Suicide is known to be amongst the top causes of death worldwide. This tragedy has affected many people and families in America. There has been many reasons that has lead to take their lives.10 out of every 100,000 people have committed suicide making it top 10 causes of death. Every 40 seconds a person dies by suicide somewhere in the world, making suicide a global health issue. Whether it may be alcohol or drug abuse, any kind of bullying, and mental illness. According to research done by the Gallup Youth Survey, about 47 percent of teens know someone who taken or tried to take their lives.
When the topic of suicide is brought up it mainly talks about how it mainly affects teens and young adults. However it’s not discussed of it affects middle-aged and older people in America and around the world. According to both sources National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) and the National Vital Statistics System(NVS),middle age people have lower percentage of suicide attempts compared to young adolescents, however the death rate from the age rage of 45 to 65 suicide deaths has risen from the time of 1999 to 2014.
In a journal written by Maureen and Kayla Kroning, they discusses that about 11% of teens from the ages of 12-17 suffer from severe depression. 30% of high schoolers suffer from depression and 17% of them have attempted suicide more than once in their highschool years. Students have been known to use drugs as an escape route from depression and the stress of being in high school. Dr. Alvarez and many news articles have stated that drugs have been made easy access to many teens and young adults. Allowing it easy for them to become addicts, this is has caused the drug addict rate increase in the adolescents, and made the drug problem more obvious to the people. Many teens struggling with depression has used this as a way out by overdosing on drugs.Suicide has become a common solution for many teens and even adults due to depression, substance abuse and sexual abuse or traumatizing events.
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Depression has been one of the main causes for suicide, in high school this has affected many students and families. 11% of teens in the age range of 12-17 have suffered from severe depression and 30% over all high school student have been diagnosed with depression. In high school things like peer pressure can cause things like bullying to rise, whether it’s cyber bullying or face to face. Bullying has grown to be a huge part of the high school experience. 1 in 3 or 1 in 4 students have been bullied in high school.
Half the death in 27 states, the people were noted to have some kind of mental illness when they ended their lives, mainly being depression. The president of the American Psychological Association stated “Suicide is a public health crisis when you look at the numbers, and they keep going up. It’s up everywhere. And we know that the rates are actually higher than what’s reported. But homicides still get more attention.”. Many teens that have been struggling with depression have been recorded to have suicidal thoughts or attempts before reaching the age 16.
Due to cyberbullying and traumatic events that may have happened due to a person being bullied. There has been times where bullying has escalated to the point of it being physical, causing physical trauma to the teen. Other students have not only been known to be the perpetrator of bullying but also staff of the education system. Teachers have been known to mistreat students whether it was though verbal and emotion attacks and some have taken it far enough has to physically hurt them, even when it’s their job to protect the students.
Depression not only to have effects on teens and young adults but also adults. According to NSDUH (National Survey on Drug Use and Health), the average percent of adults who’ve had thoughts of suicide ranged to 3.6 %, and the average for adults that have attempted suicide was 0.4%. Data from the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) record that adults aged from 45-64 had the highest increase in death through suicide being 13.2 to 19.5 every 100,000 people.
Adults have taken their lives for many reasons that lead to be depressed and eventually taking their lives. Some being divorce, lost of job, breakups, lost loved one and the lost of mobility in certain body parts. The work place for people can be very stressful and be full of anxiety. And when you don’t know what to do with that stress or how to manage it, it leads to a depressive state of mind. Which leads to my next point of substance abuse, drinking has been known to be copping habit to help through these issues.
Concerning younger ages a lot substance abuse began with either peer pressure or copping method to deal with depression or anxiety that their dealing with. High school and college is full of parties and relationships where drugs and alcohol is involved.According to the Addiction Center “The pleasure centers of a teenager’s brain develop faster than the parts of the brain responsible for decision-making and risk analysis.” this leads them to make decisions based off desire and not concerning the many horrible aftermaths. Then teens involve themselves in drugs and alcohol that leads them to become addicts and leads to some to develop depression and may lead to suicide or overdose.
Also to prevent from being cornered into peer pressure from the people around them they involve themselves in drinks and drugs not knowing how their bodies is going to react to, this leads to them becoming addict always have a need for these things. The constant use of drugs like marijuana, xanax, molly and opioids can cause brain deterioration and can cause disorders among the adolescents. Many psychiatric disorder can be caused by these drugs and you don’t even need high dosage for it to occur. Many adolescents smoke marijuana thinking it will help their depression, however it makes it worse. When it seen that the drugs are making it worse it makes them in a worse state of mind that they were in before making them take more of these drugs which can lead to drug overdose.
Drugs have been made an easy access for teens. This is has caused the drug addict rate increase in the adolescents, and made the drug problem more obvious to the people. Many teens struggling with depression has used this as a way out by overdosing on drugs. These drugs have major effect on the brain. During adolescence, the brain goes through biological and psychological changes. The teen brain is developing ways to work effectively. It accomplishes this through cutting off unnecessary connection between different parts of the brain making it easier for the brain to more focus and efficient.
However, when teens indulge in drugs during this time period it interrupts that process, causing the brain to become broken down causing side effects which may lead to mental illnesses. This leads us back to things like depression and anxiety, where more drugs are put into the body which can go out of control leading to suicide by overdose.
Thirdly, trauma is also one of the causes for someone to take their lives. There events that happen in someone’s life that creates a great burden causing someone to feel the need to end their life. Suicide caused from trauma is mainly target at women who’ve been raped or sexually harassed by someone in their past. 12% of teens in high school who have been raped or sexually harassed have commited suicide it has been found later that each of these victim have experienced some sort of sexual abuse in their time. By not always having that since of confidence in another person to tell them, the shame and hurt can be overbearing and the only logical solution to some is suicide.
It is known that women are not the only one who experience sexual harassment or rape many male teens have come out about molestation whether it was parents, aunts, uncles, coach or teachers. It has also been cases where young boys have taken their lives due to not be able handle the situation and the struggle protect their masculinity. This cause this to show signs of depression through distancing themselves from others, drugs or drinking are usually involved and it becomes out of control.
According to the CDC more than 1 in 4 women and more than 1 in 10 men have experienced contact sexual violence, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner and reported significant short- or long-term impacts, such as post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms and injury. 94% of women that commit suicide have endured sexual abuse from their partner.Nearly 22% of people who had been raped had also attempted suicide at some point in their life.
Lastly, tragedy is another cause of suicide, whether it’s the death of a loved one, lost of mobility or separation in relationships. Many people who’ve lost someone dear to them when going through the stages the anger stage can be very dangerous when going through the anger stage you try to find coping mechanism which may involve drinking or drugs which if mixed together can have a bad effect causing death.
When you’re trying to wrap your head around accepting death for the first time it can be overwhelming and it can stressful for the mind and allowing you to slip away in the drugs and alcohol causing you to overdose or be so strung out that you see death as the only option leading you to commit suicide. Many soldier that served in the wars and came back to their families suffer from PTSD. People with a diagnosis of PTSD are also at greater risk to attempt suicide. Among people who have had a diagnosis of PTSD at some point in their lifetime, approximately 27% have also attempted suicide.
When you experience a traumatic event or have PTSD, it can a lot impact on your daily life. The symptoms of PTSD can make you feel isolated and under attack all the time. Also, depression is common to follow a traumatizing event with people with PTSD. A person may feel as though there is no hope or escape from their symptoms, leading them to contemplate suicide.
Also when soldiers come back home after losing a limb making them immobile, soldiers having that feeling of being out of place and have the feeling of missing out. Whether it was concerning their family and friends or their daily day to day life. Those feelings can be draining at some point where it leads to suicide. Approximately, 15% of soldiers who have become immobile due to war commit suicide.
Lastly Concerning younger ages a lot substance abuse began with either peer pressure or coping method to deal with depression or anxiety that their dealing with. High school and college is full of parties and relationships where drugs and alcohol is involved.According to the Addiction Center “The pleasure centers of a teenager’s brain develop faster than the parts of the brain responsible for decision-making and risk analysis.” this leads them to make decisions based off desire and not concerning the many horrible aftermath Many children who grew up in dangerous households whether their parents were addicts or children who found themselves in the terrible overflowing foster system have experience physical and sexual abuse while growing up. Approximately 23% of people who had experienced a physical assault had also attempted suicide at some point in their life.
Children who grew up in abusive environments develop different the effects of trauma such as depression, anxiety, despair, isolation, loss of self esteem, feeling threatened and distrustful, having these feelings develop can end in a child commiting suicide. Trauma and its side effects are associated with greater suicide risk. A significant number of attempters and completers have a background of trauma. It makes those affected feel less connected or that they are burdens to their families and friends. This generates hopelessness and depression, which may produce a desire to die.
When people experience stress the adrenal glands release a steroid hormone called cortisol. In studies done it is seen that people who experienced major levels of trauma in their childhood and have attempted suicide, release cortisol when under stress. It studies done earlier it is said that people who have attempted suicide before have a “ damaged” stress response system.The causes of suicide are not well understood. For many years, researchers have been trying to uncover the risk factors for suicide in order to prevent deaths. Many biological, psychological and social factors have been identified, but there are also many gaps in understanding why people try to end their lives.
In conclusion, Suicide is known to be amongst the top causes of death worldwide. This tragedy has affected many people and families in America. There has been many reasons that has lead to take their lives.10 out of every 100,000 people have committed suicide making it top 10 causes of death. Suicide has become a common solution for many teens and even adults due to depression, substance abuse and sexual abuse or traumatizing events. Stated by the CDC more than 1 in 4 women and more than 1 in 10 men have experienced contact sexual violence, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner and reported significant short- or long-term impacts, such as post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms and injury. 94% of women that commit suicide have endured sexual abuse from their partner.
Lastly, children who grew up in abusive environments develop different the effects of trauma such as depression, anxiety, despair, isolation, loss of self esteem, feeling threatened and distrustful, having these feelings develop can end in a child commiting suicide. Doing this research allowed me to have a better understanding of this tragedy that has effect the world.
References
- National Institute of Mental Health – Suicide Prevention
- American Psychiatric Association – Suicide Prevention
- Mayo Clinic – Suicide
- National Center for Biotechnology Information – Risk Factors for Elderly Suicides in Long-term Care Facilities: Exploring Dementia and Social Support Networks as Fundamental Determinants
- PubMed Central – Middle-aged suicide in the United States: 1999-2005.
- Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Global Open – Suicidal Behavior Among the Elderly: Risk Factors and Medical Management
- National Center for Biotechnology Information – Suicide in Late Life
