Suicide

     Hey guys and gals!  This week I am going to discuss a very serious mental health issue that affects people all over the world.  The topic for this week is... Suicide.
     According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) suicide was the seventh leading cause of death for males and the fifteenth leading cause of death for females in 2007.  Also in 2007, suicide was the third leading cause of death for the youth ages 15-24.  In 2007, every 100,000 adults that were 65 or older about 14.3 died due to suicide.  The most common methods to die by suicide are through firearms, suffocation, and poisoning.  These are some scary numbers and facts that make one ask them self, why?  Why would so many people in a wide variety of age groups just decide to end their lives?  Many people choose to end their lives because of different risk factors that cause individuals to kill themselves.
     Some risk factors that lead to suicide are depression and other mental disorders, substance-abuse disorder, and family violence, which includes physical and sexual abuse.  Over 90% of people, who die by suicide, have depression and other mental disorders or substance-abuse disorder.  Tons of individuals, today, are becoming addicted to drugs.  Individuals believe that these drugs will relieve their stress and take away all their problems, but, in fact, these drugs just make them more depressed and stressed than before.  Physical and sexual abuse cause great emotional distress which pushes people to kill themselves.  Depression is a risk factor that is attained through so many ways.  Individuals usually become depressed because they feel lonely.  Today, most children live in a single parent home.  Most children do not have the full rounded attention they need.  They become lost, lonely, and irrational.  They decide that it is better to end their life than keep on living this particular way.
       To me the thinking about suicide, makes me feel like something is tearing my heart out and ripping it to shreds.  I feel terrible knowing that young children, adults, and the elderly are going through such terrible situations that they just want to end their lives.  I believe that a large percentage of suicides can prevented through hope and help from friends.  If you ever see someone that looks lonely or miserable just talk to them and be the friend they need.  YOU can save a life by being the hope a lost soul needs to survive.