Psychological Autopsy (Preventing Teenage Suicide)

Life is precious. Teenage life is exciting. We, as parents, have gone through such period and we all know how exhilarating and wonderful it has been. Going back to years, months, weeks, and days, I draw your attention to the time when your teenager was born. You held the tiny hands of your baby. He or she answered back by holding your finger. You soon realized that life is beautiful and is priceless. It is God’s gift.

Because life is a precious gift, writing about suicide is productive and gainful of attention. The airwaves gave out the news that a teenage actress currently playing a role in ABS-CBN’s Oh My G!, was found dead inside her bathroom in Quezon City. She ended her life through suicide by hanging. She was 15. Her suicide note was made available on internet site — Tumblr. She was indeed troubled and confused. She was crying for help! Yes, she might have been going through some “identity crisis” but nonetheless and the more that she needed someone to talk her feelings and emotions to. Nobody came by.

Why some men and women commit suicide?

The incidence: The World Health Organization (WHO) declared that 1 million people died from suicide during the past year. It is more shocking and alarming that the number increases each year when stats were reviewed. Many cases of suicide, according to the report, are teenage suicide.

Researchers have relied on suicide notes coming from those who have successfully committed suicide and from those who attempted suicide. They found similar themes in their letters. Results of their study were replicated in other studies. Similar results came out. Suicide attempts and successful suicide result from: 1. A sense of burden from inside and within the troubled individual (some notes say: My loved ones would be better off without me.); 2. Presence of emotional pain (I have a lot of suffering in my life.); 3. Escaping from the negative reality (Death is the answer to end my pain.); 4. Altered social world (Death is the answer to my troublesome social relationships.); and 5. Hopelessness (There is no chance that life will become better.).

Common to both groups are: Presence of pain, belief that death would end the pain, and hopelessness. Clinically, they found out that diagnosis of depression, psychosis or mental illness, and impulsive or explosive personality traits have been found to add to ideas of suicide. Many letters exhibited confusion: To live and hang on or to die?

Preventing teenage suicide

To my thinking, there are two big words in teenage suicide prevention: Communication and Education. Teenage life is a period of experimentation and committing mistakes, but not a period of ending life through suicide. That’s why we’re here to guide them. The Oh My G! suicide news is a wake up call. Let her story be a call to action. There’s love and hope and a valuable science too that can guide us in the right direction. Talk to your youngsters and lead them positively. They need you.