Suicide as Social Issue - Essay Example

Running Head: SOCIAL ISSUES Inserts His/Her Inserts Grade Inserts 25th March, Suicide Withthe advancements and technological process of the present day society, the dilemma of various social problems is still there. Amongst the many chronic social ills and challenges, suicide remains as one of the significant threats to the progress and prosperity of the society. Collectively all the problems not only affect the social structure, but also become a source of posing negative impacts towards the people living in the society. This paper discusses the various dimensions of the prevalence of suicide. It elaborates upon the various attitudes and views regarding the problem of suicide and also suggests the interventions for it. Suicide Suicide is one of the important social issues which have shaken the structure of the global society in the present days. The word ‘suicide’ refers to ‘the act of taking one’s own life (Hawton, 2009). This definition of the term enjoys wide agreements between the medical, psychological, and legal authorities. Before the adaptation of the term by the society, other commonly used words to denote this concept included self-homicide, self-destruction, and self-murder. The contemporary language to recognize the killing of oneself uses the word ‘suicide’ now. Suicide takes the lives of more than one million people every year. According to the estimates reported by the World Health Organization (WHO), suicide has been ranked as the 13th chief reason of death all over the world, while, in the United States, the National Safety Council grades it sixth in terms of being the leading cause of death (National Safety Council, 2012). The teenagers and adults below the age of 30 adopt suicide to die of unnatural death. Globally, the rate of suicide is higher than in men than women. The worldwide statistics indicate that there are around10 to 20 million non-fatal attempts to suicides every year (Bertolote, Fleischmann, 2002). After homicides and accidents, suicide is the primary cause leading to death of the people of age group ranging from the adults of 15 to 24 years. Even currently, the adolescent population is risked greatly of committing suicide and this risk is increasing with the passage of time. The major inclination in suicide rate took place during 1960 and 1980, when it rose from 5.2 to 12.3 per 100,000 for the adolescents and marked an increase of 136 percent. In the United States, and many other countries, gun suicide is a grave problem linked with the public health. The time period bearing the potential loss of life through suicide include the years between 1996 and 2006 which accounted for 4,934,297 deaths (CDC, 2009). There are several other countries which correspond to the gun suicide rate of the United States. They include Finland and Japan which are close to the United States’ firearm suicide rate of 1.25 times (Cukier, 1998). Reasons Amongst the other social problems, suicide is the major attention grabber worldwide these days. The threatening fact is that, with the falling rate of adult suicide, the ill is on a constant rise amongst the people of young ages. The growing causes for this problem include the dysfunctional adjustment of teenagers to the environmental and psychological conditions. The factors illustrating this theory are as follows: Depression Depression is mostly experienced by the young people and adults as the main part of the maturation process. The psychological health of an adolescent includes the severity and intensity of depression (Nichtern, 1990). The suicidal acts amongst youth are found to be caused by the intense depression. The negative effects such as the loneliness amongst adults, lack of socialization, physical or mental disorders (loss of energy, mood variants, lack of sleep and fatigue), and alienation form family and peers cause a person to go in depression. Stress The debilitating psychological and physical defects of stress influence the youth to commit suicide. It is traditional for the American culture to place potential stress on children in the form of extremely high expectations. According to many research studies, this huge burden of expectations contributes to the current rates of high suicidal crises. The children are labeled as failures at any early age due to the testing and grading methods in the American institutions. The burden of bad grades, spoilt reputation, and high expectations of parents, result in an unhealthy mental life for children. Due to this, a considerable number of children commit the suicide attempts. Mental Disorders On of the major reasons for the committing of suicide include the mental and bipolar disorder. Young people chose dying out of despair, alcoholism, schizophrenia, and the drug abuse. The mental stress is also caused to people due to the troubles with interpersonal relationships and the financial difficulties which often play a significant role in disturbing people’s lives. The malicious inner voices frequently command self-destruction for insensible reasons. The global incidence of psychosis and schizophrenia is 1%. It generally hits otherwise high performing, and healthy individuals, who are able to get healed from the medications, but can never, live a promising life (Alex, 2012). Methods There is a great variation amongst the leading methods of committing suicide in different countries. These methods primarily include pesticide poisoning, using firearms, and hanging. A review 56 countries, founded on the mortality data of WHO, was conducted in 2008, which accounted for the major suicidal methods commonly used. It indicated that 30% of the global suicides were performed through the use of pesticides, and the United States was reported to have 52% of the suicides using firearms. Other fairly common ways include poisoning and asphyxiation which collectively constitute for the 40% of U.S. suicides. There are many other methods for the committing of suicide practices all across the world. They include blunt force trauma the examples of which are self-defenestrating, car collision, jumping from a building or bridge, or stepping in front of a train. Bloodletting or exsanguinations (cutting ones throat or wrist), self-immolation, intentional drowning, intentional starvation, electrocution methods are very common these days. There are other lethal method too which might be used by individuals to provoke each other to commit the suicidal attempts. Social Aspects There are various legislations and regulations that have been introduced as a result of the toll that this crime is taking in the society. Various societies consider suicide in different aspects. In some jurisdictions, the incidents of suicide are regarded as crimes. In general circumstances, even an incomplete act or only an attempt to commit the suicide is acknowledged as a crime. In more general way, the party which has survived the suicide attempt will be liable to face the charges of being a criminal. Various countries doctor the cases of suicide attempts in different manners. For instance, in Canada, even an instigation to the other people for suicide is known as a crime. In Brazil, the penalty is levied in case any help is extended to the minor. In Singapore, it is a capital offense to provide assistance for suicide to a mentally disabled person. In India, supporting the suicidal action of a mentally challenged person or a minor can result into a prison term of one year with a possible charging of fine. Religious Views Suicide has strong implications from the aspect of religious views too. For instance, the suicide attempts in most forms of Christianity are considered sin. However, under the Byzantine Christian code of Justinian, the suicide was not regarded as any sinful act. Then, in case of Judaism, the value of life is focused upon in the religion, and the suicide is considered equal to tantamounting to refusing the goodness of God in the world. Thus, they also do not support the suicidal attempts to be of any good. Besides other religions, Islam also does not allow the individuals to commit suicide, since it is against the commandments of God and the divine book of Muslims. Hinduism generally considers suicide equivalent to the murdering of one another in the modern Hindu society. However, the religion still accepts the right of a man to end his life by adopting a non-violent practice of fasting himself and thus, starving to death. Thus, there are many such commandments in religions regarding the committing of suicide. Some allow the practice, while other considers them as being sinful. Possible interventions The term Suicide Prevention is commonly used for the reduction of the suicidal incidents through collective efforts and by adopting the preventive measures. There are various strategies being undertaken to restrict the access to the general and commonly adopted methods of committing suicides. The initial step to begin with the solution proposals is to identifying and acknowledging the problem in its true nature. Extensive research has been conducted to analyze and investigate adolescent suicides. The people who usually interact with youngsters in their daily lives may help in developing programs for reducing the suicide rate among the youngsters. These programs need to be aimed at adolescents, parents and the schoolteachers. A healthy discussion should be carried out with the teenager, which includes ways to tackle the stresses of everyday life and avoiding an urge for committing suicide. Most of the teenagers find it hard to cope with the problems of daily life. Research has concluded that the idea of committing suicide usually develops during childhood and teenage. Therefore, the introduction of suicide prevention programs is best suited at the middle school level. These programs may be included in the health education or made part of the discussions conducted by religious organizations and community agencies. Communication courses should be conducted at schools as they are very helpful for students in educational as well as practical lives. Parents must familiarize themselves with suicide preventive measures. Parents-teacher meetings provide an excellent platform to discuss any problems the child may be facing. The communication gap between children and parents must reduce because this lack of communication has mostly resulted into children considering the idea of suicide attempt. Parents, teachers and the school staff should be trained to identify signs and signals from the behavior of children to find potential suicides. Teachers have a bigger role in identifying the suicidal tendencies among their students. In recent past, the teachers have developed a positive concern towards the issue and have taken steps to deal with the problem. The teachers stand a better chance at spotting students who may be potential suicides as they can easily observe the lives of children outside of their home environment. A very successful program for suicide prevention was carried out in the San Mateo school system, California by Charlotte Ross (1980). Teachers and the students were educated about the suicidal behavior and taught ways to encounter such situations. Ross observed that most of the people were reluctant about discussing suicide, as they believed that it may result in a negative impact and may become suggestive for the students. However, Ross claims that discussing the matter allows the subject to open up to others and let go of the emotions that develop due to not sharing of thoughts. The people, who are involved in the counseling profession, and the parents, should try to be more receptive to issues of the youngsters and develop the habit of patient listening. Listening to the subject allows extracting information about behavior and may get the signs that can be considered as seeking help. Statements such as ‘My life is empty’ or ‘I get these weird thoughts’ should immediately attract attention of anyone for the presence of a suicide. Conclusion Suicide has indeed been one of the major ills and threatening dilemmas in the societal institutions and social structures these days. The alarming rate at which the suicide has been growing is shaking the boundaries of not only the society but is also making the citizens more distressful. Suicides has not only been regarded as a social issue but is also considered as a sinful act in many religions. It is not given much worth in religious viewpoints too. Many institutions and policy makers have given interventions regarding the correction of this social problem. According to them, the family, peers and educational institutions need to give extra attention to the subjects of such disappointments in the society. REFERENCES Alex Lickerman, 2012, ‘The Six Reasons People Attempt Suicide’, Psychology Today, Retrieved on April 14, 2012 Bertolote J.M., Fleischmann A., 2002. ‘Suicide and psychiatric diagnosis: a worldwide perspective’, World Psychiatry, Volume 1, Issue 3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2009, Years of potential life lost (YPLL) before age 85, 1999–2006 United States, Web, Retrieved on April 14, 2012 Cukier, W., 1998, Firearms regulation: Canada in the international context. Chronic Diseases in Canada, Web, Retrieved on April 14, 2012 Hawton K., 2009, ‘Suicide’, Lancet 373, Print. National Safety Council, 2012, ‘The odds of dying from...’, Web, Retrieved on April 14, 2012 Nichtern S., 1990, ‘The Sociocultural and Psychodynamic Aspect of Acting-Out and Violent Adolescent’, Adolescent Psychiatry: Developmental and Clinical Studies, Volume 10 Read More