There have been various issues that contribute to communities around the world. Things such as poverty, lack of food, government corruption, and many more that could be named. One of the biggest issues affecting our teen generation would be suicide and how the rates seem to go higher generation after generation. The act of suicide has been the 10th leading cause of death in the United States since 2016 (Suicide Statistics) and doesn't seem to be decreasing anytime soon. Being on the top 10 ways of death lists says a lot about how suicide should be a problem discussed as no one truly understands the factors that contribute to this deadly action. These factors varying from a metal force to a physical force that influences or make the victim think that the only way out would be to end it. Every suicide is like a stone thrown into the lake that is society. What can be concluded is that upon is the result of this action a ripple effect will occur, the rings touching not only the victim but also those close to them and even society itself.

Teen Suicide

That is to say, Suicide is commonly known as the killing of oneself or taking one’s own life. For every completed suicide in the United States, there is an estimated number of twenty-five suicide attempts that occur (Teen Suicide). This, for a fact, shows that the rate of teen suicide is not always shown truthfully as what number of teens actually attempt suicide. It doesn't matter what gender, race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status there is always a possibility. As a parent one may think “my child would never,” but in reality, we never know for a fact if one of our friends or children have any suicidal ideation in them. That is because of the society we have grown into that shames the talk of suicide and its effect on a teenager. An article asks the question: “is it better to be open about how suicide occurs or leave it to the teenage imagination?” ("What I learnt watching '13 Reasons Why' with my teenage son.") This question building the foundation for a movement. A movement in which we open up to the problem of suicide instead of conceding it under our beds and mistaking it as an “it will never happen” to an “it never should happen and here is why.”

How Contagion Contributes to This Ideation

To understand, these factors vary from the socio-economic status of the teen to what they see or hear about suicide. Many believe that suicide is a decision one makes that it is one’s only fault and nothing or nobody else could have been the reason for this action. Suicide contagion affects those “ people who are exposed to suicide directly, by having a suicide victim among their family members or peers, or indirectly, by hearing about a suicide through news reports or social media” (Teen Suicide). That includes things such as being exposed to an early age of a death of a relative, which plants a seed in the head of a child which then leads to curiosity. Children at a young age are very curious on how the world works and have heard a hint of this topic and then being shut down before being informed upon it risks the child's mentality. As a teenager, they will try to look for the information that their parents refused to give to them and might as well find wrongful information about suicide. That is where the parents come in and complain about how the internet is a dangerous place and offers poisonous ideas to the mind of their teenagers. What the parents aren't taking into consideration is that we are all exposed to suicide at some point in our lives, what matters is how we are exposed to this raw topic and who it is from?

The Call For Help

   In continuation, the signs of suicide ideation are always missed as everyone prefers to put a rug over the problem, so how would anyone know anything about the call of distress teenagers gives. An article written by a professor in the psychology department states that “The majority of youth who have completed suicide had significant psychiatric problems, including depressive disorders and substance abuse disorders” (Otsukiz). One may ask, “why don’t they get help?” as if it is that simple. If a teenager is having a depressive problem their families may suggest that they are going through a “phase,” one which every teenager goes through apparently. But if depression was such a phase that everyone goes through wouldn’t there be a more understanding of what teenagers go through? To answer this question, there is an article that brings up the point that “if we encourage people to not talk about suicide—particularly young people—we might miss opportunities to help those who are suffering and contemplating taking their own lives” (Mueller and Abrutyn). By not discussing suicide with the youth society is making a big risk of letting them learn about it their own way which will have much more of an impact on them than it would have if parents had explained to them. Teenagers have access to the internet and public to feed themselves information that will end up hurting them. Problems like school, work, friends, family, their future, etc. contribute to this stress that they tend to keep inside and build up into a bottle until they overfill it and it explodes into a scene of raw emotions that can end up hurting them.

The Corruption in Suicide

In an instant, suicide can go from a tragic idea to one that can be seen as glamorous to depressed teenagers by how much attention it is given to someone (Olsen). As teens commit suicide friends/family members to create social media pages to have in memory of the lost one to mourn but some others may take it as if the only way for them to gain attention or love would be to follow down the same path. According to Phyllis Brashler, suicide prevention coordinator for the Minnesota Department of Health, he suggests that "There is no one single thing that leads to suicide, but a lot of people look for an easy answer when suicide happens" and so when the victim is gone people are left wondering what went wrong or what could have happened. The simplest way to cope is to blame others for being the reason when it was simply an act of being tired of everything. Parents of children such as Vonnie wanted to prevent any risk of their child’s suicide being publicized on the internet in case there are other children out there depressed and follow the same route that their child did (Olsen). Thinking that the only way to be noticed would be through suicide, which is not the way. Another way suicide is corrupted is how someone could be assisting in completing a suicide with or without the intention of doing so. In an article, it states that “Aiding or abetting a suicide or an attempted suicide is a crime in all states, but prosecutions are rare” (Suicide). Knowing that helping in suicide could get oneself arrest should get someone discouraged right? Well, others may differ in the consequences as it is mostly seen with doctors with their patients. Another way that we see this assisting would be in the social media through bullying or other teenagers that attack the victim that then leads the teen into thinking that the only way out of this would be to end it. A physician in Michigan gained the nickname “Doctor Death” in which he “admitted to obtaining carbon monoxide and instructing persons who suffered from terminal or degenerative diseases on how to administer the gas so they would die” (Suicide). It was said that Michigan Legislatures tried to charge the man with murder, but have failed in ways that the people that he assists were terminally ill. Meaning that they were going to die at some point, but the real reason why he was not being charged is that he was given permission and he did not actually perform the action for them as it was their choice. Thus, assuming that if someone were to influence through bullying, he or she could be charged with murder or sometimes of disturbance of peace,by how he or she has made the life of the victim impossible.

Those Affected

Ultimately, perpetrating suicide, it's not only the victim that duffers the long-term consequences, but also the many people that had ever loved them. Some of “the consequences can be devastating for families, classmates, and townspeople” (Mueller and Abrutyn). They are left questioning whether or not they could have done something more to have helped or if they too were a reason to why the victim had just decided to leave the world without hesitation that there could have been another way. Another thing that is affected when a teenager commits suicide is something called a “clusters of suicide.” When a suicide is heard of in a town or city of people, others that are depressed tend to follow that one person's lead and ends up creating a domino effect leaving disaster at every corner (Mueller and Abrutyn). Understanding the effects that could occur of suicide could help discourage those that are even thinking of doing it.

What to Do?

What we are left with is a collection of information with not a lot of positivity. Readers should take away from this how suicide is not the only option for those struggling in life. One could change the life of another just by being there for them. Suicide should not be shoved under the rug but should be talked about with teenagers to help prevent and inform kids about the consequences of what will occur if they follow through.

Works Cited

Mueller, Anna and Seth Abrutyn. "To talk or not to talk? The dilemma of suicide contagion."            Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2018. Opposing Viewpoints in Context.

atelibdev&sid=OVIC&xid=dcca6aa9. Accessed 26 Oct. 2018. Originally published as "To talk or not to talk? The dilemma of suicide contagion," The Conversation, 3 Dec. 2015.

Olson, Jeremy. "Teen Suicide Is Not on the Rise." Mental Illness, edited by Roman Espejo,

Greenhaven Press, 2012. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, Accessed 15 Nov. 2018. Originally published as "No Surge in Teen Suicides, but Many Myths," StarTribune, 29 Oct. 2010.

Otsuki, Michiko, et al. "Teen Suicide Is a Major Health Problem." Teen Suicide, edited by

Christine Watkins,

Greenhaven Press, 2014. At Issue. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Accessed 30 Oct. 2018. Originally published as "Fact Sheet: Youth Suicide," Southern California Academic Center of Excellence on Youth Violence Prevention, Spring 2010.

"Suicide." Gale Encyclopedia of American Law, edited by Donna Batten, 3rd ed., vol. 9, Gale,

2010, pp.

431-434. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Accessed 1 Nov. 2018.

“Suicide Statistics.” AFSP, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, 2016.

"Teen Suicide." Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2017. Opposing Viewpoints in

Context, Accessed 22 Oct. 2018.

"What I learnt watching '13 Reasons Why' with my teenage son." Sydney Morning Herald

[Sydney, Australia], 26 Apr. 2017, p. 18. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, 1. Accessed 29 Oct. 2018.