Teens Meet Outreach

I have always heard about suicide and suicidal attempts by children and teenagers at large. I cannot fathom what could cause teenage suicide, since I have never attempted one, not even in my teenagehood. I never attempted suicide, though life has not always been easy.

The first few days of this month, I wrote about mental illness that are results of sexual abuse, childhood abuse and all of that. While I was doing that series on my page, I realized that suicide is directly proportional to girls who are victims of rape, sexual abuse and girls who were impregnated by a guy who took their innocence.

On a particular night at work, few hours after I wrote about suicide, a woman and man whom I supposed to be couples brought in a 19year old girl who drank sniper and was in distress. Immediately I saw the girl, I knew she was a teenager.

From history taking, her Aunt said they were correcting her about the use of phone and she drank sniper which is a powerful insecticide. I was amazed at how suicidal attempts are becoming alarming in today’s world.

The doctor on call said few weeks earlier, a boy who was also a teenager drank a ground battery. Hearing that, I knew several things are going wrong in our society.

On Saturday, I decided to read the Nation’s newspaper from a patient and I saw the story of several teenagers who committed suicide for different reasons ranging from school, peer pressure, relationship and family.

According to World Health Organization (WHO), “close to 800,000 people die due to suicide each year, which is one person every 40 seconds. Suicide is a global phenomenon, and 78% of suicide occurred in low-middle-income countries in 2015”

Suicide is the third leading cause of death for 15-24 years people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

For teenagers who commit suicide, they use any available item, such as gun, knife, blade and common items like overdose of Over The Counter prescription.
They can also use non prescription medicine such as insecticides, pesticides, battery.

How do you recognise the symptoms of suicide, anxiety, depression, insomnia, suicidal thoughts?

What are the causes of suicide?

We can’t say there is a major or specific cause for suicide either in teenagers or adults, but there are risk factors to symptoms.

1. Parental issues

Parent’s divorce is one reason why there is an increase in moral decadence in the world today. I have come to realise that chain smokers, drug abusers are either from a broken home or a home where their parents are always away.

Moving from a location to another mostly has negative effects on children. Life cannot always be rosy, there are stages we as young adults and teenagers will pass through to make us better adults in life. At times, when things go bad in life, teenagers find it hard to adapt with that situation. They can’t leave the life they have lived all their lives, they don’t want to understand why they have to leave an expensive school to a lesser school or a public school.

2. Relationship

I once had a patient of about 30years who tried killing himself because his wife jilted him. I understand that being jilted by someone whom you trust dearly may cause you to commit suicide, but it is not the end of the world.
In the paper I read on Saturday, the author of the article mentioned a teenage girl who committed suicide because her boyfriend broke her heart.

3. Educational reasons

Some students commit suicide when they realize their GP in the university is very low, or when they fail exams and their parents had threatened them if they failed again.

Suicide is a global issue and I don’t want to say that parents are not vigilant enough to know what their children are going through.

If you are a teenager reading this, you failing an exam is not the end of the world, you can achieve success if you want to. Your parents’ marriage can work out if you don’t stop praying for them.

Say no to suicide!
Say no to depression!
Say yes to life!
Live your life daily!

If you have any question to ask concerning your mental health, you can always talk to us.
Simply send a mail to teensmeetonline@gmail.com.

Do you need a coach to help with your relationship and school goal? Click here to meet a coach or a mentor. 

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I hope this helps. Feel free to leave a comment below and don’t forget to subscribe to this blog to not miss a post.