Watching the evening news can be a nightmarish reminder of the harsh realities of raising a teenager. Drugs, pregnancies, murders, car wrecks, and suicides seep into our children's lives no matter where we live or how much we try to protect them. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, 500 adolescent suicides occur each year. Another astonishing statistic, which comes from the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance, declared that sixty percent of teens know someone who has attempted or accomplished suicide. What can we do to prevent our teen from becoming part of these statistics? Within the next few paragraphs, you will discover the conflicts that often lead to suicide, warning signs, and ways to help.
Because a majority of the teens who attempt suicide are doing so because of a conflict in their life, it is helpful to learn what conflicts most often trigger such a serious reaction. Teens who have had problems at home for a long time, feel worthless or have a low self-esteem, are depressed, have a problem with drugs and/or alcohol, or have experienced extremely stressful events are possible candidates for suicide because these issues sometimes cause serious problems with peers, parents, and authority figures. If you fear that your teen is experiencing any of these problems, you should take it seriously.
However, many teens try to hide their problems from their parents, so it is not always possible to even know if your adolescent has experienced any of those conflicts. In such a case, you will want to consider warning signs. While over half of the teenagers who know someone who had attempted suicide never recognized any warning signs, research suggests that 80% of teens have given clear signals. Therefore, the key is learning how to recognize the warning signs and intervening instead of waiting for your adolescent to ask for help. Listen to your child and take any verbal threat of suicide seriously. Observe your child by reading his/her writings, whether they are in the form of poetry, school essays, or notes. Also, give serious thought to any drawings that seem disturbing. Is your child interested in literature about death? This too is a sign. Observe your child's behavior too. If he/she seems depressed, begins to take drugs or drink alcohol, shows signs of restlessness or agitation, is getting in trouble in school or with the law, becomes sexually promiscuous, or starts to give personal belongings away, you should seek help. Just remember to listen and look for any signals because they may be subtle.
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