Imagine someone’s best friend dies. Later this person discovers that their friend commit suicide. Envision this person’s feelings and all of the painful thoughts and memories going through their mind. This person probably feels intense sadness and maybe even betrayal. Do not forget the suicide victim’s parents. Their own child felt worthless enough to kill themselves. The students at the victim’s school have confusion, start rumors, and gossip. All of the victim’s friends feel as if the suicide happened because of them. Everyone feels as if they could have done something to prevent this tragic event. Suicide is a social issue rising in severity. Each year, over a million people commit suicide throughout the world. Suicide has the name of a leading cause of death in adolescents. Suicide, a worldwide social issue, occurs when a person’s life reaches an all-time low and usually happens because of untreated mental illnesses; suicide affects everyone that the victim has ever come in contact with and suicide rates can be reduced by people having an increased knowledge about what suicide is and how to help a friend if they are having suicidal thoughts or actions.
“Suicide is the act of deliberately killing oneself. People willingly take part in many activities that carry a risk of death. But to be considered suicide, death must be self-inflicted—that is, it must result from self-injury or from purposefully exposing oneself to immediate fatal harm” (Kaslow and Dunn). The reasons for committing suicide are often complex and the effects can be catastrophic to everyone that took part in the victim’s life. Suicidal thoughts and behavior exist in many teens and young adults however; statistics show that the elderly have a higher rate of suici...
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...inate suicide from happening, there are many ways to help prevent it.
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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?
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...
There are many growing issues in our society, and suicide is one of the largest. Teens everywhere are finding reasons to end their life. The leading cause of suicide in America is a mental disease, next comes depression, and then the feeling
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.
Almost every day we hear about someone attempting or committing suicide. Whether it is on the internet, television, newspaper, or even by word, suicide is a harsh reality that is overlooked and undermined. According to one online article, “Teen Suicide Statistics,”
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)
World health Organization (WHO) (2011). Facts and figures, Suicide. Retrieved November 2, 2011 from http://www.WHO.int
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
Suicide Prevention. (2014, January 9).Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved March 5, 2014, from http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pu
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Teen suicide as an extremely complex tragedy, that unfortunately happens all the time throughout the United States. There are friends, parents, and peers that are facing the misfortune of losing a young, close, loved one to suicide. Most people don't realize that adolescent suicide is common. They don't want to believe how often this occurs in the secure environment found in the small towns of America, as well as in its largest cities.
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.
New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004. Print. The. Suicide and Suicidal Behaviors. Suicide : Medline Plus.
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?