Why do people decide to commit suicide? Is it because life is unbearable, painful, hopeless, or useless? I think suicide can occur during almost any stage of life. However, it might be considered especially critical in adolescence and youth. This is the stage of life when persons could enjoy being young and fresh and looking forward to life’s wide variety of exciting experiences. Instead, many young persons decide to commit the ultimate…that is to take their own lives.
I believe that there is no specific recipe of variables that contribute to any individual adolescent’s suicide probability. Each person and life circumstances, as you know, are unique. However, in a Human Behavior and Social Environment Course at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona campus, I was taught that adolescents who threaten to try to commit suicide tend to experience problems in three main arenas: Increased Stress, Family Issues and Psychological Variables.
First, let us look at Increased Stress. As you know, many teenagers today express concern over the multiple pressures that might be related to current social and economic conditions. Many families are breaking up. Pressures to succeed are great. Many young people not certain they will find a job when they finish school. Peer pressure to conform and to be accepted socially is constantly operating. Suicidal young people may simply lose any coping powers they may have had and simply give up.
A range of significant events might increase stress and jar adolescents into suicidal thinking, such as unwanted pregnancy or even fear of unwanted pregnancy, death of someone close, divorce, family relocation or even the stress resulting from declining grades in school. For some adolescents, failing an exam might mean life is over.
I think that problems in peer relationships can contribute to stress. An adolescent may feel unwanted or isolated, that he or she simply does not fit in or he or she may experience devastating trauma after being ‘dumped’ by a girlfriend or boyfriend.
Adolescents lack of experience in coping with such situations may make it seem like life is over for them after losing ‘the one and only person’ they love. Many adolescents have not yet had time to work through traumatic experiences and learn that they can survive emotional turmoil.
Secondly, Family Issues: I believe that turbulence and disruption at home contribute to the profile of an adolescent suicide. There might be serious communication problems, parental substance abuse, and parental mental health problems or physical or sexual abuse. I also believe that the lack of a stable home environment contributes to the sense of loneliness and isolation. There were two studies I can recall that we looked at in my Human Behavior and Social Environment Course at UWI. These studies were done at the Kingston Public Hospital (K.P. H) in Jamaica.
The first study reviewed the case histories of completed adolescent suicide in 43 percent of cases. The second involved administering a wide range of tests to adolescents who had visited the K. P. H. emergency room. The tests evaluated such things as level of depression and family dynamics. The adolescents were divided into two groups, those who came to the emergency room because of a suicide attempt and those who came for some other reason.
Several characteristics became apparent in families where adolescents had attempted suicide. First, the adolescents felt they had a negative relationship with their parents. Second, adolescents in the suicide group felt their mothers were less interested in them than did adolescents in the non-suicide group. Third, their fathers had lower self-esteem. Fourth, their mothers had been more likely to have thought about suicide before. Fifth, alcohol use was more apparent on the part of both mothers and fathers in the suicide group.
Thirdly, Psychological Variables, usually relating to depression, make up the arena for problems leading to suicide thoughts. One such factor is low self-esteem. It is evident when people don’t feel strong intentionally, they find it very difficult to muster the support necessary to cope with outside pressures. Such feelings of helplessness and hopelessness may also contribute to suicidal thoughts. As adolescents struggle to establish an identity and function independently of their parents, it’s no wonder that many feel helpless. They must abide by the rules of their parents and schools. They also suffer from peer pressure to conform to the norms of their age group. They are seeking acceptance by society and a place where they will fit in. At the same time, adolescents must strive to develop a unique personality, a sense of self that is valuable for its own sake. At times such a struggle may indeed seem hopeless.
Impulsivity, or a sudden decision to act without giving much thought to the action, is yet another variable related to adolescent suicide. One day, while watching TBN, I heard a television evangelist said, “Confusion, isolation and feeling of despair may contribute to an impulsive to end it all.” He further stated, “But if you try Jesus, He can save you from such impulsive and give you a better live.”
Conclusively, adolescents today must face a hard transition into adulthood. Social values are shifting. Peer pressure is immense. They have not gotten the time to gain life experience and so tend to behave impulsively. Any trivial incident may become crises. Every moment of the day can feel like the end of the world if something is wrong. So let us be useful and supportive to the adolescents. One of the most useful and concrete things we can do for suicidal people is to help them to get the help they need. It can be personal or professional or both.
*************************
DISCLAIMER
This article was posted in its entirety as received by SKNVibes.com. This media house does not correct any spelling or grammatical error within press releases and commentaries. The views expressed therein are not necessarily those of SKNVibes.com, its sponsors or advertisers
