The Dilemma Of Adolescent Suicide Essay Research — страница 3

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necessarily the case. Often adolescents with suicidal thoughts will mock a suicide attempt by performing an act which is not necessarily fatal such as cutting one s wrist. These attempts are usually cries for help. Although not always life threatening, immediate treatment for the attempter must be sought. Verbal statements about suicide are often cries for help. These may be subtle statements about death that should not be dismissed. Questioning a person s motives when they make statements like this is a good way of bringing the person s problems to the surface. Cognitive clues refer to a change in the thought process. Suicidal persons often narrow their perceptions and opinions. They will often use words such as only , never , and forever. Suicidal adolescents often display

numerous emotional clues. Suicidal teenagers are often disturbed anxious, and extremely agitated. The adolescent may also experience feelings of hopelessness in which he or she feels that things will never change. Sudden behavioral changes are defined as drastic changes in attitude. People who are usually withdrawn will suddenly become very outgoing and those who are normally outgoing will suddenly become very introverted. A sudden obsession with death is also a sign of behavioral changes. Life threatening behaviors such as the abuse of alcohol, automobile accidents, and improper care of medical conditions should be viewed as suicidal clues. Another flag when determining whether or not an adolescent is suicidal is the suicide note. When one hears suicide note, many things come to

mind. The note does not have to be a written out explanation of death. The clues may also be found in artwork, diaries, and music (Lester 124-127). In order to interrupt the suicidal process a communication barrier must be broken down. The first barrier is the inability to explain the problem. Often adolescents are not able to vocalize exactly what is bothering them. This inability to vent will often lead the adolescent to vent in other ways, typically through behavior. These times of despair and frustration are generally when suicide attempts will occur (Hill 171). Many times people will underestimate the problems of an adolescent. As one grows older, the problems of youth seem to become less and less important. This leads to adults trivializing the problems by saying that

everything will work out for the best. When things do not work out the adolescent may plunge deeper into a state of depression. Disbelief of suicidal signs in adolescents can be detrimental. If someone sees and ignores the signs that point to suicide in an adolescent, that adolescent may get the feeling that no one cares about them. Silence about a suicide attempt can also be detrimental to the adolescent. If the reasons for the attempt are not discussed, it is very likely that the attempt will come about again. In a book published by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) entitled Youth Suicide Prevention Programs: A Resource Guide, preventative programs are broken down into eight categories. These categories are school gatekeeper training, community gatekeeper training, general

suicide education, screening programs, peer support programs, crisis hotlines, means restriction, and post-suicide intervention (Robbins 118). A gatekeeper is an individual in a person s life who is able to notice when that person is beginning to experience suicidal thoughts. School gatekeeper training is the education of officials in schools to recognize the signs of suicide and to alert these officials to places where the students may go for help. This training works best when applied to officials who work closely with students such as coaches and teachers. Community gatekeeping works on the same premise as school gatekeeping. The only difference between the two is the people involved. With community gatekeeper training, members of the clergy, police and others who have

constant contact with adolescents are taught the signs of suicide and proper places of treatment. General Suicide Education involves discussing suicide with adolescents in school as to not create a preoccupation with suicide. Screening programs are tests which would be given to large numbers of people in order to determine who is suicidal and to get them treatment. In order for this to work, a universal test for suicidality would have to be created and the entire public would have to agree to take the test. The idea of peer support groups is to give teenagers a place to find people with similar problems and to make friends. When teenagers with similar problems are put together, they will be able to talk about their problems and potentially be able to find solutions to them. An