Teen Suicide (Essay Sample)

Teen suicide
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Teen suicide
Teen suicide is a growing concern in the society as it has been said to be the third leading cause of death for young people at the ages of 15-24. Teen suicide has been surpassed by homicide and accidents that happen in the United States. There are thousands of teenage deaths every year reason being teenager's experiences various changes in their body that influence their decisions. The strong feelings teenagers experience include confusion, self-doubt, stress, fears of growing up and pressure to succeed among other issues. However, suicidal feelings and depression are treatable mental disorders if diagnosed early to ensure that teenagers do not commit suicide.
According to a research conducted by Kerri & Daniel suicide is a chief problem in the public health, especially for physicians who treat adolescents and children. The research further holds that there is a six-fold rise in predominance of suicide from childhood to late adolescence. The National Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance survey shows that contemplated suicide attempts are high with 16% of high school students having contemplated suicide during the past one year. 13 % have marked a suicide plan, 8 %, making a suicide attempt and 2.2 %, making a suicide attempt plan that required medical attention.
Non- suicidal Self-injury is the deliberate destruction of one's body in the absence of aim of dying. Teen suicide is a growing problem among teenagers that may lead to suicides if not carefully taken care of by medical professionals (Kim & Dickenson, 2012). However, NSSI if different from suicide attempt in the sense that suicide attempt aim is to cause actual death, while NSSI is harming or destroying the body.
Teen suicide may be caused by depression that teenagers suffer, while growing up. Bullying, especially in the era of social media where every child is excited about the social media. For example, many children or teenagers are bullied online and they end up getting depressed as it lowers their self-esteem and self worth. Additionally, divorce is another major cause of suicide deaths because teenagers may feel that they are capable for their parents' separation.
Among mature teenagers issues such also drug abuse and miscarriage may lead to suicide attempts. For example, in an example given in an article by Liam Casey, Nadia Kajouji an 18-year teenager sought out help online after suffering depression, but came across a bad influence that advised him to commit suicide for him to see via a webcam (Casey, 2012). This shows that there is a problem when it comes to seeking help for children or adolescents who suffer from suicidal thoughts.
Psychological concepts that are associated with teen suicide include stress that may come from the need to succeed in school as well as pressure from parents to succeed. Stress is a major cause for mental disorders. Stress may in turn lead to Major depressive disorder that is common in teenagers who attempt or completed suicide. Teenagers are also associated with high rates of anxiety disorders and there are about 38% of teens who suffer from anxiety disorders. 21 % of teenagers also suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder that may lead to suicides.
Additionally, disruptive behavior disorder and substance abuse disorders are other psychological concepts related to teen suicide. Disruptive behavior includes oppositional defiant disorders while substance abuse disorders include alcohol abuse, dependence, marijuana abuse, and dependence among others. According to a research conducted by Wilkinson and colleagues in 2011, it was established that future NSSI was associated uniquely with the presence of female gender, anxiety disorder and younger age while Future suicide attempts were associated with poor functioning families.
States do not have enough mental health providers and the available doctors are not able to cater and care for an alarming number of teenagers who suffer from mental disorders. There are not enough child clinicians, psychiatrists or social workers who deal with child related issues therefore, making it necessary for government to fund institutions that will cater for adolescents with mental problems, which will consequently, reduce the death rate that is caused by teen suicide.
Screening is used to detect whether a teenager is suicidal or not; however, there are not enough mechanism for screening to enable assessment of children. Reason being when students undergo screening the community and the physicians will be in a better position to know their mental state. However, the people to conduct the screening and the assessment are not available due to the inadequacies and the shortage of medical professionals.
Therefore, behavioral health screening should be conducted and people and parents trained on the indications of full blow suicidal thoughts. Additionally, awareness should be created for teachers and health administrators about the issue of behavioral health issues and their manifestations in adolescents and children. Teachers and administrators should also be equipped on how to screen behavioral issues with students and make the needed referrals for appropriate referrals.
The article came from the Brown University Child and Adolescent behavior letter. The article was written by Kerri L. Kim and Daniel P. Dickenson on Relationship between teen suicide and non- suicidal self-injury. The second article is found on the Toronto Star by Liam Casey on Teen Suicide: the digital cry-out. The search strategy was based on the current issues affecting the society as well as, how such issues affect an individual. Issues such as teenage suicide have become a prevalent and for that reason, it raises the need to look at the causes and the effects of teen suicide.
The research issue understands the relationship between teen suicide and non-suicidal self-injury and its relation to adolescents and children. The hypothesis of the study is whether there is a relationship between NSSI and SA. Additionally, whether a patient who engages in Non-suicidal self harm at risk of suicide attempt. Another research question is whether the adolescents involved in NSSI should be hospitalized to prevent suicide attempts or is it a bad way to use the limited funds provided for the health care system. The research design is based on a literature review that has been conducted on the subject matter.
The research identifies the various psychological factors that lead to teen suicide and what can be done to reduce the rate of suicide in...