Reasons of Adolescent Suicides - Essay Example

Suicidal ideation leads depends on four things: guns, parental supervision, drugs, and cultures (Berger). The first three things explain the 100% increase in suicides since 1960. However since 1997, despite the proliferation of guns, less parental attachment, and more access to alcohol and drugs, the suicide rates are coming down. Anti-depressant medicine is considered responsible for this improvement (Berger). Similarly, a combination of medicine and cognitive-behavioral therapy is most effective for combating suicidal tendencies (Berger).

Application

The availability of guns increases the chances of fatal injuries/ completed suicides. This fact has been corroborated by the fact that about 52% of all suicides were with firearms (Jason, 2011). It should however be noted that guns may not be considered responsible for creating suicidal tendencies. Firearms are just instruments that are used for suicide. As long as there is a desire to commit suicide, more and more ways will become available. Despite the proliferation of guns over time, suicide rates have been coming down since 1997 (McIntosh, 2011).

The mix of suicidal ideation and the availability of drugs is the most fatal combination as the suicidal ideation might lead to the use of drugs and the use of drugs might precipitate suicidal tendencies. Malcolm Lowry (1909-1957), the British novelist and short-story writer was left by his parents at the mercy of “sadistic nannies or indifferent foster parents” during his early childhood and later he developed emotional problems as a result of which he became an alcoholic by age 13 (Day, 1973). A combination of factors precipitated his suicidal tendency resulting in his final shooting himself (Shulman, 2011).

The inappropriate or absence of parental supervision precipitates the desire to commit suicide. The fractured married life of the parents of John Berryman, the American poet, led to Berryman’s father shooting himself. While still a child, Berryman used to ask his mother why his father died, and on finding “contradictory explanations” from her, he accused her of being responsible for his death (Shulman, 2011). The feeling of living with a murderous mother may also have nurtured in him the desire to kill himself which he finally did in 1972.

Adolescents are particularly influenced by the culture around them. A suicide in a family or school may create suicidal ideation, parasuicides, or completed suicide among adolescents (Berger). Benjamin, the twin brother of Matthew who committed suicide four years before, suffers from the same fears. He consciously tries to make himself different to reassure himself that even though he is the twin of Matthew, he will not similarly end his life. “This fear continues to haunt me.  The more I think of myself as non-twin, the more I am reminded that we are connected in this fundamental way” (Fox, 2002).

Conclusion

So effective control over the access of adolescents to firearms, heeding the parents warning signs in time, and making drugs inaccessible to the adolescents can effectively check the adolescents to attempt or commit suicide. Similarly, if a culture is so built that discourages suicide and encourages responsible behavior for example through responsible journalism, the problem can be minimized.

Unless the reasons which fundamentally, even if indirectly, contribute to suicidal tendencies are not addressed, it will be impossible to effectively check the incidence of suicides. If it is true that the bad relations between the parents lead to suicidal ideation among the children, first it is imperative to address the causes of conflict between the parents.

I think more fine-grained data is required to find the exact circumstances of the adolescents suffering from suicidal ideation or a history of suicidal attempts or who have committed suicide such as the marital relations of the parents, exposure to violence in media, and other important determinants of suicidal tendencies and the fundamental differences among the siblings responding to same household environments differently.