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Adolescents: The Third Leading Cause Of Suicide

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Suicide is the act of purposely killing of oneself and considered as a serious public health problem. Most often, suicidal individuals are trying to avoid emotional or physical pain that they cannot bear; sometimes, they are very angry and take their lives to last out others (Piotrowski, N. & Hartmann, P., 2016). According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that in 2012, approximately 40,000 suicides were reported in the United States, making suicide the 10th leading reported cause of death for persons aged ≥ 16 years. From 2000 to 2012, rates of suicide among persons in this age group increased 21.1% from 13.3 per 100,000 to 16.1. The World Health Organization reported that many millions of people are affected or experience suicide …show more content…

It is well-known that adolescents face a variety of demanding challenges as they make the transition from high school to young adulthood. Per Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for youth between the ages 10 and 24, suicide is the third leading cause of death. It results in approximately 4,000 lives each year. Youth are more likely to engage in antisocial behaviors and experience adverse life-threatening conditions, such as being bullied by their peers, substance abuse and other health risk behaviors. (DeCamp, W., & W.Bakken, N. (2016). Adolescents suicidal ideation linked in some way to bullying (online, personal or verbal) which might allow a negative outcome such as depression, anxiety, poor social functioning and poor school performance. Assessments were conducted annually over a three-year period in early adolescence. At each assessment, 70% of respondents reported no suicidal thought, 15-20% reported for some thoughts, while 6% reported high suicidal ideation scores. Given that thoughts, about suicide appear to be quite common among adolescents (Vander Stoep, A., McCauley, E. et al. (2009) However, the main reason of suicidal ideation among adolescents somehow appear not well …show more content…

According to American Foundation for Suicide Prevention or the AFSP, suicide most often occurs when stressors exceed current coping abilities of someone suffering from a mental health condition. The factors that increase the risk of suicidal ideation were health, environmental and historical.
Health factors causes account for most suicides and attempted suicides which include mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety disorders, psychotic disorders, or psychotic symptoms in the context of any disorder, substance abuse disorders, childhood abuse or trauma. According to a 2013 study published in JAMA Psychiatry by Ilgen, M. A., Kleinberg, F. et al. (2013), found that people suffering from chronic migraines or back pain were more likely to attempt suicide – regardless of whether they also had depression or another mental illness.
Environmental factors that increase the risk for suicide often occur due to a stressful life event. Other causes include access to lethal means, neglect, including firearms and drugs, prolonged stress factors (harassment, bullying, relationship problems, and unemployment), and exposure to another person’s

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