicide are more common than many adults assume and there are as many as fifty to one hundred suicide attempts for every young person who actually takes his or her own life. The loving concern of today's busy parent or the help of a caring friend is important in helping a teen because it lets them know that someone does in fact care about them. Suicide is avoidable, but actions must be taken quickly. Maybe then we can assist in putting a stop to the third leading cause of death in young people today. (.uky.edu/Agriculture/Sociology/suicide.htm).