Suicide Prevention Program Of The United States

Suicide is the third leading cause of death among fifteen to twenty-four year olds. Also, between a third to fifth of children ages three to seventeen are affected by mental illness. That means six to ten students in an average class of thirty are affected by mental illness. To reduce these numbers people have come up with suicide prevention programs. Two examples of these programs are TeenScreen and Sources of Strength. These programs can easily be put into schools to help prevent suicide and teach students about mental illness. Schools should educate students on mental health and illness to help prevent suicide.

According to Fowler, Crosby, Parks, and Ivey (2013), suicide and nonfatal suicidal ideations are significant public health concerns for adolescents and young adults. While the onset of suicidal behaviors is observed as young as six years of age, rates of death and nonfatal injury resulting from suicidal behavior are moderately low until 15 years of age (Fowler et al., 2013). According to Fowler et al (2013), the most current available statistics in the United States (U. S.) reported suicide as the third leading cause of death among youth aged 10-14 and 15-19 years, and it was the second leading cause of death among persons aged 20-24 years.

“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).

By creating programs that effectively reduce the number of suicides, costs will decrease, because in “2005, the estimated cost of suicide was more than $34.6 billion arising from 32,637 deaths and including medical costs and inferred lost work” (Caine 1). Thus, suicide is not only a personal problem anymore, but also a drastic national, economic issue, that needs more government attention. Better governmental legislation that provides effective prevention programs in high schools is a logical way to solve this problem, because “the school is a nexus for teen life and, therefore, uniquely poised as a context in which to address teen suicide” (Cooper 696). Furthermore, the government requires and regulates school attendance, so it is only reasonable that the government protects students from harm. However, current governmental legislation and prevention strategies aimed toward high school students have not made the necessary impact to combat rising suicide rates. Even after implementation of The New Freedom Commission, “there have been many suicide prevention programs that have been developed, but very few that show statistically significant effectiveness” (696). For example, “telephone crisis programs and drop-in centers have not reduced the suicide rates; widespread treatment for depression has not lessened suicide. In fact, suicide from tricyclic antidepressant medication has increased in the last few years” (Westermeyer 108). Therefore, these issues call for

Teenage suicide is a major issue in today’s society; suicide is the intentional taking of one’s own life and is a momentous issue that should be addressed as quickly as possible. Teen suicide has been the topic of numerous news headlines; yet, it still continues to have a detrimental effect on today’s youth. In the United States, suicide is currently the eighth leading cause of death for Americans, and for young adults between the ages of 15 and 24, suicide is the third leading cause of death. This is extremely startling due to the fact that teen suicide is one of the most preventable forms of death. There are quite a number of

Suicide is the third most common cause of death for children and teenagers (Center for Disease Control (CDC), 2015). In order to combat these rising rates, preventative measures must be put into place. Among the places that a child is most likely to be accounted for is at school, therefore, schools must be involved in the preventative process. In this line of thinking the a coalition of interested organizations, such as the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, have created a Model School Policy on Suicide Prevention that schools can chose to implement in order to educate and aid students who are struggling with suicidal thoughts, provide information to school staff about risk and protective factors involving suicide as well as creating a safety measures and procedures if a suicide does occur.

More often than not adolescents are struggling to navigate their ever increasing stressful lives. Mental illness, demands of school, social pressures along with domestic issues at home are causing adolescents to commit suicide at an alarming rate. Often these individual acts of recklessness are not acknowledged nationally unless they result in undeniable hostility. School shootings are a direct result of these desperate unheard cries for help, culminating in mass killings causing permanent injuries both physical and psychological in nature to those surrounding the event. Preventing and predicting potential adolescent carnage is exceedingly important in the United States. The rate of adolescent suicide is steadily increasing. According to

“While teens are taking fewer drugs than they have in years suicide remains a problem so entrenched that it is prompting the medical community to re-evaluate how it identifies and treats suicidal adolescents” (Anna Mulrine 1). More than 500 schools are offering depression screenings in the upcoming school year, because eight percent of students in high school attempted suicide last year. School counselors should have special training to know when to recognize students who could possibly be suicidal, but over one third of them cannot identify them. Parents should simply ask their child if they have ever thought of killing their self; it is better to know before and get them help than having to plan their funeral. If they are depressed, there are people who can help them overcome that obstacle in life. Jessica attempted to kill herself when she was thirteen years old. When she recovered she told her coach she just wanted attention, but just before her school graduation, she swallowed enough pills to put her in a coma for three days. When she awoke she decided she would talk with a counselor for the first time. Jessica is now twenty-four and married with two children. Kelsey, who suffered from depression and suicide for years, swallowed eighteen Tylenol PM Pills one year after her brother ended his life, but she was lucky enough to have survived. ”Suicide attempts are not stunts” (Douglas Jacobs 1). They can

Teen Suicide is dangerous, you might think, your child’s not at risk, that they are completely fine. Think again, everyone's child is at risk. Child and teen suicide is only growing and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down. Teen Suicide Prevention is the way to protecting our younger generation from fighting depression. Through letting our kids know their life is worth it, the amazing Sources of Strength program, and through telling our kids the dangers of teen depression, we can resolve teen suicide.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Suicide is the second leading cause of death among 15–29-year-old. In the United States, about 22 cases per day. And for every suicide there are many more people who attempt it every year. This shows that suicide is a serious problem affecting our nation. Regarding this matter, Cooper, E. Stewart, Newman, Jody L., & Fuqua, Dale R. (2012) state that historically over the years, consultation has been working on solving problems through remediation and developing prevention, planning strategies for education, training and intervention aimed at solving social problems. Social functions of prevention and intervention have been serving

Suicide is a major public health concern. Suicide is a “death caused by self-directed injurious behavior with intent to die as a result of the behavior (“Suicide,” n.d.) In 2015 there was twice as many suicides than homicides. The annual suicide rate is 13. 26 per 100,000 people (“Suicide Statistics — AFSP,” n.d.) More than 44,000 people have committed suicide making it the tenth leading cause of death overall. Among children 10-14 suicide is the third leading cause of death and the second among people between 15 and 34 (“Suicide Statistics — AFSP,” n.d.) Preventive measure can become more efficient and effective if providers could intervene prior to the incident using screening measurements.

Depression, anxiety, and suicide are serious problems in high schools across the nation. Unfortunately, people and the news do not pay as much attention to teen suicide in comparison to large mass child mortalities such as school shootings. The rate of teenage suicide has tripled in the past three years; each week twenty-eight teens kill themselves in America. Nearly one in seven teens have said they have had suicidal thoughts or tendencies and one in fourteen admit to actually attempting suicide.

While society is failing, hurting, and falling deeper into the pit of desperation, our education system is spiraling downward with it. According to the American Association of Suicidology, over five thousand adolescents, aged 12 to 24, commit suicide each year. It is the third biggest killer of teenagers in our country (MHA). The American Foundation for Suicide prevention shows us the heartbreaking reality of this monster in our own state. This year, 433 Iowans took their own life (AFSP). On average, one of our own will fall into desperation and end their life, breaking hundreds of hearts with their own, every 20 hours (AFSP).

Studies show the depression rates from middle schoolers to high schoolers among youngsters from the ages 10 to 14 has been steadily rising in the U.S. from 2007 to 2014. In 2014, 425 young people of the ages 10 to 14 died by suicide. Every day, thousands of teens attempt suicide in the U.S. The most extreme outcome for the millions of children in this country who struggle with mental health issues is suicide. Children as young as 5 take their own lives every year and the parents never understand why. In childhood, boys actually may have a higher rate of depression than girls but it is often missed because many of the depressed boys act out and the underlying depression is missed.

Youth suicide is a preventable tragedy that devastates families and communities across the country, independently of race, political affiliation and socioeconomic status. Despite the availability of information on the subject, youth suicide is on the rise. One of the main causes is the higher percentage of children living with a divorced parent. In addition to that, there is a contagion effect that increases the risk for those whose friends or relatives have attempted or committed suicide1. The statistics prove the severity of the situation. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for ages 10-24, causing more deaths than cancer, influenza, heart disease, pneumonia, and AIDS combined2. In the U.S. between 2008 and 2015, the number of kids admitted to hospitals for suicidal ideation or attempts doubled. There are an average of 5,400 attempts each day for youth between 7th and 12th grade. Even more alarming, is the fact that the suicide rate in girls ages 10-14, tripled between 1999 and 20143.