Teen Suicide. A topic that often gets brushed under the rug. Contemplated by 18.8% of high school students and attempted by 8.9%. Recently, teen suicide has been on the rise. Due to the quarantine, more teens have been sent to the ER for suicide attempts. Depression has been on the rise since lockdown, driving up the risk of teen suicide. 

Suicide is a complex that comes in layers, almost like a cake. Biological influences and environmental factors all come into play. It’s hard to determine what leads to suicide. The children and teens who are most vulnerable to suicide now are the ones with underlying mental illness, which has shown to be disrupted due to the pandemic. Before the pandemic, they had relied on school and their communities but lockdown has taken that away.

Mental illness has a great influence on whether someone is at risk for suicide. Many teens go undiagnosed for years. Because of this, teens are often left at a vulnerable point in their lives. In order for us to fix the problem of teen suicide, we must reach out to teens and show them support that they will get better. These feelings aren’t permanent and there is hope in the future. By reaching out a lending hand, you could be saving a teens life.

Many people don’t realize how much teen suicide has risen over the years. ER visits for suicide have more than doubled in the past year, more so in teen girls than teenage boys. Because of the pandemic, suicide has been on the all time rise. 

Suicide among young people is one of the main issues to address through effective preventive measures. It is important to gain as much insight as possible in the risk factors contributing to suicidal behavior in youth. There is also an increasing awareness in the general population about the tremendous negative consequences of youth suicidality, not just because of the direct loss of many young lives but also in the disruptive psychosocial and adverse socio-economic effects on a large societal scale. Suicide affects all age groups in the population, but worldwide, rates are clearly rising in teens.

Changes in families, siblings, new places, stress, school, and work can all be valid reasons of suicide in teens. Having a psychiatric disorder of disability can seriously influences ones decison on committing suicide. Of course, suicide is not always preventable but it can be. Parents need to make sure they’re speaking to their teen on suicide, even if their teen doesn’t show suicidal behavior. Many parents of teens who lost their lives due to suicide didn’t know that their teen was feeling suicidal. Not reaching out to a teen and having a conversation on their mental health is dangerous and can lead to seriously fatal outcomes, especially if a teen is hiding an undiagnosed mental illness. 

Many teens struggling from undiagnosed mental illness struggle with suicidal thoughts and tenedncies. Oftentimes they are left feeling scared, uncared for and irrelevant due to these intrusive thoughts. It can be difficult for a teen to admit to themselves and others that they are in need of mental help. Reaching out and asking for professional help can be tough. That’s why parents need to offer a hand to teens and provide them with a safe environment that they feel comfortable in. Maybe then, the rates of teens committing suicide will decrease.