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Preventing Teenage Suicide In The United States

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Did you know that there are more deaths by suicide than homicide in the United States? There are ninety-four people that die everyday from suicide, and another one million people attempt suicide in the United States everyday (“Suicide in…”). In the 1980s and the 1990s, the amount of suicides were heading in the right direction--they were decreasing. “It had been decreasing steadily since 1986, and then what happened is there was a turnaround,” says Sally Curtin (Bichell). In order to prevent teenage suicide, individuals should be aware of the reasons why teenagers commit suicide as well as how to identify the warning signs, and they should understand the affects of suicide on others and how to cope with depression and stress.
If there is any …show more content…

Suicide shatters survivors’ lives, their relationships, and the world around them. To begin with, survivors may be unwilling to accept that their friend’s death or family member's death was self-inflicted and may feel uncertain on how to accept help. In addition, the “What if?” question always comes up after a suicide attempt or death. This question is very extreme and very self-punishing on the survivor of a suicide. Furthermore, when survivors can not predict the death effectively or on time, survivors tend to overestimate the help they could have given. There is no doubt that loss through suicide is like no other; the grieving and suffering can be very complex and very traumatic (“Left behind…”). If teenagers know the heartbreak their suicide may cause, maybe that would be enough to keep them from taking their own …show more content…

First of all, people that tend to go through depression do not receive enough sleep or enough rest. The amount of sleep that a person that is going through depression should sleep eight hours every night. Also, people that go through depression do not really do anything much. Depressed people can better cope if they pick up a hobby or sport they like to do. Participating in a hobby or sport may help them stay connected with other people. Staying connected with people that make individuals happy and make that individual laugh and smile makes a big difference in battling with depression and an individual’s outlook. In other words, for someone who is going through depression, social support is a big factor in dealing with depression and stress (Smith). In particular, one way to prevent depression is to meet with a group of friends and talk about what is happening in life, good or bad, which may cause tears or laughter, but either way will help (Blumenstein 118). When all is said and done, it is never too late to start a new friendship or improving relationships with friends and family (Smith). In order to help teenagers through the depressing times, those around them need to make sure they receive enough rest, and are involved in a hobby, and help them stay connected with

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