Why are teenagers suffering from anxiety and depression leading to suicide?
In this paper in will be researching teenage depression and what causes it. I will be researching what to look for and what is normal and what is not. When to see a doctor and when to get immediate emergency help.
Although depression among teenagers is high, we now have to look at the different causes. There is no exact known cause but here are the ones I came across: Early childhood trauma which something tragic happened in their life directly to them whether it is a family member sexually assaulted and abused them, or a misunderstanding with their parents as in a Rose for Emily essay. It also could be by inherited or learned from other relatives.
One may ask what depression is. Well, teen depression is a very serious mental health problem that is continuously spread among teenagers. It is the after effect from something happening to them that was very traumatic, whether it was present or in the past. It affects the thoughts, feelings and behavior and can cause emotional and even physical problems. Depression can occur at any time in life and the symptoms will vary from person to person. Some of the causes are certain expectation from their parents, peer pressure in school, being bullied and the list goes on.
Identifying the signs of a depressed teenager is the a changing attitude and behavior. Many teenagers who think they are so depressed and considering suicide will talk about it before doing anything. Sometimes they don’t say anything and just do it.. Teenage suicide can be detected at an early point if one is educated to recognize and understand the signs of suicide. It almost always start with depression. But if the person noticing this does not know any of the signs, they could end up losing someone close when they could have helped prevent the suicide.
By knowing the signs and symptoms associated with suicide is a start to preventing teen suicide; however, taking action is equally as important. One action that could be helpful is to take the potentially suicidal teenager to a doctor if it appears that the teenager is pondering suicide. Another action is to communicate with the suicidal teenager. This is probably the easiest initial action to attempt. If the teenager is contemplating suicide and a person communicates with them, two things can happen. First, the person may find out more information about what is bothering the teenager. Second, the teenager may be talked out of committing suicide in the near term. Talking may be easy and helpful to solve this horrific tragedy; but the teenager may commit suicide if a person does not act immediately.
The main key to helping a suicidal teenager is to act immediately. According to Sylvia Cochran, “If you have reason to believe your child may, on whatever level, be contemplating suicide, you must take action immediately. Do not leave her/him alone until help is available. Do not adopt a wait and see attitude.” (Cochran). If a parent, friend, teacher, etc., is able to act quickly, then they may be able to prevent a possibly suicidal teenager from committing suicide.
Teenagers committing suicide during depression is clearly one of the more rapidly growing causes of death for young people today. It is not an infrequent occurrence and can definitely be prevented with the help of proper treatment and action. Depression, pressures in life in general, and the greater access to lethal weapons and drugs are some of the major causes and reasons of suicide. They are all preventable however, in more ways than one. Greta was a firm believer in the age-old saying that sometimes the best way to overcome something is to understand it.
