Teen Suicide Term paper

While the free essays can give you inspiration for writing, they cannot be used 'as is' because they will not meet your assignment's requirements. If you are in a time crunch, then you need a custom written term paper on your subject (teen suicide)
Here you can hire an independent writer/researcher to custom write you an authentic essay to your specifications that will pass any plagiarism test (e.g. Turnitin). Waste no more time!

Why do Teens Contemplate to Suicide? As the third largest cause of death between

the ages of 15 and 24, the adolescent suicide rate has tripled since 1960. This

is the only age group in which an increase has occurred over the last three

decades. While there are approximately 10,000 reported teen suicides annually,

it is estimated that the number of teen suicides is actually three to four times

that number when unreported deaths and suicide equivalents are added. The

teenage years are a period of turmoil for just about everyone. You`re learning

new social roles, developing new relationships, getting used to the changes in

your body, and making decisions about your future. And when you`re looking for

answers to problems, it can seem like no one has them. That can make a person

feel quite alone. Teenagers experience strong feelings, confusion, self-doubt,

pressure to succeed, financial uncertainty, and other fears while growing up.

Teenagers commit suicide because there is too much pain in their lives and they

can do one of the two things; move from the pain or learn to cope with the pain.

While some teenagers learn to cope with the pain, others attempt suicide.

Suicide among young people have increased nationwide in the recent years and it

is important that everyone is aware of the major causes, symptoms, and methods

of prevention of this self-inflicted death. To further understand suicide, one

must take a look at the different reasons behind the act itself. Suicide is not

a genetic disease, but rather a series of events that are very depressing or

stressful. Without depression, most people would not attempt to take their own

lives. Depression is a vital issue in almost every suicide attempt. The victim

feels very depressed and everything seems to be going the wrong way. Depression

is not just sadness. Depression is a mild form mental illness, which can be

permanent or temporary. It can be simple things like the loss of interest in

usual activities. The start of what leads a person to suicide does not have

anything to do with the person`s present life experiences, but with their early

childhood experiences. This is because the view of others, outside family and

friends, has no contribution to the pain that causes suicide and depression.

Depression can include self-pity, shame, envy, and grandiosity. All of these

things play a role in depression one way or another. Depressed people are

usually subject to desire and grandiose ideation. Grandiosity is best described

as when a person starts thinking they are above everyone and everything else.

They absurdly exaggerate many things in their lives just for attention it brings

them. Envy, another cause of depression, has two aspects. In its primary sense,

envy is the experience of pain when a person sees that someone else has

something desirable, which he would like. Envy is also the experience of

pleasure, when the person who has that desired quality suffers misfortune.

Shame, in depression, is usually aimed inward toward the victim, or depressed

person. When self-pity, another depression mode, is thought of , it usually

brings up the feelings of being sad or angry for mistakes that happened in the

past. Depressed adolescents frequently communicate their despair before they act

out in this final act of desperation. Teens tend to reflect their dysphoria with

action rather than words. For example, they are inclined to withdraw from

others, complain of boredom, and have an increasingly difficult time

concentrating. School performance tends to suffer and changes in personality may

include increased aggression. Depression is like a bad dream, but with help, a

person can overcome this bad dream and awake. The biology of the brain,

genetics, psychological traits, and social forces all can contribute to suicide.

Biological research indicates that suicidal behavior runs in families,

suggesting that genetic and biological factors play a role in one`s suicide

risk. Among one community of Amish people in Pennsylvania, almost three-quarters

of all suicides that occurred over a 100-year period were in just four families.

Studies of twins reared apart provide some support for a genetic influence in

suicide. People may inherit a genetic predisposition to certain psychiatric

disorders such as schizophrenia and alcoholism that increase the risk of

suicide. In addition, an inability to control impulsive and violent behavior

have biological roots. Research has found lower than normal levels of substance

associated with the brain chemical serotonin in people with impulsive

aggressiveness. In the early 1900s, Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud

developed some of the first psychological theories of suicide. He emphasized the

role of hostility turned against the self. American psychiatrist Karl Menninger

elaborated on Freud`s ideas. He suggested that all suicides have three

interrelated and unconscious dimensions: revenge/hate (a wish to kill),

depression/hopelessness (a wish to die), and guilt (a wish to be killed). An

American psychologist considered to be a pioneer in the modern study of suicide,

Edwin Schneidman, has described several common characteristics of suicides.

These include a sense of unbearable psychological pain, a sense of isolation

from others, and the perception that death is the only solution to problems

about which one feels hopelessness and helpless. Cognitive theorists, who study

how people process information, emphasize the role of inflexible thinking...

The rest of the paper is available free of charge to our registered users. The registration process just couldn't be easier. Log in or register now. It is all free!
Blumental, Susan and Kupfer, Davis. Suicide Across the Life Cycle.
Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press, Inc., 1990. Hyde, Margaret O. and
Elizabeth H. Forsythe. Suicide: The Hidden Epidemic. New York: Franklin Watts,
1987. Klerman, Gerald L. Suicide and Depression Among Adolescents and Young
Adults. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press, Inc. 1986. Roy, Alec,
editor. Suicide. Baltimore, Maryland: Williams and Wilkins, 1986.
You should cite this paper as follows:

MLA Style
. EssayMania.com. Retrieved on 24 May, 2012 from
    <http://essaymania.com/167521/teen-suicide>

More College Papers

Teen Problem essay
My assigned lot in life is that of the mother of a fifteen-year-old son. My son has not yet gone through the growth spurt that always accompanies adolescence. I can imagine that as my son, I would feel extremely self-conscious at all times. Speaking from experience, it`s hard to be so different t

Technology`s Influence On Children essay
The children of today are becoming more obese, for the fact that they are obtaining laziness. They are spending more time in front of the television then they are getting their daily exercise. Their growing bodies need exercise to lose baby fat before it gets to be a serious problem. The growth o

Super Predators essay
What is the "super predator"? They are young hypercriminals who are committing acts of violence of unprecedented coldness and brutality. This newest phenomenon in the world of crime is perhaps the most dangerous challenge facing society and law enforcement ever. While psychopaths are no