Youth Suicide

779 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Suicide and social media Social media has been one of the major causes of suicide, though introduction

1. Introduction:
This report aims to present the issue of whether Australia is doing enough to prevent youth suicide, by providing facts and opinions on the issue, as well as explaining how the issue has affected society. Furthermore, the report also identifies participants involved in the issue and how they react to the issue.
2. The Issue and Background To the Debate
It is recorded that every year, there are more than 2000 cases of self-destruction in Australia (Gillard 2013). Noticeably, in 2008, there were at least 281 Australians committed suicide, whose ages are only between fifteen to twenty-four (Suicide Prevention Australia 2014). The argument about whether Australia is doing enough to prevent youth suicide has arisen due to many concerns.
Recent programs and articles have reported on many youth suicidal cases in Australia since 2013. The two significant triggers are the tragic suicide of three high school students in Geelong, Victoria in the middle of 2009 (Best 2013), and the death of 15-year-old Tyler Cassidy which occurred in 2008 (Stark 2013). The debate also started because there is an obvious increase in youth suicide, of which a third of these youths are Aboriginal (Parke 2014), and because of the widespread discussion about suicide on social media (Best 2013). The debate is aiming to reduce the rate of Australia's cases of self-destruction by one-half in the next ten years (Donovan 2013).
3. The Social Significance of the Issue
The increase in youth suicide worries society in general. It raises concerns of whether a method should be applied when discussing about suicide (Best 2013), whether early mental health support will reduce the number of suicidal cases (Stark 2013), whether a debate on youth suicide sho...

... middle of paper ...

...elped in an old and inflexible environment instead of more modern and professional one (Stark 2013). More importantly, when dealing with people who have mental health problem and are at risk of suicide, mental health professionals surprisingly do not have the abilities or are not confident enough, reported Jack Heath (Donovan 2013). Finally, Craig Comrie also claimed that the youth suicide rate appeared to be increasing (Parke 2014), showing that Australia is not yet doing enough to reduce youth suicide.
6. Conclusion
All in all, the debate about whether Australia is doing enough to prevent youth suicide raises many questions and arguments. The debate is significant to the society, as it aims to help mental health professionals and the Government to develop better services to prevent and reduce the youth suicide rate by the next ten years.

Works Cited

Newspaper

Show More
Related

  • Suicide Rates in Kent & Sussex County Among Youth Ages 12-24 Part 1

    2613 Words  | 6 Pages

    According to Fowler, Crosby, Parks, and Ivey (2013), suicide and nonfatal suicidal ideations are significant public health concerns for adolescents and young adults. While the onset of suicidal behaviors is observed as young as six years of age, rates of death and nonfatal injury resulting from suicidal behavior are moderately low until 15 years of age (Fowler et al., 2013). According to Fowler et al (2013), the most current available statistics in the United States (U. S.) reported suicide as the third leading cause of death among youth aged 10-14 and 15-19 years, and it was the second leading cause of death among persons aged 20-24 years.

    Read More

  • Annotated Bibliography: Teen Suicide: Annotated Bibliography

    1127 Words  | 3 Pages

    The main argument in this article is that there needs to be more ways to help people that are suicidal. The main point of this article is that they want to people to be more aware of how to help someone, and it is also full of information. The topics that are covered in the article are the issues at hand, the background with suicide in teens, and the next step that society needs to take. This article is about helping people that are suicidal and how to help them and let us know the next step that we need to take.

    Read More

  • The Rhetorical Analysis Of Teen Suicide By Barbara Mantel

    765 Words  | 2 Pages

    Did you know that the second leading deaths in 13 to 19 year olds in the United States is suicide besides homicides! The author, Barbara Mantel who wrote the article “Teen Suicide” may have focus more on logos and pathos and not enough on ethos. Her main idea was stating that new studies such as school prevention programs, therapy and medicine or even screenings will have an effect on suicidal victims. Thinking that these studies, will increase understanding of teen suicides and lead to a better identification and treatment of high risk teens. Although she may have been lacking ethos in her article, her other rhetorical reasons are very effective

    Read More

  • Unseen Struggles: Abby's Tragic Tale

    513 Words  | 2 Pages

    Her eyes were heavy, her body weak. As she crawled into the bathroom two feet away, Abby felt her body slowly succumbing to the numbness. All of her pain would be gone in less than 10 minutes, so why would she want to turn back? What about the senior trip Abby had planned with her best friend? What about the chair at the dinner table that would now be vacant? A couple of hours later Abby’s family came home from her little sister’s soccer game. Little did they know what they would find as they approached the top of the stairs. Her little sister, Ali, stood still as she looked down at her feet. There on the cold floor lay her big sister, her role model, and her super hero. Ali was crushed when she saw the pill bottle in her hand and the pale color of her skin. Her mom fell to her knees screaming and crying, wondering where she

    Read More

  • Self Harm

    1111 Words  | 3 Pages

    Suicide and deliberate self-harm in young people (2005). Hawton, K. & James, A., BMJ, 330, p.891-894

    Read More

  • Canada in a Youth Suicide Crisis Situation

    1521 Words  | 4 Pages

    The idea of youth committing suicide mystifies our societal logic. We do not understand the reasons why youth -normally associated with energy, determination and possibilities- turn to such a final act as a solution. Suicide eventually enters all of our lives, either directly or indirectly. However, the situation becomes more cruel and unfair when a youth commits suicide. We can not help but think of the opportunities and potential lost so swiftly for one so young. Although adolescent suicide is a current crisis in today’s Canadian society, youth for all of history and in all cultures have resorted to this ultimate form of self-destruction. Clearly we have and always have had, a teenage dilemma needing desperate attention. Canada is currently in a youth suicide crisis situation. Our suicide rates are above that of the United States as well as other auspicious countries. For example, in young men aged fifteen to nineteen, the rate of suicide “is 60 percent higher than in the United States.”1 UNICEF has declared that adolescent suicide is Canada’s major tragedy. Our youth are unable to cope and unable to successfully find the kind of help they need to help themselves. The results are tragic and unnecessary.

    Read More

  • Aboriginal People of Canada

    1278 Words  | 3 Pages

    Aboriginal people represent less than 3% of the total population in BC. Yet, they account for more than 9% of all suicides in BC (Chandler). The numbers of suicides amongst aboriginal youth are even more alarming – nearly one-fourth of all youth suicides in BC are committed by aboriginals and more than half of all aboriginal suicides are committed by youth (Chandler). The fact that indigenous communities in Canada have the highest rate of suicide of any culturally identifiable group in the world implies that these alarming statistics may not solely be a result of aboriginal communities belonging to a minority cultural group. I will attempt to build a speculative hypothesis behind the significantly high suicide rates amongst aboriginal youth in Canada. I will do so by turning to three factors that I think are most important amongst the several factors that may be coming together and playing a role in the high vulnerability to suicide amongst aboriginal youth. I believe this is important because the more accurately we identify causal factors that may be responsible for aboriginal suicide, the more specific suicide prevention programs can be made. This pool of factors must include those that are common to all suicidal behaviour, those that are responsible for suicidal behaviour in marginalized communities and those that might be specific to the history and context of aboriginals in Canada. In this commentary I have chosen one factor from each of these three pools of factors – one, the interpersonal-psychological theory to explain suicide in general; two, loss of self-identity, which could be a leading cause for aboriginal suicide worldwide; and three, the impact of residential schools on the psychological makeup of aboriginals of Ca...

    Read More

  • Distribution of Depression Amongst Young Australians

    1558 Words  | 4 Pages

    It is difficult to calculate mortality for depression as suicide can be attributed to factors other than depression, such as drug use or abuse. Depression, along with other mental health disorders, is the leading cause of disability in Australians aged 15 to 24 (AIHW, 2008). Depression and anxiety account for 17% of male disease burden and 32% of female burden in this age group (AIHW, 2008) and 24% of the burden for all Australians aged 16 to 24 (AIHW, 2011). Depression greatly affects quality of ...

    Read More

  • Adolescent Suicide

    2596 Words  | 6 Pages

    There have been many instances of suicide that have occurred in the past years at universities across the country, and since it is such a sensitive subject, there have not been nearly enough coverage as this topic deserves, considering this issue does not seem to be going away. When collecting data about suicide statistics, the age range is broken down as people ages 15-24, which spans most developmental years. Within this bracket are college-age students and this age-group has by far the most troubling statistics around it.

    Read More

  • The Growing Problem of Teen Suicide

    2340 Words  | 5 Pages

    A 17 year old boy, Douglas Stewart, came home from school to find his mother lying on the sofa with a strained back. Being concerned for her he rubbed her back briefly then put on some easy listening music. Douglas then proceeded downstairs to his bedroom. Two of his friends came to the door. His mother waited to see if he would return to answer it; minutes later she answered and then yelled for him to come up. When he did not come, she went downstairs to get him. That is when she found him strangled and her son’s body dangling from the ceiling. This is a senseless tragic sight for a mother to endure. The mortality rate from suicide in 1996 showed 9.5 per 100,000 for 15-19 year olds. This also shows boys are four times more likely to commit suicide then girls. However, girls are twice as likely to attempt suicide. (American 1996) It is imperative to reverse this trend and in doing so we need to understand the characteristics, behaviors and events associated with youth suicide.

    Read More

  • Teen Suicide Essay

    1942 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...harm has sky rocketed and needs to be addressed immediately. In addition, as I covered towards the beginning of the core assessment, the important variables and culprits on suicide and self-harm include psychological, family, and social problems in society. In my personal opinion, the media outlets need to contain on what they report in reference to teenager suicide. With all the solutions and treatment plans I mentioned in this assessment, there is very minimal evidence of the effectiveness. The major challenges I foresee in the future for this ongoing problem include the understanding and comprehension of adolescent suicide in addition to the contributors. Identifying preventative measures aimed at young teens considered a high risk and the effective treatment options are challenges that are difficult, yet; very attainable with a collective effort from everyone.

    Read More

  • Youth Suicide in Australia: A Report

    753 Words  | 2 Pages

    This report will discuss an issue of whether Australia has done enough to prevent youth suicide by showing the background and social significance of the issue. Furthermore, the participants involved and their controversial opinions related to the issue will be analyzed in this report as well.

    Read More

  • Self-Destructive Behavior

    2637 Words  | 6 Pages

    The key to understanding suicide and self-destructive behavior comes from the awareness of how some destructive thought processes control the need to end one’s life. Being cognizant of how these thoughts are veiled and can lead to a self-destructive downward spiral, enables clinicians to better assess risk and design interventions for depressed and suicidal clients. According to Nock and Banajii (2007) worldwide, suicides among adolescents have increased dramatically averaging one million each year. Many teenagers experience strong feelings of stress, confusion and self-doubt in the process of growing up. Pressures to succeed, the economy, and the environment can intensify these feelings. At present, self-report has been unsuccessful in the prevention of teen suicide; the tools available to help health care professionals detect potential suicide ideation are not sufficiently reliable (Nock & Banajii, 2007). In fact, Nock and Benajii stated that often during therapy, suicidal ideation may not be present and surfaces once the patient goes home or oftentimes, the patient will deliberately hide the urge to end his life. Because the existing tools rely solely on subjective statements, it is very challenging to decipher congruency between what is verbalized and what remains unsaid (Nock & Banajii, 2007).

    Read More

  • Teen Suicide: A Growing Problem

    1535 Words  | 4 Pages

    Suicide is the third leading cause of death for 15 to 24 year olds, and the sixth leading cause for 5 to 14 year olds. Suicide accounts for twelve percent of the mortality in the adolescent and young adult group. Young males are more common than young woman suicides. These are only children who followed through with the suicide. For every successful suicide there are fifty to one hundred adolescent suicide attempts. In other words, more than five percent of all teenagers tried to commit suicide, and the number is still rising. It is scary to think that four percent of high school students have made a suicide attempt within the previous twelve months. In a small safe town like Avon, in the Avon High School where you and I practically live, you can see the faces of 22 students that have tried to commit suicide. That is enough to fill a classroom.

    Read More

  • The Problem of Teenage Suicide

    1928 Words  | 4 Pages

    Now the eighth-leading cause of death overall in the U.S. and the third-leading cause of death for young people between the ages of 15 and 24 years, suicide has become the subject of much recent focus. U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher, for instance, recently announced his Call to Action to Prevent Suicide, 1999, an initiative intended to increase public awareness, promote intervention strategies, and enhance research. The media, too, has been paying very close attention to the subject of suicide, writing articles and books and running news stories. Suicide among our nation’s youth, a population very vulnerable to self-destructive emotions, has perhaps received the most discussion of late. Maybe this is because teenage suicide seems the most tragic—lives lost before they’ve even started. Yet, while all of this recent focus is good, it’s only the beginning. We cannot continue to lose so many lives unnecessarily.

    Read More

More about Youth Suicide

Open Document