About Teen Suicide
Audrie Pott was an ordinary 15-year-old girl who loved going out with her friends and having fun. She looked forward to her next 3 years of high school and her future in college. This all changed when Audrie unfortunately consumed too much alcohol at a party and passed out. She was then molested by three 16-year-old boys at the party. Pott woke up to find an abundance of explicit photos of her rape on the internet, and all her classmates had seen them. One week after the event she hung herself. Similar situations, like this, happen to teenagers every day and it can’t go unnoticed any longer. Self-harm and teen suicides are no joke. Daily, young people take their lives for reasons that could have easily been prevented. Society has a duty to protect the adolescents of our generation from feeling that they can no longer cope with life.
WHAT:
Teen suicide has always been a world problem, but recently it has taken an overwhelming incline. With new social networking teens can feel more vulnerable than ever. Cyber-bullying is a new issue that we aren’t quite used to, but must be quickly terminated. Society is trying to tell teenagers how they should look, what they should feel, and how they should see things. Young people are forced to fit into a box of what other people think they should be and they are left with no freedom. Teenagers should be able to decide who they are in their own time; they don’t seem someone else to do it for them. We live in a world where teenagers are pressured to be great, and sometimes they can’t deal with the weight on their shoulders.
WHERE:
Young people take their lives all over the world. The highest suicide rate is in South Korea with 24.7 suicides per 100,000 people living there. Statistics show that this is because of the strict work ethic in this part of the world. Students are expected to be the best in the classroom, and if they don’t do well there is consequences. Most South Korean children get buried under the intense amount of work and don’t feel as though they can deal with it any longer.
WHY:
Increased academic stress, social grouping, peer pressure, and responsibility are just a few of the large struggles teenagers have to face throughout adolescence. It’s a completely new life and difficult to deal with. Just making a transition into Middle School and High School can be too grueling for some people. Also teenagers have to deal with the unpredictable hormones that come with puberty which can make little things seem like the hardest thing in the world. Not only are the changes of growing up difficult to handle, but sometimes a teen may develop a disorder that will make suicidal thoughts rapidly increase. Some examples include anxiety, bipolar disorder, insomnia, or depression. These can be caused by the overwhelming changes of becoming older or by something unrelated. 95% of people commit suicide and have a psychological disorder at the time (KidsHealth).
HOW:
Suicide can be committed in a number of ways. 60% of teen suicides are completed with firearms (KidsHealth). An effective way to prevent a child from killing themselves is to not have a gun inside the household. Being hung by a rope, jumping off tall buildings or bridges, and using a firearm is the most common way for a male to commit suicide. Overdosing on a prescription drug, using illegal drugs, or using a sharp object to harm themselves is the path a female normally chooses. It’s proven that girls think about suicide twice as much as boys, but boys die in attempted suicide four times as often as girls do (KidsHealth). This is most likely because they choose more lethal methods.
WHEN:
Suicide is a problem at any age, but it is most common among young adults and adolescents. It is the 3rd leading cause of death for 15 to 24 year olds according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Through these ages are when you’re going through a lot of changes. That might be going to high school or to college, or having to think about having a serious relationship. There are many reasons suicidal thoughts occur.
WHO:
A suicide effects more than the victim. It can shatter a family, and friends of the teenager who took their life will have an empty hole in their heart forever. A parent, sibling, aunt, uncle, cousin or best friend who was inseparable from the victim will most likely not know how to handle the situation and become deeply depressed them self. They might become so emotional over the event that they might commit suicide, and leave someone else broken-hearted over their loss. If a teenager decides to commit suicide in their school, which is the number one place it is done, it can be traumatizing for other students. Just knowing that someone took their life right near you can be scarring.
THE PROBLEM/FIXING THE PROBLEM:
Losing teenagers to untreated issues is inexcusable. Adolescents aren’t able to cope with becoming young adults in the modern world without help. Children are the future of our nation and without them we will be nothing. They have cried for help, and it is our calling to resolve this disaster. There are couple of ways that would be appropriate to solve this situation, but there is one that is proven most effective. We can’t to anything too large yet; we have to take baby steps. The school system needs to encourage parents to talk to their child about suicide, and adults need to know about the warning sides. More often than not parents think that talking to their child about serious subjects makes them think of committing suicide more, but that is not the case. An educated teen will know what to do if they ever come across a situation when they feel hopeless. Teenagers are able to have a more personal experience when talking to their parents rather than talk in a health class. Their parents know them better, and they can make sure the point gets across smoothly.
CONCLUSION:
Teen suicide needs to be solved because it is affecting our world in terrible ways. Young people are tormented and pressured by those around them constantly. They shouldn’t have to feel like they can no longer bare the pain in life. There are ton of boys and girls who feel like Audrie Pott did before she hung herself; will you make sure those kids don’t end up like her?