Suicide: The Only Option?

Teen’s behavior is a major warning sign of suicide or suicidal thoughts. Many factors play into an adolescent's behavior and attitude determining the way they

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.

Suicides and attempted suicides have also increased among adolescents at an alarming rate in recent decades. Research findings suggest that the suicidal adolescent has usually had, since childhood, a history of stress and personal problems. Attempts to resolve these problems such as running away from home or an increasing social isolation, withdrawal and acting out, may precipitate an attempted suicide. Early professional help is often needed to prevent this drastic action. Sadly, when the signs are clear it is usually too late.

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

Teen suicide is a major problem in our society today. The adolescent suicide rate has tripled since 1960, while being the largest cause of death between the ages of 15 and 24. This is the one single age group that has seen an increase in suicides over the past thirty years. There are about 10,000 reported suicides reported annually. It is estimated however, that the true number of teen suicides is actually three to four times that number when unreported deaths are factored in.

Suicide has become the second leading cause of death among teens in the United States. American youth have more risk to mental disorders due to race, sexuality, family, and stress of fitting in with their surroundings. Many mental illnesses will lead to suicidal thoughts or eventually to an attempt at suicide. Anxiety and the pressure to fit in contributes greatly to depression and suicide, particularly in high school. During youth, it's especially hard to find who you are, and still have the risk of getting made fun of or being bullied. Mental disorders along with substance abuse can also increase suicidal tendencies commodiously.All of these factors lead to the most common mental disorder, depression. Depression in young adults is the most

Suicide is the third leading cause of deaths in adolescents in the United States. Teen suicide is also often referred to as a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Teens so often are suicidal and attempt suicide as a call for help from others. They have no intention in dying they are just trying to cry out for help from anyone that will listen. Many reasons cause teen to attempt suicide, varying from bullying to psychological disorders. In fact, psychological disorders accounts for about 90% of teens who attempt or commit suicide. Teenagers are also at higher risk of suicide when they are under

Teenage suicide is the number two cause of death for teens today. While the questions of why can never be answered for certain there are numerous risk factors that can go into the reasoning for a teen taking their own life. Factors include family problems, bullying, and sexual orientation, but other problems are just natural changes in the developmental process of teenagers. Cognitive and identity development and seeking autonomy are all instinctive aspects of being a teenager, but when a teen sees no way out of their problems or negative emotions and when depression seeps in, important and life saving measures can and should be made.

According to E.J. Holt, in Adolescent Suicide: Identifying Risk Factors, a magazine article. 63% of Midwestern High School students reported that students, have some sort of suicide ideation or behavior, over the last 30 years show that the suicide rates among adolescents between the ages 15 and 24 years old has increased over 200%. An important aspect of adolescent suicide is that it invariably takes place at the time of a crisis such as the break-up of a relationship, problems at school or home, or a humiliating experience. There is no actual means for identifying the reason behind adolescent suicides, there are warning symptoms, to help parents, teachers and others in making such an identification, such as change in eating and sleeping

Warning signs to look for if a teen is planning to commit suicide or is struggling with depression are talking about dying, a recent loss of a loved one, change in personality, change in behavior, change in sleeping patterns, change in eating habits, fear of losing control, low self esteem, and no hope for the future (“Teen Suicide is preventable”). If a teenager is planning to commit suicide he or she will put his or her affairs in order like giving away favorite possessions, cleans his or her room, throws away important belongings, etc. they’ll become suddenly cheerful after a period of depression. Have signs of psychosis, hallucinations or bizarre thoughts (“Teen suicide”). There are nine types of depression that can cause suicidal thoughts they are Dysthymia Depression, Postpartum Depression, Seasonal affective disorder or SAD, Atypical depression, Psychosis, Bipolar disorder, Premenstrual dysphoric disorder or PMDD, Situational depression (“9 different types of

The DSM states “having five or more symptoms present during the same two week period and represent a change from precious functioning at least one of the symptoms is either depressed mood or loss of interest or pleasure” (American Psychiatric Association:, 2013). Some other “behavioral patterns are running away from home, accident-proneness; aggressive acting out; temper tantrums; self-criticism; social withdrawal and loneliness; extreme sensitivity to criticism by others; low tolerance of frustration’ sleep problems; dark fantasies, daydreams or hallucinations; marked personality change; and overwhelming interest in death and suicide.” (Comer, 2014) This is why depression and suicidal behavior is harder to recognize and are not treated. “Depression can be difficult to diagnose in teens because adults may expect teens to act moody. In addition, adolescents do not always understand or express their feelings very well. They may not be aware of the symptoms of depression and may not seek help” ("DEPRESSION IN TEENS"). Therefore, when a teen is suffering from depression and feeling suicidal it is important to help them seek help by just asking them if they are feeling suicidal and then help them take the appropriate steps to find and receive help. “About 5 percent of children and adolescents in the general population suffer from depression at any given point in time” (Shaffer,

Within use of recent studies, suicide has been the leading cause in adolescents. Depending on the state in questioning, an adolescent is one below the age of 18, ranging from ages 11 to 17 years old. Suicide ideation, also known as suicidal thoughts, are ways in which an individual think about how to kill one’s self. One can plan a course of action but never

Today’s teenagers are faced with the ever changing world around them and the biological changes of their bodies. Many teens are also faced with depression. Approximately half of teenagers with untreated depression may attempt suicide, which remains the third leading cause of death in this age group. (Bostic). This depression affects their school, family lives, and robs them of their self image. Depression affects many teens and often goes by unnoticed and untreated.

Day to day, teens suffer from peer pressure, problem from home, and stress from academics. Despise their status in the environment, majority of high school students refrain from acknowledging the presence of their reality. The problem in most situations in that students feel shut in, trapped in a never ending misery. How do they cope? What are their ways of dealing? Most students live in denial. Others have friends to confide in. For the devastating part, most students are not as open to these ideas and it leaves them with this alternative: suicide. Suicide is the third leading cause in teens the ages 14 to 19 within rural underserved areas. Suicidal ideation (SI), suicidal thoughts, were surveyed in over 12 high schools and it was found that in the past year, thoughts of (SI) were not shared with peers or even adults in the pursuit of receiving help or support (Pisani, 2012). Because a student spends most of their day at school, it is ideal for schools to provide realistic opportunities and school-based programs to assist with the suicide among the youth. The Surviving the Teens Suicide Prevention and Depression Awareness Program designed four 50 minute session or each high school student. This presented information in regards to factual information about depression, suicidal warning signs, suicidal risk factors and myths associated with suicide (King, 2010). The program provide coping strategies for everyday life, referral sources if feeling suicidal, and how to recognize

So first, let me tell you some of the possible causes for teens being suicidal. There are plenty of other reasons a teen might feel suicidal but these are some that I could think of. So because of where we live, and drugs being a growing problem here, I thought I’d focus a little on the living environment, focus also on another environment that the teen might encounter, and lastly on the mental health perspective.