Suicide

As the fifth leading cause of death among children five to fourteen years of age, and the third leading cause of death among fifteen to twenty-four-year-olds (Center for Disease Control), suicide is nearing epidemic proportions and is clearly a problem that requires serious attention. Teens are twice as likely to commit suicide as anyone else is. Approximately 500,000 young people fifteen to twenty-four years of age attempt to kill themselves each year, nearly 5,000 succeed. There is an 80% chance that someone who has attempted suicide will try again. Most suicides are committed by people suffering from depression or other related psychiatric disorder. Between 60% and 70% of people who discuss suicide with a friend or family member commit suicide within the next six months.

The warning signs of suicide are much the same as those for depression, that is, a change in eating/sleeping habits, withdrawal from friends, family and fun activities, violent behaviors, rebellion, running away, drug or alcohol use, stomachaches, fatigue, headaches, marked personality change, difficulty concentrating and a drop in the quality of school work. Girls who have decided to commit suicide may also give prized possessions to friends, make statements to the effect that they will not be a problem much longer, or may suddenly appear to be cheerful after having been depressed.

Particularly at risk are those teens with a family history of suicide or other mental illness, those experiencing family violence, such as emotional, sexual or physical abuse, those who have previously attempted suicide and those who have recently been exposed to the suicide or attempted suicide of a friend or family member.

As with depression, most teens who are suicidal can be helped by immediate psychiatric care. Again, if you or any of your students know of anyone who is exhibiting the behaviors listed above, please do not hesitate to contact someone who can help! Please stress to the students in your group the importance of telling an adult or contacting a crisis center if any of their friends or family members is exhibiting the behaviors listed above or is expressing suicidal ideation.

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What Some of the Girls Said:

• I don't think I've ever been depressed. I've been stressed to the limits, I guess you could say, where you just don't know which direction to turn. Up, down, left, right, whatever and you just kind of break down and cry and you get your stuff together and go on. I don't think I've ever been depressed. I've been sad and stressed and all that kind of stuff that just comes with growing up and as you get older and go through different events that can bring you all different emotions.

• I've never suffered from depression, no. I feel I'm very happy with a lot of stuff. I've seen people that are really down and I kind of worry about what they're going through, but I don't know of anybody specific that I can think of that has ever suffered any sort of depression.

• I felt bad because when my grandpa died I don't know ëcause like I, I spend a lot of time with him and then again I didn't know who he actually was. Then I spent a lot of time talking to him but I don't know I just felt bad because like my dad was crying before and so it made me cry.

• I was like depressed before but I mean I didn't really know why. I was just kinda like sad.

• I was diagnosed with clinical depression a year and a half ago and I'm on medicine and stuff, so everything's better. My family's all screwed up. I don't like my family, well I do love my family, but I don't like my situation. I think it's chronic.

• I get depressed, like if you get bad grades, or people aren't treating you nice that you think are your friends. Like all of a sudden, you think they're your friend and then they turn their back on you and then it's like you, you lost everybody you counted on, so that depresses me.

• I feel depressed sometimes. I go in my room and I sit there and cry and I'm not one of the girls who are known to cry. People don't know me that way. They think I'm a tough girl and I'm known for "tough girl." People think I'm so tough so they don't think I ever get depressed or I'm lonely. They wouldn't think I would cry or feel down in that way, but I've been depressed. I mean, I don't have like a disease or whatever it's called. A mental illness, but I do get depressed sometimes. I mean everybody does, but I don't get overboard.

• I also get depressed if I get a bad grade or even on a test or an assignment that sometimes bothers me or when I get into a fight with my mom or dad, I feel really bad about it afterward.

• I tried to kill myself three times.

• I've just slit my wrists.

• I always think about suicide and cutting myself. I've tried it, but not really.

• I've known somebody that's tried to commit suicide.

• Depression is something that I never face, but I think my friends might bring it up. I know a few people that may have tried something or even tried to commit suicide. But I don't think I could ever do it no matter how bad things get. I don't think I could go up and kill myself. And I don't think it's a big issue right now, I don't think depression is that big of a thing with many teenagers.

• Right now I don't think I have that many problems where I could go commit suicide, but I guess you never know. Something might happen where you'd feel you couldn't go on, but I think I'd get help.

• I've never tried to commit suicide. I've never considered it and I've never been depressed. I've been down, but everybody gets down and never to a state where I thought of committing suicide.

• One of my old friends has tried to commit suicide a few times, but she's over that, so I'm happy.

• My friend that tried to a few times, it was really sad ëcause she confided in me and I really had no clue what to do. I told the counselor. It made me scared, the fact that I really had no clue. I didn't know if she was saying it, or really going to. Actually, she did try a few times. She was never successful. She slit her wrist and jumped off a bridge, so yeah, it was sad.

• There was this one girl at school, and she told me one day that she was going to go home and commit suicide that night. She said it really casually, so I wasn't sure to take her seriously or not. She could mean it. I wasn't sure to take her seriously or not. Obviously she didn't commit suicide, because she's still alive today and that was last year, but she said that she has slit her wrists and stuff before. I don't know if it's true or not. I told her she shouldn't do it. I said "why are you gonna do that?" and she said, "because I don't deserve to live." She just thought she wasn't good enough for anybody and I just told her that I was her friend and everybody didn't think she was a bad person.

• The hardest decisions I have to make, is whether I want to stay alive, or if I want to commit suicide, or not, or be here anymore.

• Suicide, that's not even something I think about because if I get mad, then I won't take it out on anybody. I try not to take it out on anybody, and I especially try not to take it out on myself. That hurts my insides. And I would never want to think of suicide because all good things can happen if you make them happen.

• Seriously, when I get sad, I have thoughts about it. Sometimes I get really, really sad.

• Yes I have been depressed. I've been so depressed. I tried to kill myself three times.

• I've never tried to kill myself.

• I think that it's kind of stupid to commit suicide at such a young age or any age, especially at a young age, because you have your whole life ahead of you. Just because some guy dumps you or one little think, it's not gonna make your life different because you probably wouldn't have married him anyway. It doesn't pay to be stupid and then waste your whole life on something like that.

• I think that there are people that you can really talk to like mentors or like friends or anybody. If you feel depressed or anything you can go talk to them about just about anything. It's just the people that you trust.

• I was just thinking about depression and the different ways people deal with it and suicide and everything has to do with the feeling of the moment. I mean, sometimes, you just feel like everything is so crappy and it couldn't get any worse and it's really stupid and that's just in the moment.

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Beyond the Butterfly is co-produced by Wisconsin Public Television and NEWIST/CESA #7 (Northeastern Wisconsin In-School Telecommunications)