Teen Suicide

Menstuff® has compiled information on the issue of Teen Suicide. If you are crisis, 1st call 911 while you're looking in the front of your local yellow pages for the number of the local suicide prevention hotline. If you can't get through to either of those, click on Emergency Numbers. Also check out www.virtualcity.com/youthsuicide for information on youth suicide, for gay youth suicide check out www.sws.soton.ac.uk/gay-youth-suicide and www.metanoia.org/suicide contains conversations and writings for suicidal persons to read.

Considering committing suicide? click here:

Serious about commiting suicide call here: 1-800-SUICIDE

Click here for
Emergency Numbers
24 hours a day, every day
800.448.3000, or for TDD 800.448.1833


Source: postsecret.com

Now a word from Pink

A Story Concerning Teen Suicide - Free

Are You Feeling Suicidal?
Darkness and Light: Teen Suicide in America
When Someone Feels Suicidal
Warning Signs
Who Young People Turn to for Help
How to Help
Teen Suicide
Gay Suicide

5:06
It's Gets Better

The Warning Signs and Major Risk Factors of Teenage Suicide
Teen Suicide & Firearms
Interventions
Statistics
Teen Suicide Stats
Snippets
Deaths by Suicide and Self-inflicted Injury age 15-24, 1991-1993
Newsbytes

Related Issues:  Talking With Kids About Tough Issues, Guns

Disclaimer - Information is designed for educational purposes only and is not engaged in rendering medical advice or professional services. Any medical decisions should be made in conjunction with your physician or psychiatrist. We will not be liable for any complications, injuries or other medical accidents arising from or in connection with, the use of or reliance upon any information on this web site.

Teen Suicide

Youth and elderly suicides are on the increase in the US. And, according to The World Health Organization (WHO) over 786,000 people committed suicide around the world in 1997. This is an effective suicide rate of around 10.7 per 100,000 population per year. To put this statistic in perspective, that is the equivalent of one suicide every forty seconds, somewhere in the world.

Suicide is the ninth leading cause of death in the US with 31,204 deaths recorded in 1995. This approximates to around one death every seventeen minutes. There are more suicides than homicides each year in the US.

From 1952 to 1992, the incidence of suicide among teens and young adults tripled. Today, it is the third leading cause of death for teenagers aged 15-19 (after motor vehicle accidence and unintentional injury). Two-thirds of all suicides under 25 were committed with firearms (accounts for most of the increase in suicides from 1980 to 1992). The second most common method was hanging, third was poisoning. Suicide is increasing, particularly for those under 14 and in those over 65, while not the leading cause of death, the suicide rate is extremely high.

Young men commit suicide successfully at a higher rate than women in all 30 countries listed below. In the US, the ratio between men and women was 4.1:1 while in young people 15-24 the average ratio is 5.5:1 and the ratio increases with age within this group. In white males over 85, the suicide rate was 73.6/100,000 in 1993. For more information:  www.cdc.gov/ncipc/pub-res/10lc92c.htm; www.nosuicide.com:80/stats.htm; www/nimh.nih.gov/;www.nosoidice.com

"So You Wanna Kill Yourself?  Gays and Suicide."

Gay men are six times more likely to attempt suicide than their straight counterparts and the numbers increase exponentially during the holidays. This story appears in the Dec/Jan 99 issue of Genre and examines the issues behind why they are taking their own lives, and offers some solutions to the holiday blues. (Also see our own # 7 Happy Holidaze A report from P-FLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) states that in a study of 5,000 gay men and women, 35 percent of gay men and 38 percent of lesbians have considered or attempted suicide. The statistics are even higher among gay teens: The Department of Health study indicates that gay youth are up to six times more likely to attempt suicide than straight teens, and gay teenagers account for up to 30 percent of all teenage suicides in the nation.

"Far more women suffer from depression that men do, so it seems odd that women would commit suicide at only one-fourth the rate of men. The key difference between the two sexes may be that women talk out their problems. George E. Murphy, an emeritus professor of psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, says that women may be protected because they are more likely to consider the consequences of suicide on family members or others. Women also approach personal problems differently than men and more often seek help long before they reach the point of considering suicide. 'As a result, women get better treatment for their depressions,' Murphy says. To reduce the rate of suicide in men, Murphy suggests that physicians should be alert for risk factors in men and refer them into treatment. Writing in the Journal of Comprehensive Psychiatry, he says that identifying men at risk require mental health professionals to recognize that depressed men may understate emotional distress or difficulty with their problems."  Black Men, 3/99. Source:  HealthScout, www.healthscout.com

It's important for people with suicidal feelings to let themselves be assisted in overcoming deep depression. It's also a good idea to talk about your feelings with friends. No man is an island and there's nothing wrong with leaning on people who love you in times of need.

See Suicide Prevention Services available locally. Dial 411 for your city's Suicide Prevention Hotline, or try your local Gay & Lesbian Center, which offers referrals for counseling, domestic violence and suicide prevention.

The Warning Signs and Major Risk Factors of Teenage Suicide

Each year, thousands of American teenagers are diagnosed with clinical depression. If ignored or poorly treated, it can be a devastating illness for adolescents and their families. A new book, Understanding Teenage Depression, provides the latest scientific research on this serious condition and the most up-to-date information on its treatment. Drawing on her many years of experience as a psychiatrist working with teenagers, Dr. Maureen Empfield answers the questions parents and teens have about depression. Maureen Empfield, M.D., is director of psychiatry at Northern Westchester Hospital Center in Mt. Kisco, New York, and assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. She is the author or coauthor of more than a dozen publications for the professional market. Nicholas Bakalar is a New York-based writer and editor.

Although it is almost impossible to predict precisely which teenager will attempt suicide, there are warning signs that parents can look for. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry has assembled this list of indications. If one or more of these signs occur, parents should talk to their teenager and seek professional help.

In high-risk patients—that is patients who have threatened or attempted suicide—there are four risk factors that account for more than 80% of the risk for suicide: major depression, bipolar disorder, a lack of previous mental health treatment, and the availability of firearms in the home. If these four problems were solved, most suicides would be prevented.

Source: Maureen Empfield, M.D. and Nicholas Bakalar

Snippets:

Deaths by Suicide and Self-inflicted Injury per 100,000 age 15-24, 1991-1993

Note that religious and social strictures against suicide may result in some underreporting in some nations. i.e., China is believed to represent over 46% of the suicides in the world. And, no information is currently available on Denmark and France.

Ranked by

Ranked by

Ranked by

Country

Males

Females

Ratio M/F

Males

Females

Highest Ratio M/F

Australia

27.3

5.6

5/1

9

11

7

Austria

21.1

6.5

3/1

15

7

21

Belarus

24.2

5.2

5/1

12

14

7

Bulgaria

15.4

5.6

3/.1

20

11

21

Canada

24.7

6.0

4/1

11

10

15

Czech Rep

16.4

4.3

4/1

19

18

25

Estonia

29.7

10.6

3/1

7

1

21

Finland

33.0

3.2

10/1

6

22

2

Germany

12.7

3.4

4/1

21

21

15

Greece

3.8

0.8

5/1

30

30

7

Hungary

19.1

6.5

3/1

16

7

21

Ireland

21.5

2.0

11/1

14

27

1

Israel

11.7

2.5

5/1

23

23

7

Italy

5.7

1.6

4/1

28

29

15

Japan

10.1

4.4

2/1

24

14

27

Latvia

35.0

9.3

4/1

5

2

15

Lithuania

44.9

6.7

7/1

1

5

3

Netherlands

9.1

3.8

2/1

26

19

27

New Zealand

39.9

6.2

51

3

9

5

Norway

28.2

5.2

5/1

8

14

7

Poland

16.6

2.5

7/1

18

23

3

Portugal

4.3

2.0

2/1

29

30

27

Russian Fed

41.7

7.9

5/1

2

4

7

Slovenia

37.0

8.4

4/1

4

3

15

Spain

7.1

2.2

3/1

27

26

21

Sweden

10.0

6.7

1/1

25

5

30

Switzerland

25.0

4.8

5/1

10

16

7

Ukraine

17.2

5.3

3/1

17

13

21

UK

12.2

2.3

5/1

22

25

7

US

21.9

3.8

6/1

13

19

5

Source: WHO, World Health Statistics Annual 1993 and 1994, 1994 and 1995, Center for Disease Control, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control; National Institute for Mental Health.

Newsbytes

Many Teens at Risk for Suicide Don't Get Help

Receiving psychological or emotional counseling can help teens who are suicidal cope with their problems, but most teens in trouble don't get those services, say researchers from San Francisco, California, and Melbourne, Australia.
Source: www.kidshealth.org/research/teen_suicide_help.html

Bush Signs Youth Suicide Prevention Law

President Bush signed into law a bill authorizing million in grants aimed at preventing suicide among young people. The law authorizes $82 million over three years to provide grants to states, Indian tribes, colleges and universities to develop youth suicide prevention and intervention programs. It emphasizes screening programs that identify mental illness in children as young as sixth-graders, and provides referrals for community-based treatment and training for child care professionals. The money for the grants has not been fully appropriated yet, however. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 3,000 children and young adults take their lives each year, making suicide the third-leading cause of death between the ages of 10 and 24. Each year, more that 600,000 young people require medical attention for a suicide attempt.
Source: www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/EMIHC251/333/8895/403479.html?d=dmtICNNews

Black Male Teen-ager Suicide Rates Increase

The rate of suicide by gun among black male teen-agers nearly quadrupled between 1979 and 1994 before falling off somewhat in the late 1990s, according to a study.
Source: www.intelihealth.com/enews?347512

Who Young People Turn to for Help

 

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