Bielawski,+Kamila

media type="youtube" key="HFsfDLCkfQU" width="425" height="350" align="right" Kamila Bielawski Ms. Doherty Junior English 16, June, 2011 Suicide
 * kamilassap.tumblr.com**

 Suicide

 In today’s day and age suicide is a rising problem. According to David Hosanky, “suicide is a major cause of death among youths.” (CQ Researcher) Suicide is a problem because depression is increasing more and more. Because of the high rates and difficult to recognize signs of depression or suicidal thoughts in teens, doctors and pediatrics should check kids for depression at every check-up as well as teaching parents how to recognize the signs of these diseases in their children.  Suicide is the act of one taking their own life, and today too many kids are doing so. Based on the information on teendepression.org, “ In a survey of high school students, the National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center found that almost 1 in 5 teens had thought about suicide, about 1 in 6 teens had made plans for suicide, and more than 1 in 12 teens had attempted suicide in the last year.” Lately there is more and more cause for teen suicide.  As a teenager myself I have talked to my friends about this issue and they have opened up to me when they felt like they couldn’t bare living anymore and it is very painful to hear about it. Even the most happiest girl I know which happens to be one of my closest friends and has everything she could possibly wish for told me she think about committing suicide, the most I could at the time was listen to her and give her as much as support as possible. If she didn’t tell me how she feels I never would have noticed anything was wrong with her and neither did her parents. And in saying that, that brings me to my point that recognizing the signs of this disease is not as easy some people may think it is and if someone told her mother the symptoms of suicidal thoughts she could much sooner talked to her or gotten her help.  One major cause of suicide is depression. As said on kidshealth.org, “depression leads people to focus mostly on failures and disappointments, to emphasize the negative of their situations and to downplay their own capabilities of worth...” (2) In result of kids who struggle with depression feel so hopeless, they feel as if there is no one nor nowhere to turn and believe suicide is their only way out, or see it as an escape. As Claire Wallerstein talks about in her book “//Just the Facts Teen Suicide//”, most kids don’t actually want to die, so this is a very preventable situation.  From the information I found on WebMD.com, “depression is a complex disease and occurs for many reasons.” Reasons for depression can range from a serious medical illness to a change in life. But nevertheless the main causes of depression are: abuse, certain medications, conflict, death or loss, genetics, major events, and even substance abuse. (WebMD)  Biology is related to depression because researchers have found that people with depression have a smaller hippocampus than people who aren’t depressed. The hippocampus is a small part of the brain that stores memories, and smaller hippocampuses have fewer serotonin receptors which is a calming brain chemical. (WebMD)  Other causes of suicide are mental illnesses. According to teendepression.org, “ ** 90 percent of people who attempt or commit suicide suffer from a mental illness.” These mental illnesses include manic depression, schizophrenia, eating disorders, anxiety, and even alcoholism. **  A third effect of suicide is pain. When one commits suicide they aren’t only causing pain to themselves but to the people around them. As well as grieving, your loved ones are heartbroken their loved one could ever do such a thing to themselves. In addition to this they often blame themselves and think “where did I go wrong?” and become angry with themselves. Sometimes parents bare so much pain their marriage ends up in divorce.  Teen who attempt suicide use many different methods. Based on suicide.org firearms is the number one method used to commit suicide. Other methods teens use to attempt suicide are hanging, strangulation, and suffocation. Poisoning and overdosing is a another method used in attempted to kill oneself. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Solutions I found to suicide have all been pretty similar. Many websites I found suggest talking it out, hotlines and therapy. I believe talking it out doesn’t always work because some people may not understand how you’re feeling or what you’re going through. In my own personal experience some of my friends are very bad at giving advice and at some times it made me madder than I was to begin with. In teenagers it is very common to be selfish and always want to talk about their own problems and someone dealing with depression feels even more neglected and feels as if nobody cares about them. Depressed people can’t be told the wrong thing or that can lead them to turn to suicide. As for hotlines, I personally wouldn’t want to have to call one. I don’t know many people who enjoy talking on the phone in the first place. I feel as if I was about to commit suicide but was in severe need of someone to talk to I might use it as a last resort but I wouldn’t want to talk to someone I’ve never met. Finally I think therapy is a good solution because after time it can help people get out of their situation. In therapy you can actually get close to your therapist and in some cases become very close to them but in my solution trying to find a good friend to talk to or calling a random person wouldn’t be need. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> My solution to the widespread issue of suicide is simple. Because parents visually don’t recognize the signs of the depression and suicide, doctors and pediatrics should step in and do it for them. When a child or teen goes in for their check-up they should be checked for symptoms of depression or having suicidal thoughts. If the doctors did so they could get them help such as therapy or medication because these diseases are treatable. Taking in account that some kids go in for check-ups only once a year or sometimes less, parents should be taught how to see these signs. To address this issue, doctors and hospitals should explain the symptoms of depression and of kids wanting to attempt suicide while the parents are with them at the office. Doctors could ask to please speak to the parent outside of the room and explain to them what the signs are whilst also giving them pamphlets with information containing all of the signs and symptoms of both suicide and depression. If the parents caught the signs early they could get them help in between check-ups and their children can go on to live a healthy, happy life.
 * In addition another cause of suicide is bullying. One who is bullied is always being put down and or hurt physically or emotional, and sometimes both. Being bullied can cause kids to go into depression, or be terrified to even go to school and need an escape. Bullies can just as well be parents as kids at school. Unfortunately some parents to abuse their kids physically, verbally, or emotionally. **
 * To emphasize the seriousness of suicide, more causes I found on teendepression.org include previous attempts of suicide, as stated “ **<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">almost half of teens who commit suicide had attempted suicide previously. ” Also, a recent loss, death, or break up. Parents breaking up is also a cause. Some teens, mostly boys, are afraid they’d be made fun of asking for help because they feel too depressed.
 * One effect of suicide is losing a loved one. When a person commits suicide they leave their loved ones alone and depressed. Dealing with losing someone important in your life can lead that person to develop serious depression just as well as other mental illnesses. As stated on medicinenet.com “in effect of suicidal behavior or completed suicide on friends and family members are often devastating” (medicinenet.com) **
 * A second effect of suicide is grieving. As said on WedMD.com “grieving **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">is your emotional reaction to a significant loss. The words sorrow and heartache are often used to describe feelings of grief…Grieving is the process of emotional and life adjustment you go through after a loss. Grieving after a loved one's death is also known as bereavement. ” Grieving happens in several steps. These steps are denial, numbness, shock, bargaining, depression, anger and hopefully in time, acceptance.