PREVENTING SUICIDE IN
CHILDREN
In the last two weeks,
the city of Mumbai has been witness to an exceptionally high
number of suicides in children and teenagers, with the youngest
child being only eleven years old. As the governments mulls over
how to prevent this catastrophe, and as child specialists,
psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, parents and
teachers put their collective heads together to find adequate
reasons and ways to prevent suicides, I would like to discuss
this phenomenon in children.
Why does anyone commit
suicide? Simply put, we do not know. It is true that most of
them are depressed and under severe stress or frustration. While
a lot of chemical imbalances in the brain are known to trigger
suicide, we don’t know the reason behind the chemical imbalance.
Most often it is genetic or of unknown origin. But what we do
know is that if an individual has low levels of certain brain
chemicals, if he or she has depressive traits, then, given the
right triggers, he or she can manifest in various forms,
including suicide. As far as gender ratios are concerned,
teenage and in young children, the boys to girls ratio is often
unequal with boys being five to seven times more prone to commit
suicide (rations of boys to girls committing suicide are shown
to range from 5:1 to 7:1)
Some of the risk factors
that are known to be associated with suicide are:
Adverse
life events in combination with other strong risk factors, such
as depression may lead to suicide. However, suicide and suicidal
behavior are not normal responses to the stresses experienced by
most people. Many people experience one or more risk factors and
are not suicidal. Risk factors for suicide include:
- One
or more diagnosable mental (e.g., major depression) or
substance abuse disorders
-
Impulsivity
-
Adverse life events
-
Family history of mental or substance abuse disorder
-
Family history of suicide
-
Family violence, including physical or sexual abuse
-
Prior suicide attempt
-
Firearm in the home
-
Incarceration
-
Exposure to the suicidal behavior of others, including family,
peers, or in the news or fiction stories
- The
strongest risk factors for attempted suicide in adults are
depression, alcohol abuse, cocaine use, and separation or
divorce.
- The
strongest risk factors for attempted suicide in youth are
depression, alcohol or other drug use disorder, and aggressive
or disruptive behaviors
The presence of many
mental disorders can dramatically increase the risk of suicide.
Some of these mental disorders include:
1)
Depression
2)
Schizophrenia
3)
Bipolar disorders
4)
Anxiety disorders
5)
Post traumatic stress
disorders
6)
Eating disorders
7)
Drug and alcohol addictions
As per statistics
available from the National Institute of Mental Health, USA,
children too are prone to suicide. Here are some figures
In 2006, suicide was the
third leading cause of death for young people ages 15 to 24. Of
every 100,000 young people in each age group, the following
number died by suicide:
·
Children ages 10 to 14 —
1.3 per 100,000
·
Adolescents ages 15 to 19
— 8.2 per 100,000
·
Young adults ages 20 to
24 — 12.5 per 100,000
As in the general
population, young people were much more likely to use firearms,
suffocation, and poisoning than other methods of suicide,
overall. However, while adolescents and young adults were more
likely to use firearms than suffocation, children were
dramatically more likely to use suffocation.1
There were also gender
differences in suicide among young people, as follows:
·
Over four times as many
males as females ages 15 to 19 died by suicide.
·
More than six times as
many males as females ages 20 to 24 died by suicide.
PREVENTING SUICIDE
If it is identified that
a person or child is depressed or suffering from any form of
mental illness, a combination of medicines and psychotherapy/
behavioral therapy/ counselling/ family support etc, can be a
major help in reducing the primary mental disease like
depression, and in getting the child or teenager back into
normal life. Most medications work by increasing the levels of
those chemicals which are in short supply in the brain, so as to
reduce the mood and thought fluctuations and to keep the child’s
mental status stable. Any threat or attempt at suicide should
not be taken lightly, and the child should immediately be taken
to a psychiatrist/ counsellor, so that the child is prevented
from carrying out his or her threat.
THE
MAIN PROBLEM
However, the main problem
in most child and teenage suicides appears to be that the first
inkling or idea that the parents or teaches have that a child or
teenager is depressed, is after he or she has successfully
comitted suicide, when it is too late to do anything. In order
to be able to successfully prevent suicide, it is firstly
necessary to be aware that children too can commit suicde.
Secondly, it is extremely important that parents and teachers
are alert and aware, and keep a watch for depressive symptoms in
children who are under their care. In this respect, it is more
the onus and responsibility of the parents who are in more close
contact and touch with the child than teachers, to monitor and
observe the moods and behavior of their children and to be able
to detect any major mood swings or changes in their child. Some
of the symptoms which parents should be alert to include
1)
A lack of interest in
grooming or in one’s appearance
2)
Withdrawl from social
activities like parties, picnics, going out with friends to
movies etc
3)
Repeated talk about comitting
suicide
4)
Repeated talk about the
futility of life and wanting to die
5)
Spending long periods of time
crying or sulking
6)
Drastic change of eating and
sleeping habits
7)
Spending inordinate amount of
time in the toilet or bathroom
8)
Falling acacdemic grades, in
an otherwise intelligent child
9)
Repeated psychomatic symptoms
like headaches, giddiness, stomach pains, palpitations,
insomnia, anorexia etc
10)
Hallucinations and delusions
Though many children may have an underlying depressive disorder
or trait, and may be prone to suicide, most people who do
commmit suicide need a trigger, which we often assume to be the
cause of the suicide. Suicide per se has no cause, except at the
cellular level of the brain. But some common triggers can
precipitate these attacks. Some of the triggers are:
1)
Failure in examinations
2)
Failure to secure admissions
into the college, course or university of one’s choice
3)
Failure or opposition in love
affairs from the parents
4)
Excessive expectations and
pressure from parents, especially academically
5)
Death of a very close
relative, near and dear one
6)
Alcohol and drug abuse, which
can completely distort normal thinking patterns
7)
Major fight or argument with
parents on any subject
8)
Constant harrasment by
bullies at school or in the play environment
9)
Post traumatic stress
disorder
10)
A feeling that life has
become a burder, due to any reason
Are you concerned with your Kids behavior patterns? Are you
bugged with problems yourself as a parent or teacher?
Share your experiences, exchange thoughts! If you have
a say on any of the above topics, please feel free to write. Do mention age,
city and country you reside alongwith brief questions. I hope my answers
would soothe the troubled minds but heyy!
It's up to you! I can only Guide you.
I held no responsibility on how you view & act upon
the advice.
Open up, Speak up!
E-mail ilaxi, Kidsfreesouls
ilaxi patel |
kirandeep |
Dr. Vaidhyanathan
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