Suicide: the intentional taking of

one’s own life

Why?

For some teens suicide may appear as a solution to their problems….

The Signs….

“I’m a bad person.”

“Nothing

matters

anymore”

“Its no use.”

“I won’t see you again.”

“I won’t be a problem for you much longer.”

• Put their affairs in order. (ex: clean their room, give away favorite possessions, or throw away important belongings.)

• Become cheerful after a period of depression

• Hallucinate or have bizarre thoughts…

For the

group 15-

34 years of

age,

suicide is

today one

of the

three

leading

causes of

death in all

countries…

In the United

States (2001)

suicide was

the third

leading cause

of death,

among people

between 15

and 24 years

of age, with a

rate of

9.9/100,000.

The two

leading

causes was

accidental

injuries and

homicide.

The suicide rate in Sweden, for this age group, is similar to the American rate. In Sweden, however, the total number of deaths by suicide has dropped significantly since the 1980s, except for this specific group.

The United States

and Sweden still

have a relatively

low rate for this

group, compared to

the average number

in Europe. The

European suicide

rate is 22.2 for boys

and 4.8 for girls, or

around 13 in

average.

In Europe

statistics are

collected from

33 countries.

The latest

avaliable data

for the group

15-24 years of

age, shows

that the

Russian

federation is

at the top of

the list

(32/100,000),

followed by

Lithuania,

Finland, Latvia

and Slovenia.

Sweden (which

can be

compared with

the U. S.) is,

according to

this list, in 18th

place (with less

than

10/100,000). In

the bottom of

the list are

Great Britain,

Spain, Portugal,

Italy and last

Greece

(3/100,000).

It is uncertain how many suicide attempts there are for each suicide death. Different studies estimate a number between 10 and 20. In general, there are more attempts per suicide among women and younger people..

Research also show that around 80 percent of attempted suicides among young people are preceded by clear warning signs.

Counting the total population, the highest suicide rates are found in eastern Europe. On top is Lithuania (74.3 for men and 13.9 for women), Russia (69.3/11.9) and Belarus (63.3/10.3).

After follows Kazakhstan, Estonia, Sri Lanka, Hungary, Slovenia, Ukraine and Latvia.

For some other countries the latest suicide rates are as follows: Sweden (18.9/8.1), Finland (31.9/9.8), Germany (20.4/7.0), Great Britain (10.8/3.1), U. S. (17.6/4.1) and

Japan (35.2/12.8).

(2003): "In 2003, a total of 28,723 persons died of drug-induced causes in the United States. The category 'drug-induced causes' includes not only deaths from dependent and nondependent use of drugs (legal and illegal use), but also poisoning from medically prescribed and other drugs. It excludes unintentional injuries, homicides, and other causes indirectly related to drug use.

“Suicide is just a way of telling everyone who loves you that you hate them….”