Suicide

Someone, somewhere, commits suicide every 18 minutes. You might never be able to tell who it will be, it could be the person sitting right next . Statistics reveal that approximately three million youths, between 12-18, have either thought about or attempted suicide in the past year. More than 1/3, actually succeeded.

Only in the past two decades, have depression and suicide been taken seriously. Depression is an illness that involves the body, mood and thoughts. Depression affects the way a person eats and sleeps, feels about themselves, and the way they think of the things around them. It comes as no surprise to discover that adolescent depression is strongly linked to teen suicide. Adolescent suicide is now responsible for more deaths in youths aged 15 to 19 than cardiovascular disease or cancer (Blackman, 1995). Teen suicide has more than tripled since the 1960's (Santrock, 2003). Despite this alarming increased suicide rate, depression in this age group is largely under-diagnosed a...

Adolescence is a stressful experience for all teens. It is a time of physical and social changes producing rapid mood swings from sadness to elation. Even an emotionally healthy teenager may have the constant fear of not being good enough, not making the varsity team, or getting good grades. Special situations such as a parents divorce can trigger intense sadness and feelings of wanting to die.

People who usually experience depression, can seem fine. But there are many key signs to show that they are depressed. Such as, change in school performance, eating habits change, constant unhappiness, low self esteem, guilt, social isolation, inability to concentrate, irritable or angered easily, or has a severe lost of energy.

For a teen suffering from severe depression, has feelings of worthlessness that dominates their day. Despair is ever present and emotional pain feels like it will never end. Any situation of anger or disappointment may cause the teen to cross the line from wanting to die, to actually trying to kill themselves.

Many of them feel pains inside of them, that they can't describe when someone asks them how they feel. They just know that they are sad, or angry, or upset. Many teenagers will try to communicate their pains through conversations or writings. Just like in the poem I read, the girl couldn't exactly tell you WHY she felt like that, but she could convey her emotion through her words.

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