Teenage Suicide Epidemic and How We Can Prevent It

Whenever a Teenager commits suicide, every person connected is affected. Family, teammates, friends, neighbors, and occasionally even these who may not have even known the teen will would possibly experience feelings of grief, guilt and confusion. They often believe only if they could have somehow helped the teenager the suicide could have been prevented. The motives following a teen's suicide or tried suicide are often complex and for many different reasons. Teen suicide is also the third-leading reason of death for 15- to 24-year-olds, in accordance to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), topped by accidents and homicides. How can we help you may ask? Well this paper is a brief analyzation of some causes of suicide, the growth of the rates of suicide, the connection between cyberbullying and suicide, and a few warning signs.

As years progress, an abundance of minors dies in the United States, these days not by some type of cancer, auto accidents, and different viruses, but by using their own hands. Teenagers are now consciously making decisions to end their own lives. Suicide, the word that describes the choice of killing yourself. Suicide is 1/3 of the leading cause of death amongst teens from age 15 to 25 years of age. It is estimated that 500,000 teenagers try to kill themselves during a whole year. 

Being a suicidal teenager comes with the package of typically feeling that their feelings are played down, not taken seriously, or met with opposition through other people, however in majority cases it must always be taken seriously. Those who agree with no afterlife are the ones who advocate suicide and say it is a matter of personal choice. On the other hand, those who believe in some sort of religion, condemn suicide and judge it to be a sin with detrimental consequences.

However, there are methods of observing for warning signs and symptoms of a suicidal teenager that may be experiencing depression. Some symptoms that are regular amongst people wondering about suicide are speaking about suicide, statements about despair, helplessness, or worthlessness. They have a loss of interest in matters they typically care about. They might stop visiting family and friends or calling people that they care about. They even start preparing or placing their affairs in order and giving away their things. Teens have to consider that with treatment, depression may end, however, any person who is experiencing deep depression may have to go deeper into help to get a source of their problem. They cannot see the way out of the trouble and suppose suicide is the sole choice. 

Some hotlines and web sites that help with human beings are Counselors Counseling, Teen Suicide Help, and there are many others that in essence can help a child through a tough time. The problem is getting parents involved more in their children's lives believe it or not. In the prevention of helping a suicidal teenager the biggest thing you need to know is to act immediately without delay. Sylvia Cochran makes a note that, “If you believe your child maybe contemplating suicide, you must take action immediately. Do not leave them alone until help is available. Do not adopt a wait and see attitude”. There has been so many cases where parent’s neglect listening to their children and this tragedy slides right thru their hands and majority of the time something could have been done.

One thing all suicidal people have in common is depression. Depression is a condition of mental disturbance, typically with lack of energy and difficulty in maintaining attention or interest in life. Depression in teenagers is very uncommon for normal teenagers. It's supposed to be a prime of their lives. Meanwhile, medical practitioners are nevertheless attempting to find out why there has been such a rise in the depression rate. Depression has been found to increase the chance of committing suicide. Regarding Medical reasons for depression, they are based upon neurotransmitters and neurons. Those that have lower ranges of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine are at a greater chance of having depression. Depression has a link associated with the neurotransmitters of serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine. Recent studies are explaining why depression has accelerated between the teenage populations and how and why this directly connects to teen suicide.

'Bullycide' is another term to understand when it comes to the psychology of suicide. Bullycide is the act of being bullied to the point where you kill yourself. We see modern-day bullies on the internet. In other words, cyberbullying. According to Belsey 'cyberbullying involves the use of information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior by an individual or group that is intended to harm others'. The National Crime Prevention Council conducted a survey in 2006 where they found out that 43% of the kids surveyed had been cyberbullied within a year. With this information, we can conclude these cellphones we allow our children to partake in is having a huge impact on their happiness. Seeing all this popularity and embarrassment that already goes on in the school, then getting home and having to face these people again can seriously put a deficit on one's attitude.

In conclusion, suicide is preventable by recognizing the signs and symptoms and using available resources ahead of time. There is much truth to the fact we will all die at some point, but many Christians will argue the way you go dictates you’re after life fate. God gave us this life and you must do the best we can in maintaining a life worth living. In my analysis of this teenage suicide epidemic, I researched how families effect suicide, the rates of suicide, medical reasons behind depression, some prevention tactics, and cyberbullying. After reading this paper you should have a better understanding on how important it is to engage in our teenagers lives and how we can get the proper help before its too late.