Teenage Suicide

Today I came across the news of a 22-year old MBBS student who committed suicide following a 6-month suspension order from the college authorities. It is a very tragic incident.  Malpractice during the internal exam was the reason behind the girl’s suspension. Students like her who end up committing suicide are so depressed that for them suicide seems to be some kind of a ‘permanent solution for a temporary problem’. While taking such a drastic step they often do not realize that everyone in the family will be affected by the decision.

Suicide is the third leading cause of death among teenagers between 10-24years. Teenagers these days just cannot deal with any kind of stress. A perceived failure at school or college, breakup with a boy/girl friend, death of a loved one, a divorce or a major family conflict is a reason enough for many teens to commit suicide. It is not always that teens commit suicide because they want to die but it is just that they want to get rid of the depressing thoughts/feelings or avoid the testing situations that they might have to face. Depression is the main reason for suicides. You could blame the changing hormones and sleep patterns during adolescence which drastically affects the mood of teenagers, putting them at a higher risk of depression and so suicide.   

But instead of doing all this, teenagers must realize that the failure in an exam or suspension from school or college is not the end of the world. There are many more things beyond all this. It is just a temporary phase which will pass off. May be the initial embarrassment after a failure or rustication will be a little difficult to deal with but life is too precious to end it for such silly reasons. With time one can cope up with the depression and understand the exact reason for the failure and work on it. Everyone has to face a little embarrassment or a small insult at some or the other time in life. What one needs to do is to find out ways to reduce the pain or find ways to increase one’s coping abilities.  

Suicide is certainly not the way to deal with any kind of failure and everyone has to understand this. All teenagers who are at stress and depressed about something should discuss the matter with their parents, sibling, teacher, friends or loved ones. Just speaking out about the problem will relieve some of the stress. Do not be embarrassed to seek professional help. Be brave enough to face problems and do not run away from situations. It only makes one stronger.

Always remember that God did not give us this life just to end it up for some silly reason. Life is beautiful and one must live it to the fullest.