Essay/Term paper: Suicide in our society

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Social Issues

Suicide In Our Society


Once every minute someone tries to commit suicide. Sixty or seventy
times a day these attempts succeed.( Earl A. Grollman, Suicide: Prevention,
Intervention, Postvention, Boston: Beacon Press, 1988, p.4) Unlike what many
want to believe, suicide can happen to anyone regardless of race, age or sex.
News reports, books and the internet all point in the same direction. We are
undergoing a breakdown in our social roles, and suicide is the result.

The first ever recorded talk of suicide was in 2000 B.C., when a man
says that his life is filled with pain and suffering and he is contemplating
taking his own life. Although attitudes toward suicide have changed over the
years, it has not ceased to happen. The first suicide prevention Centre didn't
come until almost 4000 years later. In 1774, England created the first Centre
to try to prevent attempted suicides.

Suicide prevention isn't happening until it's too late. One high school,
in a small town in Quebec, had four suicides in seven weeks. After these had
happened, the school invited parents in to discuss suicide prevention. (CTV News
11:00 p.m. January 6, 1997.) These might have been able to be prevented if
communities would assume their roles and discuss it on a regular basis and not
have suicide be a word that is whispered but never spoken.

The myth that those who talk about suicide will never actually go
through with it is completely false. Most people who do kill themselves give
some sort of clue before doing so. It may be something very subtle such as "I
wonder where my father keeps his gun" or they might just come right out and say "
I would rather die then go on living this way." What ever it is everyone should
know how to recognize when someone is feeling suicidal and get help to them
right away. Suicide can be prevented if noticed at an early enough stage.

Suicidal feelings can be brought upon someone by many different
situations. Someone with a terminal illness may not see a reason to continue a
short life of pain, when they think they'll die soon anyway. Economical stress
hurts more then just your wallet, someone may feel that they are a failure and
that may bring suicidal feelings. The death of a loved one or the breakdown of
a family can also cause these feelings. Because someone may fall in to one of
these categories doesn't mean that they are suicidal, but all hints should be
taken seriously. A cry for help needs help from a professional helper.

Although suicide is a frightening subject, the rate of suicide among
adolescence is increasing drastically.( Earl A. Grollman, Suicide: Prevention,
Intervention, Postvention, Boston: Beacon Press, 1988, p.4) People believe
that discussing suicide with teenagers will put ideas in to their head. The
majority of teen suicide could have been prevented if there were proper
awareness programs in the community and at school. There are many examples of
teens who felt depressed and suicidal over not making a sports team or getting
in to the university of their choice. After trying to express their feelings
and having no one listen to them, they often take their life.

Suicide is illegal but that doesn't stop people from wanteing to go
through with it. People do have a right to die but by helping them deal with
their problems better and know their options, it does not take them away their
rights, just keeps them from doing somethng they might regret. In the vast
majority of cases a suicide attemptor would choose differently if they were not
in great distress and were able to evaluate their options objectively.
(http://www.paranoia.com/%7Ereal/suicide/)

Suicide should be taken very seriously and should no longer be a topic
shunned by our society. It should be openly discussed, and information on
suicide should be as accessible to everyone as water. Those contemplating
suicide may not be able to see what they are doing and the other solutions that
are out there. If someone is showing many signs of wanting to end their life,
then they should be directed towards other options such as counseling, therapy,
or perhaps even medication. If the individual knows his/her options and still
chooses suicide, since it is their life, then it should be their choice. To
many, suicide may seem like the only answer, although they may know what kind of
an impact it will leave behind them, if they've had these feelings for a long
period of time, there might be no stopping them. Suicide has to be detected
early, and treated early.

There is hope for the future, scientists are constantly discovering new
things about how the brain works, and new medication to treat depression, and
other mental illnesses. Slowly but surely people are beginning to talk about
the ever-feared word suicide. But there is still so much that can be done by
society. People must be educated on the taboo subject. There should be more
public awareness programs at schools, seminars and conferences should be held to
provide information on prevention. This is becomming more important now then
ever, as the suicide rate increases the need for these should be recognized on a
provincial and national level. Mental health should be a priority in our
society today, not something that is left on the back burner like it used to be.

As stress grows with the raise of unemployement and the increase in
broken homes, the suicide rate grows as well. Education is our main weapon
against it, so we have to make sure we're fully loaded. It's on the news, it's
in the books, the statistics are everywhere and they're overwhelming, yet action
isn't taken and the problem continues to get worse. The social roles in our
society are breaking down where education on this subject is concerned and
suicide is the gruesome result.