Suicide is a harsh reality. Imagine a 12-year-old girl who doesn’t fit in with the crowd. She’s bullied at school, and her parents are going through a nasty divorce. The girls is suffering from severe depression and doesn’t have friends to talk to. One day after her parents leave for work, she goes into their bedroom and picks up her father’s medication, and then she does the unthinkable because of her pain. Unfortunately, every two hours and three minutes a teen commits suicide. Teen suicide has become a major problem due to depression, sexuality, drug abuse, and bullies. 90% of people who follow through with their suicide did mention their depression and wish to die a week before.
The rate of suicide, the act or an instance of taking one's own life voluntarily and intentionally, increases each year. “More adolescents die each year from suicide than from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, pneumonia, influenza, and chronic lung disease, combined” (Preventing Teen Suicide, 2016, p.2). These facts show suicide is a serious problem among teens. Last year, teen suicide became the second leading cause of death in the United States confirming the significant increase in teen suicides.
Suicide has become a big issue in today's generation, especially for teens. Suicide is now known as the third leading cause of death among youth all around the world between 10 and 19 years of age. In the article, Preventing youth suicide-tips for parents and educators, the author states, “Teens are more prone to suicide because of the many difficult risks they may face today”, such as many teens face bullying in their schools, self-esteem problems, family dysfunction, drug addictions or it can be the simple fact that they are not mentally stable or have a mental illness like depression. However, suicide is preventable. Many teens who may be contemplating suicide frequently give signs, or approach in a different behavior. Some of these signs may include, suicidal threats, prior suicidal behavior, self harm acts, or change in behavior. It is crucial that parents, educators, and friends or family members notice these signs before the teen makes an effort to conduct an irreversible act. Many schools are taking role in suicide
Lives are slowly being lost due to suicide and not only is it affecting themselves but also the people who are around them. Suicide is defined as taking of one’s own life and it is an issue that should be given all attention to. Teen suicide has been talked about in every source of media and it still continues to have a harmful effect in todays generation. In the United States the eighth leading cause of death is suicide, within developing teens, suicide is the third leading cause of their deaths (NAMI). There are many signs of someone who is contemplating suicide. And there are many reason for someone to be driven to the point of suicide. Those reasons being if the teenager is dealing with depression, bullying, sexual abuse and abuse
This issue is relevant to the world because so many teens struggle with depression, bullying, or abuse and kill themselves over it. The website American Foundation for Suicide Prevention states that “Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the US. Each year there are 44,965 Americans that die.”
“BREAKING NEWS: TEEN COMMITS SUICIDE” is not an unusual headline to read. Time and time again teens are making the choice to end their lives much like Richard Kirchoff’s son, Ryan Kirchoff, who took his life at the young age of 18. Kirchoff’s son was a normal kid who had many friends, a loving family, and dreamt that he would become a successful doctor, but all was taken away after he made the decision to take his life. Ryan had depression and refused to seek help from the people he trusted resulting in him ending his life. Now Kirchoff speaks out informing kids, teens, and adults about suicide and warns them about the causes and potential solutions (Cullota). Kirchoff states “Most people don’t like to say the S-word, which is part of the problem.” Suicide is the “third leading cause of death amongst young people between the ages of 15-24”, but it is not aggressively addressed (“Preface to ‘What Factors Contribute to Teen Suicide’?”). With adolescent suicide becoming a major concern for teens and adults involved, everyone needs to be educated on what leads to suicide and what actions should be taken to prevent it.
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
Discovering one’s identity, struggling to understand one’s conventionally appropriate gender role, accepting one’s body image, gaining independence from parents, maintaining responsible sexual relationships along with enduring vehement hormones, establishing values relating to marriage and parenthood, and simultaneously managing academic goals, extracurricular activities, and occupational preparations are all psychological and social demands placed on the adolescent. These demands, along with additional factors, such as bullying, drug use/domestic substance abuse, domestic violence, divorce of parents, rape/sexual assault, loss of a loved one, heartbreak, low socioeconomic status, health problems, race, ethnicity, struggles with self-identification, and other traumatic experiences can all increase one’s likelihood to commit suicide.
"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.
In the United States, suicide is the third-leading cause of death for 10 to 14-year-olds (CDC, 2015) and for 15 to 19-year-olds (Friedman, 2008). In 2013, 17.0% of students grades 9 to 12 in the United States seriously thought about committing suicide; 13.6% made a suicide plan; 8.0% attempted suicide; and 2.7% attempted suicide in which required medical attention (CDC, 2015). These alarming statistics show that there is something wrong with the way suicide is handled in today’s society. In order to alleviate the devastating consequences of teenage suicide, it is important to get at the root of what causes it all: mental illness. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Protection (2013), mental illness is the imbalance of thinking, state of mind, and mood. Approximately 90% of all suicides are committed by people with mental illnesses (NAMI, n.d.). This shows that there is a correlation between mental illness and suicide. If mental illnesses are not treated, deadly consequences could occur. It would make sense that if there is a correlation between mental illness and suicide across all ages, the same should be thought for adolescents. Approximately 21% of all teenagers have a treatable mental illness (Friedman, 2008), although 60% do not receive the help that they need (Horowitz, Ballard, & Pao, 2009). If mental illnesses are not found and treated in teenagers, some of them may pay the ultimate price.
“For youth between the ages of 10 and 24, suicide is the third leading cause of death, approximately 4600 lives lost each year. Of the reported suicides in the 10 to 24 age group, 81% of the deaths were males and 19% were females. The top three methods used in suicides of young people include firearm (45%), suffocation (40%), and poisoning (8%)” (CDC, 2015). The school is not an easy step to take, and a lot of students suffer from anxiety attacks caused by stress and depression. Sadly, these students usually don’t seek help or maybe they just simply don’t know where to go for the help. “The costs of suicidal behaviors and the savings that can result from preventing these behaviors can help convince policymakers and other stakeholders that suicide prevention is an investment that will save dollars as well as lives” (SPRC, 2015).
“Statistics reveal that in the US approximately...nearly one million people attempt suicide each year” ("Suicide Risk Among Abused Children."). Suicide is not an act of randomness. It is a result of prolonged feelings and/ or events, which push that person to extremes they desperately want out of. Suicide rates are amongst the highest in teens, due to their lack of support systems. During these years many are trying to find-out who they are and fit in, thus many get accepted into some people’s views, but there are also a good number that get ignored and feel like they do not belong anywhere. Teen suicide can be a result of a home-life of abuse or mistreatment, psychological disorders, and lack of social support-bullying; however, through the education on the warning signs of suicide, providing more emotional outlets at schools, and creating safer environments the number of annual victims can be decreased.
One of the hardest things for me to understand about suicide, is the many young lives suicide is claiming. This is what sparked my interest on this topic, the astonishing statistics among teenage suicide. Suicide has become among young kids the third leading cause of death. Teenagers are most vulnerable to suicide with new trends like cyberbullying, the rates of suicide are growing rapidly. According to a study done in the University of Yale, “bullied victims are 7 to 9% more likely to consider suicide, (nobullying.com)".
There is too much teen suicide in the United States. Many teens who are depressed have mental issues such as depression, anxiety, bipolar, schizophrenia, etc. Often, teens who have these issues feel as if they don’t belong. They don’t feel like talking about certain things going on in their life. Issues regarding sexuality, bullying, and abuse make children feel hopeless and unwanted. They feel alone. The suicide rate has gone up dramatically. There are approximately 100,000 suicides per year and 10,000 to 20,000 of them being from ages 14 to 24. Suicide is also the 3rd leading cause of death for teens.
Bullying is a worldwide problem that can be linked to teen suicide. The third leading cause of death in youth is suicide, which results in nearly 4,400 deaths per year (Centers for Disease Control, 2012). At least half of these deaths are caused by bullying. Although bullying is still seen by many to be a normal part of growing up, it is a severe problem that leads to many negative effects, including suicide. Unfortunately, there is not a definitive solution to this problem. However, there are multiple ways to help teens who are contemplating suicide due to bullying: seeking immediate medical help, encouraging teens to talk, parents keeping communication open, and by parents communicating with school authorities.
Suicide is a rising issue in today 's society. Studies show that suicide has become the third leading cause in death in America (Litwiller, Brausch 2013). There are many factors that play a part in suicide, but the main components that are going to be discussed in this proposal is climate, gender, and bullying . Researchers have been doing studies on suicide for years. There are approximately 3,000 suicides per day and taken from the World Health Organization the rate of suicide has increased over 60% in the past forty five years (Jalles and Andresen 2014).