SUICIDE AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS
Suicide has become a critical, national problem and the extent of this is mind-boggling. Suicides have been proven to be one of the leading causes of death among college students. According to Webters dictionary “suicide is the act killing oneself on purpose”. It derived from the Latin sui, meaning “self”, and caedere, which means “to kill”. But this is just a definition, because an actual suicide holds different meanings to people such as tragic, shocking, a relief, a cry for help, a shame, heroic, the right choice, punishment, revenge, protest, anger, a mistake, desperate, hurtful and many more. But why do people, like college students who have their entire future ahead of them, simply give up hope and turn their heads away from life and commit suicide. There are several causes of suicide, recent incidents of suicide on college campuses, warning signs from a suicidal. I blame the Constitution and the United States law for not taking any hard initiative on the subject of suicide. I also impose the choice of the media, which is reflecting and portraying suicide towards a wrong direction. However most important questions remain: can the growing epidemic of suicide be solved, what are communities doing about it and what can they do to help?
The first and outmost question that comes in my mind is why do college students commit suicide? Why would the quiet, shy chemistry major student sitting next to you in the library jump from his 14th floor dorm? Why would a talented athlete on the basketball team use a gun to kill herself? The causes for committing suicide can range from depression, family and relationship problems, expectations, pressure to succeed and academic failure, financial stableness, not reaching the goal that is desired and many more. According to the National Association for Suicide Prevention everyone has different reasons for being depressed and the extent of that depression will also vary from person to person. Some common causes of depression that have been found to lead to college suicide are not feeling loved or understood, the feeling of rejection, trouble with friends and family, or the feeling of being “no good”, and not reaching the academic standards (42). Kay Jamison, a professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University said in the Universi...
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... suicide help phone line and on campus psychologists. But just to be more cautious, all the students in college should know more about the growing and serious epidemic of suicide. Students should put up flyers informing them on the subject of suicide and like any other societies they should have fundraisers to raise money in creating suicide help line and psychiatric offices for college students off campus. Be aware of their environment and inform any sign of suicide among their peers so that they can immediately get help before it gets too late. It depends on individual, some college students manage to survive and even flourish under the most difficult circumstances, while others flounder under the same conditions.
Works Cited:
Steven, Swanson. “Tribune National Correspondent”. Chicago Tribune Oct. 2004: 8.
Colt, George Howe. The Enigma of Suicide. New York: Touchstome/Simon &
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Portner, Jessica. One in Thirteen. Maine: Robins Lane Press, 2001.
Franz, Kafka. “The Metamorphosis.” The Idea of the Human. Trans. Willa and Edwin
Muir. Minerva Press, 1992. 402-447.
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A young anonymous college freshman tells a story of the depression she faced throughout her first semester of college, through the transition and her roommate issues. Not only did it occur during her first semester, but through her second as well. Unfortunately, the depression overtook her life to the point of her desire to commit suicide. Luckily, she changed her mind in the last second and saved herself (Reachout.com). This young student is not just one of few depressed college students, but she is one of many. Colleges must take more responsibility of mental health issues, like depression, by researching the causes and effects while discovering beneficial treatments that promote the students’ overall well being.
Suicide is a much bigger problem than society will admit; the causes, methods, and prevention need to be discussed more openly. Committing suicide probably sounds like a foreign idea to most people, but to the people who think about it, they deal with it every day. More importantly, the question is what leads people to kill themselves? In general, most people do not want to actually kill themselves, even though many people joke about it on a daily basis. Being human, we all have a certain amount of will to live.
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In 1996, suicide was the second-leading cause of death among college students, the third-leading cause of death among those aged 15 to 24 years, and the fourth- leading cause of death among those aged 10 to 14 years.
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