Statistics show that suicide is the third leading cause of death in ages 10to 24 as of April 19, 2013. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC), for every teen who commits suicide there were 100 attempts. “The attempted suicide rate for high school students has risen from 6.3 percent to 7.8 percent in the last three years,” stated Meghan Neal from New York Daily News in an article she wrote June 9, 2012.
The majority of the time teen suicide is due to bullying (cyber bullying, sexting, physical, psychological) but that’s not the only reason. Teens are taking their own lives because of bullying but also depression, stressful living situations and multiple other reasons that aren’t fully understandable from an outsider’s point of view.
Do you ever brush off someone’s problems because you don’t think they’re “real” problems? Or do you argue with your kids because you can’t understand their problem? Has there ever been a case where someone has needed you and you weren’t available? Have you ever as a teen made fun of someone or just watched someone else? Are you a source of stability, comfort and support for someone young out there? Did you ever walk in someone else’s shoes to understand what they are going through? The last question will get the most no’s out of any other.
Teens use many ways to kill themselves such as, with a firearm (guns and other automatic weapons), suffocation (hanging them self), poison (drug overdose), drowning and cutting. At the point where the teen has had enough and is ready to die a few things are running through their head like how are they going to do it.
When someone is deciding which unnatural way to die they most likely will choose the option where they die faster over the option that leaves a smaller mess (blood or any parts of them left to clean up). The kids of today need to know that a third option is out there: ask for help. Just because it’s not sitting in a cabinet or lying in a drawer doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist.
There is no positive side to this information. he only thing possible to gather from this piece is to spend more time with the younger generation, take interest in their lives, help them overcome their obstacles, show you truly care and do what you can to make them believe their presence is valued. There are tons of websites, hotlines and centers that help prevent teen suicide, a lot of people are trying to save young lives. If no one does the human species could end a lot earlier than anyone anticipated and it wouldn’t be anyone else’s fault but our own.