The Epidemic Of Teenage Suicide

Mental illnesses among teenagers is far from a recent epidemic. There have been signs and records of suicidal behavior from teens going as far back as 1950’s. Since then the number of suicides per year has continually increased. In the year 1968 118 children aged 5-14 commit suicide in the U.S., currently as of 2016 it is estimated that the annual number of teens/youths committing suicide each year between the ages of 10 and 24 is 4,600. The amount of suicides per year has increased to occur 40 times as many times as it did 50 years ago. The cause for the increase may however may not be what it seems. The results of a study of suicidal behavior among college students, carried out among colleges and universities in Los Angeles County under
"I had a sense that something was going on, but I was afraid to say anything because I didn't know anyone else had a similar problem," she said. Like thousands of U.S. teens, Courtney participated in a mental health screening program that was offered in her school. "Teenagers have a hard time asking for help," she explained. "Without the screening, I'm not sure how I would have gotten the help I needed(Kennedy). Screening should be a mandatory tool used by schools for multiple reasons, one of which is simple and easy to guess, the fact that countless of people go unidentified since they do not seek help, or are unaware that they need help. According to draft recommendations from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a panel of experts who advise the federal government on medicine and health policy, only 36% to 44% of children and adolescents with depression receive treatment. Adolescents often have difficulty articulating suffering, particularly if it involves fear and stigmatization. Even in clinical settings they may feel incapable of broaching the subject themselves. It is up to clinicians to ask the right questions, and routine screening can pave the way for these crucial conversations(Chung). The number of children with depression who get treated is also an intolerable amount that needs to be changed, and the best way to go about it is these screenings. There are
It is a mood disorder in which feelings of sadness, loss, anger, or frustration interferes with daily life for weeks or longer. People with anxiety disorders frequently have intense, excessive and persistent worry and fear about everyday situations. Often, anxiety disorders involve repeated episodes of sudden feelings of intense anxiety and fear or terror that reach a peak within minutes (panic attacks). Mental illness refers to a wide range of mental health conditions - disorders that affect your mood, thinking and behavior. Imagine living with these for possibly decades, possibly not even really noticing that it against the norm or that it’s a feeling that they don’t necessarily have to feel. The majority of mental illness in young people goes unrecognized and untreated, leaving them vulnerable to emotional, social, and academic impairments during a critical phase of their lives. Even those who receive treatment tend to do so only after a long delay: 6 to 8 years for patients with mood disorders and 9 to 23 years for those with anxiety disorders(Kennedy). That means on average people suffer from their mental illness for 12 years. For 12 years, these people go untreated and are forced to live through their lives with an impaired mindset, something that could be easily avoided. The average age where people are susceptible to mental illnesses is around 14 years of age, which would put them around their freshman year of high