Teen Suicide: Facts And Answers
Aurelia Williams
According to the National Youth Violence Prevention Resource
Center, "teen suicide is the third leading cause of death among
teenagers -- almost 2,000 teens kill themselves each year."
Depression is one of the leading causes of teen suicide. It is
estimated that "over 90% of teen suicide victims have a mental
disorder, such as depression, and/or a history of alcohol or
drug abuse." The National Institute of Mental Health considers
depression "to be a real medical illness and it's treatable."
What drives a teen to commit suicide? What is so horribly wrong
in their lives that ending it is the only alternative? There are
risk factors involved in teen suicide: Peer pressure, low
self-esteem, dysfunctional family, stress, and access to drugs,
guns, and an unyielding desire to make the pain disappear.
Teen suicide has and is becoming a pandemic in our country and
around the world. Our youth has become entrenched in an
ideology doled out by those who seek to control, persuade and
coerce our teenagers. At the same time, communication between
parent and child has become, in most situations, non-existent.
This leaves teens to fend for themselves in areas they are too
young to understand and too eager to become engaged in.
Our music, movies, and educational system have let down our
teens in the most rudimentary way. Our teens lack guidance and
care. They are the fabric of our society which has been
shredding for years and have been reduced to a statistic. Our
child services, our family courts, our teens' caregivers have
offered nothing to assert the importance of self-worth. Over
the years, the make-up of the "family" has dramatically
changed. The two-parent household has, in some cases, changed
to one. A teen's family could be his gang members who, on a
daily basis, feed into the destruction of that teen. Morality
has become passé. Many youth have become self-absorbed in an
underworld of hatred and self-loathing.
Have all teenagers talked or even thought about suicide? No.
However, the statistics are frightening. Who is responsible for
this outbreak? Some would agree parents should take a stronger
role in their child's life from the outset. A teenager doesn't
suddenly choose to die unless something terribly wrong has
pushed him/her over the edge. We cannot allow them to choose
that end game.
Teenagers do become depressed, alone, angry, hopeless and
helpless. As parents, as friends, as educators, as guardians of
this precious commodity - we cannot allow them to succeed in
what they think may be in their best interest. They must be
given a reason to live, to love, to become needed and useful
members of our society. We, as adults, must educate and
interact with our youth in a positive, caring and thoughtful
way to ensure they have the proper tools with which to grow and
gain empowerment. How can we do anything less?
Contact the Statewide Suicide Hotline at 1-800-564-2120 for
more information.
About The Author: Aurelia Williams is the host of Parenting My
Teen Podcast http://www.parentingmyteen.com and is also the
owner of Real Life Solutions,
http://www.reallifesolutions.net
a free resource site for moms.
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