Suicide Is A Bigger Problem?

"More people in the general population die from suicide than homicide in North America. There are almost 11 suicide deaths each year for every 100,000 people living in the United States, and for every suicide, there are between 8 and 25 attempts" (Brent 4203). Based on this research, the great effect of suicide is displayed. According to dictionary.com, suicide can be defined as "the intentional taking of one's own life." Suicide is a major issue for all people, but it most obviously affects those ranging from ten to twenty-four. People need to understand the tremendous ramifications caused from suicide everyday; when people take their lives, others lose their loved ones. Suicide, one of the leading causes of death of numerous people each day, has reached a crisis point for adolescents and young adults, and it needs to be prevented.

Overall the suicide rate is extremely high. It is not the most sought after death, but it is the most efficient. I have known many people over my short 16 years of life who have wanted to kill themselves. I’ve been in the position to end my life many times, had best friends die, and watched them die. It is a horrible tragedy; suicide is a sorrowful disaster that needs to be addressed.

There is at least 113 suicides each day or 1 every 13 minutes. Suicide among males is the seventh leading cause of death and the fourteenth leading cause in females. Most suicides are with a firearm and are carried out with a “ Saturday night special”. (Dilaura,Cynthia DiLaura) “More than 90 percent of suicide attempts with a gun are fatal. “ (Brady Campaign) There are a number of reasons why suicide occurs. Stress is the number one cause among our youth, bullies, peer pressure, depression, and abuse. 41,100 people committed suicide in the United States in 2013. Our young teens today does not take time to look deeper into there problem and to seek out a better solution. They are looking for a quick fix but not realizing once the trigger is pulled the result is final with no turning back. Most people who has attempted suicide is more likely to try a second attempt and most have an underlying mental illness. There is many warming that someone may be in a suicide crisis. We most learn how to see things through their eyes. No matter what one is facing in life or the difficult that lie ahead of them Nothing is worth taken your own

As one may expect, suicide is a huge problem in this country. Many people are trainied to be sucide bombers. However, there are those that commit suicide for other reasons such as not being able to take their way of living anymore, some women take their own lives due to not being able to handle being married to abusive drug addicted husbands. Men take their own lives simply due to not wanting to go on anymore.

Suicide is the 15th biggest cause of death in the world [1] killing 800,000 people a year worldwide. South

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (2016), found that suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in people, which means approximately 44,965 Americans die by suicide. Men, however, are 3.53x more likely to commit suicide. The group that had the highest suicide rate were middle age males (45-65 years old). The second highest group is people aged above 85 years old. For people in the 15-24-year-old age group, the suicide rate is 13.15% (AFSP, 2016).

One of the goals of Healthy People 2020 is to reduce the suicide rate in the U.S. which is currently one of the top 10 causes of death. It is clearly in issue and vital to address this issue because these rates have had a steady incline from 1999-2014. This had led to an age-related suicide rate of 24% because it has gone from 10.5 to 13.0 deaths per 100,000. With such a modernized country, I would think that we would have done something about this earlier on by having more programs and being more proactive about this gruesome problem.

Yet, suicide also affects different kinds of individuals which happen to be of distinct racial and ethnic status. The socioeconomic status also plays a role in determining the individuals who commit suicide. In the article “Suicide and the Creative Class,” it states the following, “Thus, different groups will be more or less likely to commit suicide. These differences make suicide an important area of study for social scientists because of its prevalence, preventability, and the wide sweeping effects that it has on family, friends, and acquaintances of suicide victims” (Moore, Recker, & Heirigs, 2014). Thus, implicating the pressures of society and the differences of social status.

Since it is not just one contributing factor, but many issues putting pressure on the victim, This is a societal issue on a large scale, not an individual one, since these suicides are occurring

Each year in the United States approximately 30,000 or 12.93 per 100,00 (prevalence) persons die each year as a result of suicide with an additional 500,000 making a failed attempt. However, in 2013 the official number of reported deaths by suicide totaled 41,149 or 1.6 percent of all reported deaths in the U.S, thereby making suicide the 10th leading cause of death (American Association of Suicidology, 2015). When comparing global suicide statistics, the U.S. ranks 47th amongst the 116 countries included in the study, and although other countries fair far worse, it is important to note, suicide is preventable (World Health Rankings, 2014). These startling statistics are reversible if, we as a society act to dismantle the stigma associated with both emotional and mental disorders given they are often the precursor of suicidal ideation.

The lives of people living in the United States are influenced by factors that influence them indirectly from the social environment and factors that affect them personally. Since this is a class about Sociology we must predominately look at the social factors. The numbers of suicides in the U.S. by state follows several patterns that add up to one very large problem.

According to the Center of Disease Control, “Suicide was the tenth leading cause of death for all ages in 2013.” Suicide is when someone takes their own lives and it is something that everyone has come into contact with. Weather is has been through the media or even a personal event. There are several causes on why people commit suicide, ranging from depression to a terminal illness. Even though there is varies aspects to suicide in the end it has the same result. Someone is taking their own life and surprisingly the number or suicides have been rising for the many years and it is something that many people ponder about.

During class on Wednesday, we came up with many great areas of crimes such as gang fight, drug violence, serial killer, homicide and many more. However, I now realize we missed suicide. I believe suicide is also considered as crime equally as a murder. The suicide rate is US is about 10 people of every 100,000 people in the population. However, we do not see anything about suicide prevention done by government of any of the non-profit organizations. Even it there are programs to help suicide prevention, it is not accessible. All I have heard about suicide prevention is hotline phone number.

In the year 2000 the suicide rate was 10.4, in the year 2013 the suicide rate was 12.6 according to facts and figures. Approximately 86 American commit suicide a day. For those 15-24 suicide is one of the most leading deaths in the U.S.31,000 kill themselves then are killed by homicide. Suicide is overrated don’t kill yourself go to someone for help if you’re having problems.

According to Mental Health America “44,000 Americans die by suicide each year. There are 13.8 deaths by suicide per 100,000 persons each year” (1) Suicide is the act of one killing themselves in times of hopelessness or times of despair. Many tend to see it as the easy way out of depression but, in reality it's the worst way. Suicide should not be covered by the media because of suicide trends after and the wrongful ideas it gives.