Teen Suicide.

Have you ever seen the movie To Save A Life? It wasn't the best movie out there, but it's about real life. This stuff happens to teens all the time. This movie really hit a little too close to home for me, but it was a good movie. You should watch it. Watch the trailer here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGLEUcQk8dA

I bet you know, or have a heard of at least one teen who has either attempted or actually committed suicide. I have. To be honest, I used to think about it a lot myself. Luckily, I had a few friends there for me. However, other teens aren't so lucky. Suicide is the third leading cause of death for 15 to 24 year olds, and the sixth leading cause of death for 5 to 14 year olds. Suicide is the eighth leading cause of death for all people regardless of age. Suicide has to be taken seriously.

Even though boys commit suicide more often than girls, no one is immune. In a recent study of high school students, 60% said they had thought about killing themselves. About 9% said they had tried at least once. Suicide rates have gone up in the last few years for multiple reasons. It's easier to get the tools for suicide, the pressures of life are greater, there's more violence in the newspapers and on t.v., and more. Another cause might be a lack of parental interest. Growing up in a divorced household is hard, and so is living in a house where both parents work and families get to spend limited time together. According to one study, 90% of suicidal teens believed their families didn't understand them. Also, it's been reported that when teens try to tell their parents about their feelings of unhappiness, their parents would not listen.

Some facts:

• 121 million people worldwide suffer depression, 18 million of these cases are happening in the US.
• Between 20% and 50% of children and teens struggling with depression have a family history of this struggle and the offspring of depressed parents are more than 3 times as likely to suffer from depression.
• Depression often co-occurs with anxiety disorders and substance abuse, with 30% of teens with depression also developing a substance abuse problem.
• 2/3 of those suffering from depression never seek treatment.
• Untreated depression is the number one cause of sucide.
• Each year approximately one million people die from suicide, which represents a global mortality rate of 16 people per 100,000, or one death every 40 seconds. It is predicted that by 2020, the rate of death will increase to one every 20 seconds.
• The Eastern Mediterranean Region and Central Asia republics have the lowest suicide rates.
• Nearly 30% of all suicides worldwide occur in India and China.
• Males are four times more likely to die from suicide than females. Females are more likely to attempt suicide than are males.
  

Often untreated depression and other struggles lead to unhealthy ways in which we try and deal with the hurt and pain we are feeling. We try and find anything that we can do to take away the hurt, painful feelings, or negative thoughts. The things that we turn to seem to help at first, but they are often unhealthy, eventually becoming even greater struggles like addictions such as drugs, alcohol, eating disorders, or self-injury.

Self-injury includes, but is not limited to: cutting, burning, interfering with wound healing, hitting self or objects, inserting objects into skin, bruising or breaking bones, and some forms of hair pulling. 4% of the population struggle with self-injury.

Check out this website: http://www.selfinjury.com/index.html

There are warning signs that someone is going to commit suicide. They might:

• have a dramatic change of personality,
• have trouble getting along with other friends or with parents,
• withdraw from people he or she used to feel close to,
• fail to live up to his or her own or someone else's standards,
• always seem bored, or have trouble concentrating,
• be pregnant and having a hard time trying to cope,
• run away from home,
• abuse drugs and/or alcohol,
• change their eating or sleeping patterns,
  
• change their appearance for the worse,
• give away some of their most prized possessions,
• write notes or poems about death,
• talk about suicide, even jokingly.

If you suspect that someone is thinking about suicide, don't remain silent. Talk to that person, and reassure him or her that you love them. Ask the person to talk about their feelings. Listen carefully, and do not dismiss or get angry with their problems. If you're another teen, tell an adult like their parents or someone at school.

Like I said earlier, suicide needs to be taken seriously. When someone commits suicide, it affects everyone around them. It's so sad to have someone cut their life so short.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXqocdThk8s

Resources:

• http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/facts_for_families/teen_suicide
• http://www.aap.org/advocacy/childhealthmonth/prevteensuicide.htm
• http://www.twloha.com/