Accept Life… Stop Suicides
Introduction
Suicide occurs most often in older than in younger people, but is still one of the leading causes of death in late childhood and adolescence worldwide. This is not only results in a direct loss of many young lives, but also has disruptive psychosocial and adverse socio-economic effects. From the perspective of public mental health, suicide among young people is a main issue to address. Therefore we need good insight in the risk factors contributing to suicidal behaviour in youth.
Suicide is intentional self-inflicted acts that end in death. After series of traumatic events, normal coping abilities and can be pushed over the edge; the result may be suicide. In each year, an average of 30,000 suicide deaths occur in the United States. It is estimated that 5,000 of those suicides are committed by teenagers. One major reason that the suicide rate among teenagers is so high, is that the teenage years are a period of commotion. New social roles are being learned, new relationships are being developed, bodily changes are occurring, and decisions about the future are being made during the teenage years.
Risk Factors
Key risk factors found were mental disorders, previous suicide attempts, specific personality characteristics, genetic loading and family processes in combination with triggering psychological stressors, exposure to inspiring models and availability of means of committing suicide.
The maturity of children and adolescents who attempt suicide have a significant mental health disorder, usually depression. Among young children suicide attempts are often impulsive. They may be associated with feelings of sadness, confusion, anger, or problems with attention and hyperactivity.
Suicide & Youth
Suicide is a word that many people like to avoid. Talking about suicide makes most people cringe and makes them very uncomfortable. Suicide affects teenagers and young adults around the globe each year. Everyday, families around the world lose someone close to them due to suicide. Suicide is an unfortunate occurrence that happens among all age groups; however, teenagers are the age groups most affected. Teenage suicide can be caused by a series of emotions or something that happened in the teen's life or a combination of both. Teenage suicide can potentially be prevented through the education and action of teenagers and those who come into contact with them. Teenage suicide must be better understood and more aggressively addressed before more teenagers and their lives.
Teenage suicide statistics
Teens in southern India have the world's highest suicide rates. The average Global suicide rate is 14.5 deaths per 100,000 people, with suicide being 2nd leading cause of death in the 15 - 19 age group. A study published in the British Medical Journal indicates that the suicide rate in the 15-19 group living around Vellore in Tamil Nadu, India, was 148 per 100,000 for women, and 58 per 100,000 for men. Suicide deaths accounted for between 50 to 75 percent of all deaths in young women in the 15 to 19 age group.
Contributing factors for the high levels of suicides for young females includes untreated mental illness, domestic violence, and conflicts over dowries. Clearly, this Distributed Data points to an urgent need for suicide prevention programs, better assessment and treatment of mental disorders, and better treatment of women in India.
Conclusion
Youth suicide constitutes a major public mental health problem. Young people and especially adolescents are by nature a vulnerable group for mental health problems.
Each suicide is the result of a complex dynamic and unique interplay between numerous contributing factors, and individual efforts to predict and prevent suicide tend to fail. Key prevention strategies can be population-based as well as targeting high-risk subgroups or even focusing on individuals identified as suicidal. To increase successful attempts to address youth suicide in the future, further unraveling of the complex suicide process must be accompanied by sustained and substantial efforts in scientifically underpinning and evaluating ongoing and new prevention strategy plans, and this is largely a matter of policy priorities and commitment.