Top 8 reasons why youths commit suicide

By: Prince Andrew Livingstone

Suicide is no longer a rare event that takes everyone by surprise. We hear of suicides so often these days that it’s almost a trend and we’re so used to the stories that we barely even flinch anymore. It’s rather sad. If we look into some of the cases their causes for death almost seem trivial to those who are living and those they’ve left behind. Some people say that suicide affects the people left behind. But taking one owns life is never minor, it is never light conversation; it is scary, unnerving and very real.

Suicide has been linked to mental disorders such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, and alcoholism and drug abuse. It is said that death only needs an excuse and it is true. But suicide isn’t just a state of mind that develops overnight. It’s a lingering thought in the person’s life and finally when they hit rock bottom they don’t see the end of tunnel anymore and they call their final shots. At that moment living becomes much harder than death could ever be for them. A lot of people criticize suicide victims, never having been in their position to fully comprehend the person’s emotions or thoughts.

WHO states that in the last forty-five years the suicide rates have risen by 60% worldwide and is one of the leading causes of death in the youth and basically people between the ages of fifteen to forty-five. They also mention that suicide is just the result of one problem but a combination of complex socioeconomic, personal and interpersonal situations.

The reasons for suicides are wide and varied but here are the top 8 that have been noted

1-STRESS Pressure at school to get good grades, meet numerous assignments deadlines and pick a career at such a young age agitates teens and becomes too much for them after a certain point. This pressure is also increased by parents and families to live up to a certain standard. Maintaining this is not always easy since everyone is born with different talents and likings. When the pressure gets too much many teens decide to take the pressure off once and for all.

2-BULLYING AND PEER PRESSURE Bullying is now a more spoken about phenomenon than it was in earlier days. It is also more common and practiced than it was way back when. children in their early teens, entering high school tend to experience a bit more bullying than usual.

From pranks to name calling some teens can be really mean people – pushing the other to the far end. Teens who are bullied feel cornered and their self-esteem and confidence is beaten down to the bare minimum. They feel worthless and incapable of anything productive. This leads them to think and imagine that their life truly is worthless and therefore no longer feel the need to keep on living. They work into depressions and end up taking their own lives. Most teens are scared of further bullying and never bring up what’s happening to their teachers or parents and these things tend to go unnoticed for years on end.

3-EMOTIONAL NEGLECT Parents these days seemed to be involved in their own lives with no concern for their growing teens. In doing this they sometimes ignore the signs of suicide. Emotional neglect leads to the youth feeling forgotten about and alone. They feel like their existence makes no real difference and if they were to end their lives no one would even notice their absence. This emotional neglect has a worse effect than some people can imagine.

4-DOMESTIC ABUSE Some teens are victims of domestic abuse. Over the years they’ve been physically and mentally abused by one or members of their family. This has a long lasting damaging effect on people. Sometimes if they are not victims then they are witnesses to acts of domestic violence, which has an equally damaging effect on people. A lot of the time the abusers blame the youth for whatever may be wrong – big or small.

Believing that they are the cause of every problem in their household can be very demeaning for the person. Some survive to have healthy adult lives, some go on to experience more violence from their spouses in the future; others decide to end their lives there and then, believing no good can ever come from their existence.

5-SEXUAL ORIENTATION It is mostly in their youth years that they come to terms with their sexuality and for most there are a lot of complications involved. First, a lot of them have a rather difficult time determining their sexuality. Once they do, realizing that they are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or whatever other sexuality they fit themselves in comes with its own set of difficulties.

There is the problem of telling friends and peers who sometimes turn on the person and mock and ridicule them. But in today’s day and age friends are some of the most understanding people you can have during a time like this in one’s life. Then there is the issue of parents and family, who more often than not are not particular welcoming and understanding about their child’s sexual orientation. This creates a lot of pressure on the child and “coming out” that already took so much courage is now being pummeled.

The attempt to be themselves and society’s view of them creates turmoil within them. This eventually leads to a depression. Finally when the teen actually starts to believe that he is actually as a bad a person that people make him out to be, he concludes that living is no longer worth it. Especially if living means not being able to love who he chooses to love.

6-SEXUAL ABUSE Many teens grow up with being sexually abused, some experience sexual abuse later in their teens. Whatever the case is, sexual abuse has more than just long lasting physical damages; it is extremely emotionally damaging as well. The unimaginable pain the person is going to leads them to take their own life with frustration. In our society, the rape victim also becomes the community’s outcast. Being raped is already more damaging and doesn’t need to the added baggage of society’s hypocrisy.

7-DIVORCE Teens have a general tendency to believe that they are the cause of everything that is going wrong in the life of a loved one, especially if they are not being told differently. When parents are divorcing they are sometimes made to believe that they are the cause of it or even they aren’t told that they come to that conclusion. Thus in taking their life they assume that their parents will be happy or happier without them around.

8-MENTAL DISORDERS Depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and other disorders cause the brain to function differently than usual and lead to thoughts that eventually result in suicide. A lot of youth with mental disorders don’t feel like they belong in society and consider themselves outcasts. That is just one of the many reasons that people with mental disorders commit suicide. Frustration with themselves and society and the trouble they have fitting in often lead them to take call it an end. Mental disorders need to be detected early on and treatment is required, but sometimes even that doesn’t work. It’s heartbreaking to watch.

By: Prince Andrew L. Zutah 0544 111 100