Suicide of any kind is an act in which a person takes his or her own life. FACT: Suicide is a prevalent cause of death among America's youth today. Every day more than 1000 teenagers will think about suicide and eighteen will be successful in committing it. It is an ever-growing problem that can be described as unnecessary and uncalled for. Knowledge and understanding are key factors to preventing teenage suicide. The problem will usually originate from a period of depression, either as a medical concern, or simply because of a saddened event in a person's life. The bottom line is, suicide among teens is not a rare event, and it may be preventable with the proper treatment. Suicide is the third leading cause of death for 15 to 24 year olds and the sixth leading cause of death for 5 to 14 year olds, barely surpassed by car accidents and homicide (http://www.kidshealth.org). The question is why would someone want to die? Research shows that most teens attempting to commit suicide regret it at the last minute and wish they could live after all. Faced with the certainty of their own death, most said they suddenly realized that their problems weren't so big that they somehow couldn't be solved. Their problems weren't so bad that somehow they couldn't find a way to survive them. In the second before they almost died, they knew they wanted to live (Nelson & Galas 12). Many events and warning signs lead up to a suicide. Thoughts and attempts of suicide are commonly instigated by the medical condition, depression. The person often experiences strong feelings of stress, confusion, self-doubt, the pressure to succeed, financial uncertainty and other fears while growing up. According to the experts, more than eighty percent of the time they are extremely depressed, and their minds are therefore focused on the terrible emotional pain in which they find themselves (Colman 75). In their depression, they often dwell on what they feel is their unlucky and helpless lot in life, repeatedly leading them to believe that their situation is hopeless.
