Is your pre-teen or teenager acting withdrawn? Some things are more than just being a misunderstood teen. September is considered National Suicide Prevention Awareness month (Boring-Bray, 2017). As suicide continues to be the leading cause of death worldwide (Boring-Bray, 2017), the risk of suicide increases with age starting in the late teens (Horowitz, et .al, 2014). It is highly important as a parent and as a professional who works with adolescences to avoid missing the opportunity to intervene (Cummings, 2016).
What causes feelings of suicide? According to Boring-Bray (2017), there are 6 reasons an individual would become suicidal and they are as follows: (1) Depression, (2) Despair- hopelessness, (3) Decline- chronic illnesses or pain disorder, (4) Defeat- stressful circumstances which the individual cannot escape, (5) Desolation-loneliness/ social anxiety, and (6) Demographics- high risk for specific age and ethnic groups. Risks factors also include individuals having a history of psychiatric conditions, substance abuse, and experiencing environmental factors/stressors like poverty (Horowitz, et. al, 2014). These factors are also experienced by adolescences. Unfortunately, adolescences are not always voluntarily providing this type of information. There is a myth that asking adolescences about suicide will put the idea of suicide into their thoughts (Horowitz, et.al, 2014). This myth is definitely not true.
The stages of suicide are ideation, planning, and decision to suicide (Cummings, 2016). According to Cummings (2016), ideation is when an individual is preoccupied with thoughts of suicide but doesn’t follow through with the suicide because of fear. In this stage, the individual has thoughts of death, pain, and hopelessness but has no plan to commit suicide (Cummings, 2016). The second stage is planning and involves the individual showing signs of withdrawal and an increase of depressed mood (Cummings, 2016). The individual stops verbalizing their complaints of pain and suffering. They now feel forced to make a decision to suicide. The final stage is called “decision to suicide” that includes the individual going into “auto-pilot”. The individual will suddenly appear to be normal and does not appear depressed, however, the person has subconsciously made the decision to commit suicide (Cummings, 2016). According to Cummings (2016), most individuals at this stage have made the decision to die within the next 48 hours.
There are other signs that would precede suicide. Signs include verbal expression shifts from logical to more creative and artistic thought (e.g. focus is on suffering and death); nonverbal expression (e.g. art that portrays death and dying); and tactile expression is when the individual no longer has an interest in physical contact with others (Cummings, 2018). These are signs to look for and to make a decision to intervene.
What is the solution? Some would say that the only treatment to use for suicide prevention is anti-depressant medications, but studies have shown that antidepressant treatment alone is not enough (Cummings, 2018). Prevention for adolescences starts with developing validated screening tools and assessments for this population; asking the right questions; and for adults to pay close attention to increase early detection (Boring-Bray, 2017).
For further information on how social media plays a role in suicide feel free to go to
socialmediavictims.org/social-
References
Boring-Bray, W. (2017, February 10). Six reasons why individuals choose suicide. Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/new-beginning/201702/six-reasons-why-individuals-choose-suicide (Links to an external site.)
Cummings, J. (2016, September 17). Prevent suicide by recognizing early warning signs. Retrieved from Cummings Institute website: https://cummingsinstitute.com/biodyne-model-therapists-masters-suicide-assessment-prevention/ (Links to an external site.)
Cummings, J. (2018, June 5). Preventing suicide part 2: Verbal, nonverbal, and tactile indicators. Retrieved from Cummings Institute website: https://cummingsinstitute.com/news/preventing-suicide-part-2-verbal-non-verbal-and-tactile-indicators/ (Links to an external site.)
Horowitz, L. M., Bridge, J. A., Pao, M., & Boudreaux, E. D. (2014). Screening youth for suicide risk in medical setting (Links to an external site.)s. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 47(3), S170–S175. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2014.06.002
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