Cause and Effect of Suicide in Our Society

Suicide voluntarily taking one’s own life occurs in every country in the world. In Western societies suicide is recognized as a leading cause of early death, a major public health problem and a tragedy for individuals and families. Depression has played a huge role in suicide. Depression may continue to develop into serious illness or even death. Because people suffer from depression and stress, suicide has become an higher rate of death.

Suicide is a word that many people like to avoid. Talking about suicide makes most people cringe and makes them very uncomfortable. It affects teenagers and young adults around the globe each year. Every day, families around the world lose someone close to them due to suicide. It’s an unfortunate occurrence that happens among all age groups; however, teenagers are the age group most affected. Teenage suicide can be caused by a series of emotions or something that happened in the teen’s life. Teenage suicide must be better understood and more aggressively addressed before more teenagers end their lives. It can be potentially be prevented through the education of how to notice when someone is in danger.

Depression is a common and serious medical illness that negatively affects how you feel, the way you think and how you act. Depression causes feelings of sadness and or a loss of interest in activities once enjoyed. It can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems and can decrease a person’s ability to function in day to day life. People might feel sad because of what’s going on their lives. People who feel depressed usually have a reason behind it. Sometimes it’s also in your hormones. Some health conditions may cause depression-like symptoms. For example, hypothyroidism is known to cause a depressed mood in some people. Mono can drain a person’s energy. The side effects of depression can often be seen at work, school and home as well as in the personal relationships of the patient.

The author explains way of depression effecting someone’s everyday life actives. Teenagers with depression might start to “use substance and become family withdrawal and decreased performance at work or school”. This is the person starts to look for a way out by using another substance to help what their feeling. The person might stay their rooms for days without making any contact with family or friends. In school or work might effected as well. They might not perform well as they use to.

A way of helping someone who does have depression is to get them to a doctor and to ask about Antidepressants. “Antidepressants are the most common medication used in depression treatment and are indicated particularly in the treatment of severe depression”. (Tracy) Another way you can help with depression is seeking for help from a professional therapist or even school guidance teacher. There’s a full community from guidance teachers to professional therapist, who will try their best on helping you deal with your pain, before it’s too late.

The National Institute of Mental Health says “more than ninety percent of college students who commit suicide suffer from the mental illness called depression. Most people in college who committed suicide had a treatable mental illness. When Suicide and treated, the person is depressed, cannot learn to control their depression. Doctors who see depression in patient, right away try to help before they take their own lives.

Depression is a significant risk factor for suicide. It has shown in the studies that suicide rates among youth adults have increased by two hundred percent in the last fifty years. Another risk factor is Mental Illness . “Mental illness is a disorder that is characterized by disturbances in a person’s thought, emotions, or behavior.” This refers to to a wide variety of disorders, ranging from what causes mild distress to those that impair a person’s ability to function in daily life. Mental illness has become a worldwide spread action.

In Japan, there was shown a study of individuals living at different parts of the region. The people who lived in the high latitudes regions, experienced mood swings and depression. The article states ” with increasing Japanese migration, prevalence rates of mental disorders and suicides among migrants have increased.” (Seasonality in mood and behaviors of Japanese residents in high-latitude regions: transnational cross-sectional study” ,Kurata, Izawa, and Nomura).

This shows that people who lived in higher latitudes, has a much higher rate of depression that can lead to suicide. Another risk factor of suicide is bullying. Suicide is caused when someone’s gets bullied to the point where the point they don’t feel like living. The bullies of the victim do not always feel remorse even after the person is dead, and if they do feel sorry for their tormenting, it doesn’t change the fact that they are bullies. The person who ends their life just has to die once, but the people who cared about them have to feel their pain of their loved ones every day.

Some people wonders what they could of did to maybe notice what that person was feeling. They might feel guilty of even being happy. Sometimes a person trains their brain to believe it was an accident or homicide, other times they believe the person isn’t dead at all. This is a way someone copes with it. Some examples of disorders commonly seen in the after effects of a friend or family’s suicide are: anxiety, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and personality disorders. At any given time, a flashback could be triggered in a person’s brain and they relive a memory of event of the dead loved one. This is usually found in cases where the person actually saw the individual die. The person who knows all the right information about this tragic topic is, Émile Durkheim.

Durkheim focused his studies on trying to figure out what makes people commit suicide. He thought that people’s religion or beliefs would help him find out the information he was seeking. “Durkheim hypothesized that basic categories of thought are based on society as their model, and that these mental representations arise from participation in society’s totemic rites.” ( Durkheim’s theory of mental categories: a review of the evidence, Bergesen).

This was his hypothesis. After his study, he concluded that there are four different “types” of suicide.The first type is the Egoistic suicide. This type of suicide occurs when a person commits this type of suicide they are not well supported in a social group. His type of suicide occurs when the degree of social integration is low. The second type is Altruistic suicide. This type of suicide occurs when the degree of social integration is too high. When a person commits this type of suicide they are greatly involved in a group.

All they care about are that groups norms and goals and they completely neglect their own needs and goals. Durkheim’s third type of suicide is Anomic Suicide. People commit this suicide when their lives are kept under tight regulation. This kind of suicide is related to too low of a degree of regulation. Without regulation, a person cannot set reachable goals and in turn people get extremely frustrated. This type of suicide is committed during times of great stress or change. When someone commits this, it’s usually because they are mentally ill.

These types of people are left feeling like they’ve lost their sense of self.Hardest part when a friend, or a family member committee Suicide, is the aftermath. Parents, friends, family all are asking the same question, why? Some people leave notes explain how they are sorry for what they did. Parents have biggest pain and regret. In the article, “In the aftermath of teenage suicide: A qualitative study of the psychosocial consequences for the surviving family members”. Explains how family try to find comfort in such a tragic situation.

A lot of people who committed suicide don’t give hints on what are they feeling. Aftermath of Suicide is hurtful. Friends will always be sad as they will feel like they did something wrong. What you can do to be a good friend is look for warning signs. Some signs include, suicidal talk, self harm, risky suicidal behavior and drug or alcohol abuse. By observing these observations, you can save someone’s life. In conclusion, Suicide is a very crucial topic that should taken very seriously when intervening in a anyone’s life. It is important to be able to recognize the warning signs that can lead to an attempted or successful taking of one’s life.

Anyone can take their own lives for numerous reasons including feeling depressed and hopeless. There are several ways that you can help an individual if you feel that they are at risk at attempting suicide: call the physician, and talk to them openly about their problems. Suicide is the third leading cause of death for adolescents in the United States. Together, hopefully, we can decrease that statistic and save lives!

Works Cited

1. American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. (2021). Risk factors and warning signs.
2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021). Suicide prevention.
3. Durkheim, É. (1951). Suicide: A study in sociology. Routledge.
4. Mayo Clinic. (2021). Depression (major depressive disorder). https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/depression/symptoms-causes/syc-20356007
5. National Institute of Mental Health. (2021). Depression.
6. National Institute of Mental Health. (2021). Suicide prevention. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/suicide-prevention/index.shtml
7. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. (2021). Get help.
8. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2021). Suicide prevention. https://www.samhsa.gov/suicide-prevention
9. Tracy, N. (2021). Antidepressants: Types, uses, side effects, and more. Medical News Today.
10. World Health Organization. (2019). Suicide prevention.