Teen Suicide | Teen Ink

Teen Suicide

March 24, 2011
By rebeccaaa BRONZE, Coventry, Rhode Island
rebeccaaa BRONZE, Coventry, Rhode Island
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

The saddest day of my life is when I got the news that my little cousin committed suicide. Joey was only 14 years old, and shot himself in the head. None knows for sure why he did it, but later his mom told us that he was on antidepressant pills. In some teen suicidal death that is a major cause of suicide. Teen suicide is the third- leading cause of death for 15-24 year olds, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Nearly 60% of suicides are committed when there is a firearm at home.
For every teenage suicide there are about one hundred failed attempts. Girls think about and try suicide nearly twice as much as boys. They attempt to kill themselves by overdosing on drugs or cutting themselves. However boys die from suicide about four times as frequently as girls. More boys tend to use firearms, hanging or jumping from heights. Twenty seven percent of high school students said they had serious thoughts about killing themselves during the past year. Eight percent said that had truly tired to kill themselves
There are many factors that increase risk of teen suicide. A few of them are, depression, alcohol and drug use, previous suicide attempt, physical or sexual abuse and feeling social isolation. A teenager who is thinking about suicide might talk about suicide or death in general, talk about “going away”, lost or desire to do there favorite activities, and change in eating or sleeping habits.
There are many warning signs that a teen is going to commit suicide. A few of them are a stressful life at home or school, break up with a girlfriend or boyfriend, death of a loved one, a divorced or a major family conflict. People who talk about suicide often commit it, that’s why all suicide talk should be taken seriously. There are many signs to a person wants to commit suicide or has attempted already, those are just a few of the numerous signs. Homosexual teens can also lead to suicide attempts when they “come out” and tell people about their sexual relation and is no longer accepted by his or her family or friends.
People with schizophrenia have a higher risk of suicidal death then normal population. What schizophrenia means is it’s a mental disorder that makes it difficult to tell the difference between real and unreal experiences, to think logically, to have normal emotional responses, and to behave normal in social situations. This dieses is a complex disorder, even some experts don’t even know what causes it. Around ten percent of people with schizophrenia commit suicide. Also teens with anxiety may be at a higher risk for suicide attempts.

There are many hotlines to call if you’re having thoughts about suicide or if you would just like to talk to someone. If one of your friends or family members is showing the “warning signs” you should help them as much as you can by talking to them or calling for them. We can’t just sit back and let such terrible thing happened to such young kids. If I had the opportunity to help my cousin, I wouldn’t have blinked twice about it. If I had known about Joeys depression I would have never of let it get by and obviously called the help line and try to get as much help for him as possible, I hate to see such a good kid die so young.

The author's comments:
what inspired me to choose "Teen Suicide" was because in September my younger cousin committed suicide, and shot himself in the head with a gun his dad had in the house. Since then I've been thinking about teens killing them self and in class we watch videos on kids killing them-self and it touch me. I wonder what was so bad in his life that made him want to kill himself. i wish i could rewind time and figure it out before its to late. That's why i chose to pick "Teen Suicide" since i can relate to it and i could also learn more about it while writing it.

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This article has 2 comments.


Pickles-29 said...
on Apr. 11 2011 at 5:28 pm
Pickles-29, Boise, Idaho
0 articles 0 photos 24 comments
This was sad but really good. Makes me want to reach out to help someone.

love said...
on Apr. 11 2011 at 10:33 am
be  strong   cause  u   can   haveyourmoment4life