Mental health has sure become a topic of conversation with more and more people recognizing depression and anxiety as real issues. The use of social media and the internet have opened more avenues for discussion as well as coping. Unfortunately, these have also caused more mental health problems as people have learned to compete against one another, feelings of jealousy, envy, superiority, and narcissism have also increased.
All this doesn’t make it come off as a surprise that suicide rates have also dramatically risen. In 2000, 40,000 suicide attempts had taken place. By 2018, this number had jumped to 80,000 as shown by a research published in the Journal of Pediatrics. The study also found that the amount of attempts has increased among individuals younger than 19 years.
In recent years, girls have been making more suicide attempts even though they die less often due to suicide than boys. Intentional self-poisoning has also increased as a means to commit suicide as more people are overdosing on drugs willingly or exposing themselves to toxic substances. Teen girls have been using self-poisoning more in their attempts to commit suicide.
The outcomes of these suicide attempts through self-poisoning are pretty bad. Of the people who have made attempts in the age bracket of 10 to 24 as reported to US Poison Control Centers and the National Poison Data System from 2000 to 2018, 340,000 had symptoms that weren’t life-threatening and 45,000 had deadly symptoms of which 1,400 died.
Keeping the rising number of suicide attempts among adolescents in view, parents must intervene earlier on and identify signs of mood related disorders and distress. There are several causes that can contribute to suicidal thoughts. Technology and social media access make one the first one. Other than this, suicidal thoughts are also encouraged through life traumas.
Experiencing one suicide death can also increase other already distressed people to go for it. The show 13 Reasons Why which was based on the death of a teen girl brought about a 30% bump in suicide attempts. This stresses on the importance of noticing suicidal qualities in children. Stressful conditions have increased as it is.
Parents should strive to increase the social connections of their children. They should sit and talk to their teen kids. Moreover, people of all age groups must address their own mental battles as well as those of others. In case the potential for attempting suicide is noticed, people must consider connecting with professionals in the field. In an emergency situation a crisis hotline must be called, or a professional mental health provider must be contacted.
To sum up, suicide cases have increased and more and more attempts through self-poisoning are being carried out. Keeping this in view, it is essential to pay attention to people who exhibit the potential to commit suicide whether they are merely at the beginning stages of depression or deep into any mood related disorders.
