Teen_Suicide

TEEN SUICIDE By Amanda (Meserve) Childers Kim Elliot-White COM/150 Effective Essay Writing March 5, 2010 TEEN SUICIDE Gary Rosenburg quotes “People expect you to act like an adult yet often continue to treat you like a child. A suicidal person can trap himself or herself in a corner. The escape from that is possible when the suicidal person can take the risk and view the dilemma from a new perspective and be open to establishing new ideas and behaviors.” There are many myths, misconceptions, half-truths, and fallacies about suicide. This is not surprising given the taboos, fears, and stigmas that still surround this topic. Suicide is a topic that people would rather avoid thinking of or speaking of; as if mentioning it will conjure up the act. The subject of teen suicide has an extra taboo on how it reflects on parents. After all, if parents of a child that has killed himself or herself or has tried to, the parents somehow hold themselves responsible. It must be their fault. They must be bad parents. Bad parents do not necessarily cause a suicide, although family problems and lack of communication can play a major role in teen depression and suicidal actions. Most parents of suicidal young people do care about them very much. However, if the communication has broken down or parental expectations are unrealistic, the sense of caring can be lost in the midst of the screaming and yelling; or the hurt and angry withdrawal. (Moskos, Achilles, Gary) Some of the warning signs of suicide: 1) Pervious suicide attempts: is anyone who has made a previous attempt at harming him or herself is always is always considered high risk for another attempt. 2) Talks or thoughts of suicide or death: is anytime a teen begins to discuss suicide or seems to concentrate on the thoughts of death, this situation may be critical. 3) Changes in personality or mood: are teens in a midst of immense physical and psychological changes, so it may be difficult to tell if a friend is just feeling down or is in intense emotional pain. 4) Changes in eating and sleeping patterns: Are many people who are under stress respond with changes in their eating patterns or in their sleeping patterns. Changes may be noticeable at school, at home, or at work. 5) Withdrawal from friends and activities: is that a friendship and activities are usually important to teens any changes in this involvement with either may be a genuine signal of danger. It is also possible that a young person who is feeling desperate will turn to other troubled teens; this act may be an effort to find people who can understand their emotional pain. 6) Taking unusual risks: is if teens begin to take risk s that offers serious danger themselves and others. We need to investigate why this is happening. Also if teens that have made a series of accidents or the teens that drive recklessly may be signaling that they hold little regard for life. 7) Drug and alcohol abuse: is the overuse or abuse of both drugs (street and prescription) and alcohol. Remember that the use of any substance drug or alcohol is an attempt to feel good and different. 8) Final arrangements: is the time a teen considers ending his or her life often makes arrangements for the things that are important to them to be distributed amongst friends. Will tell friends and family that everything is OK, or will write letters that explain why he or she committed suicide. Teens that are ready to leave this life will often feel like he or she no longer has the need for possessions, or must end attachments to family and friends. All these warning signs must be taken seriously. (Teensuicide.us) An imbalance of brain ammines or an imbalance between systems they are connected with may synapse, thus affecting the entire central nervous system, possibly producing symptoms that have been identified with symptoms of depression. Norepinephrine is what is released by the nerve cells when a person gets high from amphetamines this compound is related to stimulation and mania, a kind of hyperactivity of disturbances and the presence or absence of pain as well as personality disturbances. Researchers have related serotonin deficiencies to people with aggressive or impulsive behavior. Specifically, serotonin levels have been found to be low in people who commit violent suicides or make violent suicide attempts. Most research to date on the brain chemistry of people who have killed themselves has involved adults. One of the most notable exceptions was a study of teenagers conducted by two University of Pittsburg psychiatrists. They monitored the growth hormone secretion of 140 boys and girls ranging from ages 12 to 17. The 34 youngsters in the group who suffered from major depression and had attempted suicide or devised a suicide plan secreted less growth hormone than the 40 depressed but not suicidal students and the 66 healthy children whose levels were about the same. (McArt, Shulman, Gajary) There are some stories of a rock music connection to suicide written by an unknown: One case that attracted extensive media coverage involved James Vance and Raymond Belknap of Sparks, Nevada who spent six hours one day in December of 1985 listening to the Stained Glass album of Judas Priest, a British heavy-metal group. The young men smoked marijuana and drank a lot of beer while they listened. Afterward, they went to a churchyard in nearby Reno and took turns shooting themselves in the head with a shotgun. Belknap died instantly; Vance though horribly injured, survived. The Belknap’s family and Vance subsequently sued Judas Priest and CBS Records for damages. They contended that the Stained Glass album in effect hypnotized the youths through a subliminal message that caused them to form a suicide pact. For their part, the defendants cited their constitutional right to free speech. Vance died before the case was decided. The members of Judas Priest are not the only rock performers to be sued in connection with the suicide of a young fans. Ozzy Osbourne, a British heavy-metal singer whose on-stage antics have included biting the head of a bat, was the target of such litigation in 1986. He, too was accused of encouraged young people to kill themselves in his case with a song entitled “Suicide Solution” that case was dismissed August 7,1986, by a Los Angeles superior court judge who upheld Osbourne’s First Amendment right to free speech. Osbourne also was the defendant in a suit filed by a Georgia couple who claimed their 16 year old son had committed suicide in 1986 after repeatedly listening to “Suicide Solution” on the singers’ BLIZZARD OF OZZ album. In a decision handed down in early May, Judge Duross Fitzpatrick of U.S District Court in Macon, Georgia said the couple could not prove conclusively that Osbourne’s music caused their son’s death. The judge also held that the music is free expression protected by the First Amendment. (Szumilas, Kutcher) In conclusion, Will the rate of suicide remain steady' Looking ahead, suicide prevention experts offer varying scenarios. One area of research that may hold particular promise has to do with pinpointing the biological factors that predispose some youths toward suicidal behavior. Future discoveries of this nature may make it easier to identify an at risk youth and begin treatment in a timely fashion. Many researchers are cautiously upbeat about this progress along this line. We are becoming much more sophisticated in detecting who is at risk for suicide. Now, we are able to call a helpline if there is a problem. But, these help lines are not just for troubled teens but their parents as well. Reference List ------------------------------------------------- Author N/A. (July, 2004). Binge Drinking may predict teen suicide. The Brown University Digest of Addiction Theory & Application, volume 23, page 10. January 31, 2010. Axia University Library. ------------------------------------------------- Gorman, C. (September 27, 2004). Teen Suicide Pills' An FDA panel calls for tough labels on antidepressants. What does this mean for you' Time Magazine, volume 164, page 77. January 31, 2010. Axia University Library. ------------------------------------------------- McArt, E. B., Shulman, D. A., Gajary, E. (Nov/Dec 1999). Developing an Educational Workshop on Teen Depression and Suicide: Proactive Community Intervention. Child Welfare, volume 78, page 793-806. Retrieved January 31,2010. Axia University Library. ------------------------------------------------- Moskos, M.A., Achilles, J., Gray, D. (2004). Adolesent Suicide Myths in the United States. Crisis, volume 25, page 176-182. January 31, 2010. Axia University Library. ------------------------------------------------- Szumilas, M., Kutcher, S. (September 2009). Teen Suicide Information on the Internet: A Systematic Analysis of Quality. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, volume 54, page 596-604. January 31, 2010, Axia University Library. from: http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/ehost ------------------------------------------------- InsightPro, Teen Peer Pressure and the Parenting Relationship of A Troubled Teen. (2008). Retrieved January 31, 2010, from: http://insightpro.com/peerpressure ------------------------------------------------- Teen Suicide, (2009) Retrieved January 31, 2010,from: http://teensuicide.us What is the main point of this essay'   The main point of this essay is Suicide and the warning signs.       What is the greatest strength of this essay' I thought that the greatest strength of this essay was the part of the essay that states the warning signs of suicide. The author provides many different types of warning signs of someone who could be thinking about committing suicide.         Does the introduction grab your interest and make you want to read on' Explain your answer. I felt that the introduction of this essay was kind of confusing.  The first line of the essay the author starts to talk about how people expect you to act like an adult and still treat you like a child then the author goes right into talking about suicide, so that whole part just made me want to keep reading so I could figure out what the author was talking about. Not that I was interested in the article itself I just wanted to know what the author was talking about.         What material does not seem to fit the main point of the essay or does not seem to be appropriate for the audience' The beginning of the article when the author states how people expect you to grow up and act like an adult but continue to treat you like a child.  I just felt that this has nothing to do with the subject of the article.       Where should the author add more details or examples' Explain your answer. I felt that the author should have provided more facts about suicide and research that the author read about in the article.  To me the whole essay because it was not backed up with any research just seemed kind of like the whole article was just the author’s opinion.         Where is the writing unclear or vague' The first paragraph where the author states different things about the myths and taboos of suicide.  I feel that in an essay like this those types of statements just don’t belong here.         What is your favorite part of this piece of writing' I really like the warning signs.  I think that the author really did educate the audience with these facts.  After reading this part I felt that I really did learn something from this article.         What other comments might you provide for the author' All in all it was a good article.  This subject is a very sensitive one and writing about it had to of been hard to do so I commend the author for that.  The only thing that I would have done was provide more research and where I got the research from just to make the audience surer about what they are reading.