Introduction
Imagine this, you walk into your house expecting to see your sister at the table doing homework. She is not there so you call her name. She does not respond so you begin to look for her. You reached the bathroom only to see your sister passed out on the floor. Your first response is to wake her up and get her off the floor. You begin to shake her shoulders and yell doing anything you can to wake her up. When she does not respond, your heart rate begins to increase. You begin to shake her with no response still. Your next move is to reach for the phone and dial 911. They are at your house within seven minutes, and you and your sister are being rushed off to the hospital. You find out your sister has just tried to kill herself by swallowing an entire bottle of sleeping pills. This is the first time she has done this and you hope It is the last. You soon come to find out that is not the case, there is another attempt as well as another hospital visit she comes out okay and now it is time for her to see someone. Unfortunately, before she can get help you find her again only this time she I successful in her most recent attempt, and you are now an only child. Your sister has just committed suicide. Suicide rates are rising in the United States. Suicide is an epidemic. “Over 80 million people in the United States are at risk for suicide due to mental illness and substance use disorders; about 30,000 Americans each year die by suicide” (Goldsmith 423). “It is projected that 1.53 million people will have died because of committing suicide” (Bertolote "A Global" 6). Could your family be next?
History
There is not a lot of history regarding a suicide epidemic. The World Health Organization (WHO) has been keeping track of mortality rates since its establishment in 1948. A lot of information about the history of suicide is from the WHO. Developing countries rarely report suicide cases, "it is believed that suicide is underreported by a percentage between 20% and 100%," (Bertolote "Suicide" 181). Because a lot of suicides are not reported, we see on paper that Europe has the highest rate reported but currently Asia has the highest number of suicides they are just not reported to WHO (Bertolote "A Global" 7). Attempted suicide is not reported in most countries which makes it hard to compare data to suicides. Most of the information does not include every country in the world, especially in the early days.
From 1950 to 1995 suicide rates among men rose from sixteen percent to twenty-five percent (6). In the same time period suicide rates among women rose from five percent to eight percent (6). Men seem to have always had higher suicide rate than women, in Bertolote's article he gives us ratios from WHO, in 1950 the ratio was 3.2:1, in 1995 the ratio was 3.6:1 (7).
Age is an important marker in suicides, in the past more elderly people have been committing suicide than young people, but recently more young people than elderly people have been dying. Fifty-five percent of suicides are committed by people between the ages of 5 and 44 (7). People between the ages of 35 and 44 are committing the most suicides (7). The highest rate of suicide is in Europe, in twenty-one of thirty countries in Europe, suicide rates of ages fifteen to nineteen rose between 1979 and 1996 (Wasserman 114). More than thirty percent of all suicides are committed in China, the number of suicides in China is thirty percent more than Europe (Bertolote "A Global" 7). In 1998 suicide represented 1.8 percent of diseases, it is projected to increase to 2.4 percent by 2020 (Bertolote "Suicide" 181). Suicide is the 13th leading cause of death around the world (DeLeo 185). Suicide is the second leading cause of death for the age group 15-29 (Suicide 1). For every person who dies by suicide, there are 30 people who have attempted suicide (U.S. 10).
Social Effects
Suicide has a huge social effect on societies globally today. In some cases, people commit suicide from depression and bullying combined. In fact, 98 percent of people who kill themselves have mental disorders. Depression is one of the most frequent disorders found in suicide cases. Because people who are bullied commit suicide there has been many stances on preventing bullying.
Suicide is talked about all over the world. There was a big issue recently because a famous person on YouTube, Logan Paul, posted a video in Japan’s Aokigahara Forest, media referred to it as the "Hanging Forest." People from all over the world lashed out on Paul calling him inconsiderate and should not be making fun of the fact that someone killed themselves. Another way it effects the world is a recent study about media influencing people’s method of choice. When the media writes stories about people killing themselves and includes the method that they died it starts a trend in people dying the same way with the same method (Cheng). There is something similar called the "Werther Effect," this is when suicides are made public there is an increase in suicides after the first one.
Suicide can also take a major toll on communities. In most communities, whether it be a school or neighborhood, people know each other. When people that are surrounded by so many people on a daily basis people begin to know each other. If someone people know takes their life, it hurts the communities around them. They are no longer living with a friend or a loved one and that can be hard for people to handle. Communities come together to provide support for people who are struggling. People dying can effect so many people that they may not have even known cared about them.
Examples
Suicide has life changing impacts on people that surround the person dying. I have been scared on many occasions for a few of my friends who struggle with depression and life. I too have struggled with depression that influenced me to have suicidal ideation, or thoughts of committing suicide, and I know it has scared many people I care about. But when someone takes their life it can be devastating.
In an article by Carol Pearson from VOA News, she recounts a story about a veteran’s suicide and his daughters, Dorothy Paugh, reaction to it. Pearson quotes Dorothy who says, "I count that day as the last day of my childhood. Because from that moment on, I had no sense of security. I had no sense that the world was a safe place” (Pearson 1). Dorothy says this in reference to the day her dad took his life. Her father was a World War 2 veteran and after his death the White House sent a letter which her mother hung on the wall. She said her mother never wanted the kids to forget that their father was a hero and not to think about his death. Pearson goes on to mention statistics and facts about suicide and its prevention. She gives a quote from Paul Gionfriddo, president of Mental Health America, “Suicide is the ultimate stage four event for a lot of people who have serious mental illnesses, and frankly it's the ultimate stage four, late-stage event for a lot of people with other kinds of chronic diseases as well, too, who might not have had a mental illness" (Pearson 1). Then Pearson goes to mention facts about gun violence and once again brings Dorothy Paugh into the story, her son purchased a gun for target practice and took his life in 2012 (Pearson 1). Pearson again mentions statistics on suicide and mentions another quote from Paugh, "The ripple effect is enormous...his brothers, his girlfriend, myself, his father. It's a shock that takes years to recover...to find footing again"(Pearson 1) The death of Paugh’s father and son inspire her to become a suicide prevention advocate. Paugh says her hope and purpose in speaking about suicide is to help people understand that it is preventable. Pearson published this article on suicide awareness day (Pearson 1).
Solutions
Suicide does not have very definitive solutions. A key to helping is figuring out who is at risk, which can be difficult to assess. There are many different medications to help treat suicide and many facilities that are open to the public to help prevent suicide. The first suicide prevention center was opened in Los Angeles, California in 1958 (U.S. 94). People who have suicidal ideation tend to need therapy and the prevention centers allows people who have ideation to come to them and receive help. "In 1966, the Center for Studies of Suicide Prevention (later the Suicide Research Unit) was established at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)" (96). After this was established, many nonprofit organizations dedicated to suicide prevention were created (96). The prevention centers opening up around the world are a good way to attract people who need help. There is also a national suicide hotline so that people can help and receive help over the phone.
Goldsmith writes that almost half of the people who complete suicide in the United States are diagnosed with a mental disorder and are treated by a mental health professional (Goldsmith 229). "In the past, it was believed that appropriately treating underlying conditions (e.g., mood disorders, substance abuse) would remove the risk for suicide" (U.S. 50). Giving people antidepressants or SSRI's, Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors, can help treat depressive symptoms, which can prevent people from being at risk.
Sometimes talking to friends and family can also help talk someone down. The WHO's fact sheet states a few of the ways to treat suicide which include:
· reducing access to the means of suicide (e.g. pesticides, firearms, certain medications)
· reporting by media in a responsible way
· introducing alcohol policies to reduce the harmful use of alcohol
· early identification, treatment and care of people with mental and substance use disorders, chronic pain and acute emotional distress
· training of non-specialized health workers in the assessment and management of suicidal behavior
· follow-up care for people who attempted suicide and provision of community support. ("Suicide")
This list shows the variety of solutions that can help prevent suicide. As you can see this epidemic is not a definitively treatable epidemic but there are ways to help.
Camus and Absurdity
Albert Camus is a famous absurd fiction author, best known for his work titled The Black Plague or The Stranger. His philosophy is that man's search for meaning in life is absurd. Camus says that a response to the absurd is to commit physical suicide. Choosing to die means that you have recognized that there is no meaning to life, the uselessness of suffering. He recognizes that suicide is an attempt to escape the absurd, and it doesn't solve the problem of what the meaning of life is. Another response to finding meaning in life is what Camus calls philosophical suicide, which is finding your meaning through god and religion. Camus believes that this is also an attempt to escape the absurd. Camus does not support suicide; he thinks it is just an escape. The only response Camus supports is accepting the fact that there is no meaning to life and that you must create your own. Considering he thinks suicide is an escape from the fact that life has no meaning and you have to create it, Camus would not probably not be happy with the rising suicide rates. Most suicides happen because people cannot find the meaning of life and have no energy to create their own.
Conclusion
When you lose family members to suicide, it can be devastating. These people take their lives because they think they have no meaning. Imagine your sister thinking she has no meaning, and you are sitting there thinking I need you to be here and be my sister because I need my sister. Ever since data started being recorded in the 50’s, the numbers have risen. Media influences people all over the world to take their own lives and gives them an idea of how to commit suicide. Because of this, communities are being devastated by the death of loved ones. People who are at risk need to be helped whether it is with medicine or therapy. The famous Albert Camus believes that suicides are a reason to escape life. The suicide rates are rising which is turning suicide into an epidemic.
Works Cited
Bertolote, José Manoel, and Alexandra Fleischmann. “A Global Perspective in the Epidemiology of Suicide.” Suicidologi, National Center for Suicide Research and Prevention, University of Oslo., 2002, Vol 7 No. 2 2002 Pg6-9
Bertolote, José Manoel, and Alexandra Fleischmann. “Suicide and Psychiatric Diagnosis: A Worldwide Perspective.” World Psychiatry, Masson Italy, Oct. 2002
Cheng, Qijing et al. “Media effects on suicide methods: A case study on Hong Kong 1998-2005” PLOS One, April 2017
DeLeo D, Bertolote J, Lester, D. Self-directed violence. 2002. Chapter 7. In: Krug EG., Dahlberg LL., Mercy JA, Zwi A, Lozano R, eds. World report on violence and health[PDF 239 KB]. Geneva: World Health Organization
Goldsmith, Sara K. and (U.S.) Institute of Medicine. Reducing Suicide: A National Imperative. National Academies Press, 2002. EBSCOhost.
Paul, Elise et al. “Has information on suicide methods provided via the Internet negatively impacted suicide rates?” PLOS one, December 2017
Pearson, Carol. “Suicide Has Ripple Effect on Families, Communities, Societies.” VOA News, 2016.
“Suicide.” World Health Organization, World Health Organization, Jan. 2018.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Surgeon General and National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention. 2012 National Strategy for Suicide Prevention: Goals and Objectives for Action. Washington, DC: HHS, September 2012.
Wasserman, Danuta et al. “Global suicide rates among young people aged 15-19” Official Journal of the World Psychiatric Association Vol 4 June 2005
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