According to a report published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the third most common cause of death for those between the ages of 15 and 24 is suicide. Another report by the National Conference of State Legislatures reveals that 19.3 percent of high school students have seriously considered killing themselves and that the rate of suicide in the United States is on the rise. Several causes for an adolescent to take his own life are common.
Depression
The most obvious cause for suicides for people of all ages is depression. Almost all cases of suicide involve some level of depression, but there are other feelings that can cause suicide, such as extreme shame or a feeling of being trapped. Depression itself is usually a reaction to something in the adolescent's environment, but it could also be caused by various medical conditions and some types of medication. Some antidepressants have been known to increase the risk of suicide. Depression itself causes wide changes through the body. Most of these increase the feelings of depression, causing an escalation in the likelihood of a possible suicide attempt. In most cases, treating one of the conditions will instantly improve the other but usually won't suffice as treatment alone.
Substance Abuse
According to a report released by the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse in 2000, adolescents who had been exposed to alcohol or illicit drugs within one year were twice as likely to be at risk for suicide than those who hadn't reported drug or alcohol use during that time. If a teenager begins using substances, it is a reaction to something in her environment. She may start using drugs as a way to escape or to cope with personal difficulties. When the use of these substances becomes habitual, a teenager may start feeling shameful, depressed, worthless and guilty over her addiction and consider suicide as an exit. She may think that she has been trapped by her addiction, driving her to commit suicide as the only way to escape dependency. The danger in substance abuse lies in that many of these substances can amplify negative feelings and increase the risk factor tremendously.
Changes at Home
Some teenagers find themselves unable to cope with changes that happen around their family or to those close to them. Some of these kinds of situations include divorce, remarriage, financial difficulty or a death of a loved one. Many adolescents can feel like what is happening around them is somehow their fault or that they are blamed for something needlessly. In these types of situations, the first step to take is to reassure the teenager that he isn't to blame for what is troubling the family. Seek professional help if you or someone you know suffers from depression or is having suicidal thoughts.
Impulsiveness
Not all suicides are planned. A study that appeared in 2001 in volume 32 of the Journal of the American Association of Suicidology examined young individuals who had almost "succeeded" in an attempt at suicide. It concluded that 1/4 of the subjects calculated suicide for less than five minutes before taking action and that 90 percent attempted suicide within a day. Suicide is often a reaction to a volatile moment that pushes individuals past a point where they feel like they can no longer cope with whatever is tormenting them. It's important to realize that once a day or more has passed from the first thoughts of suicide, the risk factor goes down significantly. However, this doesn't mean help shouldn't be sought and action taken immediately.
References
- "Summary of Findings From the 2002 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse"; The National Household Survey on Drug Abuse; 2002
- "Journal of the American Association of Suicidology"; Characteristics of Impulsive Suicide Attempts and Attempters; Simon, Swan, Powell; vol. 32, 49-59, 2001
