At the start of each day, an individual must decide how he/she wants to live that day. What mood do you think you will be in? What stressors do you think you will encounter? There are many emotions and events that can fit into a 24-hour period and that period has the power to heavily influence you. Every individual is different, and some are in more depressed situations; people who are depressed or experience mental illnesses are at risk of suicide. Suicide is the intentional action of ending your own life, and is a huge epidemic in today’s society. “Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death for those between the ages of 15 and 34 in the United States” (Suicide.). There are many possible causes of someone choosing to commit suicide, and among the victims, researchers have acknowledged a trend. “Ninety percent of all people who die of suicide have a diagnosable psychiatric disorder at the time of their death” (Suicide.). This statistic is a key indicator of someone being at risk of suicide and can help loved ones to make sure that the individual they know with a disorder, is safe. Suicide will affect individuals that have an actual disorder or are simply depressed. Due to the severity of suicide, not just any person will choose to commit the act; it is committed by people with deeply rooted problems inside of them. Are you at risk to facing this suicide epidemic?
Suicide has been around for as long as humans have existed. The act of suicide is something that is extremely controversial among societies. In the time of Ancient Greece, a Philosopher, named Plato, gave three exceptions that he believed excused suicide; “Legally ordered by state, for painful or uncurable reasons, and when one is compelled to it by the occurrence of some intolerable misfortune” (A Brief History of Suicide). We know that there were suicides throughout history because of stories from the Bible, and many other historical texts. As time progressed, non-religious people began to see suicide as acceptable for certain situations, while religious people still found it appaling. “In 1961, the Suicide Act was finally adopted in England and Wales which removed the penalties which had been in place for this deed” (A Brief History of Suicide). Over time, the average age of suicides has decreased from mostly in the elderly stages of life, to mostly in the teenage stages of life. Suicide has also evolved in ways that it can be committed, with the evolution in drugs and technology, this epidemic is growing even faster than before. Society has always battled with the proper way to approach those that are facing suicide; countries have tried to enforce laws, proper rehabilitating facilities have been instilled, but nothing has slowed down the rate in which suicide occurs.
Suicide is such a dangerous epidemic because of the huge impact it has on other humans. There are three key effects that occur after an individual commits suicide; guilt, depression, and anger. After an individual chooses to commit suicide, they leave their loved ones wondering, “What could I have done to prevent this?” They start to take out assumptions they make, on themselves. The loved ones definitely feel a lot of the guilt, but they are not the only ones. After a suicide, you can notice that the entire surrounding community will feel the effects of guilt. Classmates start to wonder what signs they missed to not see the suicide coming, so do teachers, and any other person the individual may have come across. Next, people start to feel depression. If a person was close to the individual that committed suicide, they will start to feel that a piece of them is missing. Suicide is death. It is unexpected, and there is so much that is left unsaid. With all of these words and emotions bottled up, loved ones will start to feel neglected, and will find it difficult to live life, without the individual. Lastly, loved ones will feel angry. There are three types of anger that come from a suicide; self-inflicted, world-inflicted, and victim-inflicted. A loved one could move from a guilt phase to an anger phase when it comes to themselves. Rather than just simply wondering what they could have done, they begin to have serious anger about what they did wrong. Once a loved one begins to feel angry, they start to take it out on the world. They may start to discover what outside influences led to the individual’s suicide, and take out their anger on those influences; this is world-inflicted anger. World-inflicted anger is dangerous because it can lead to out-of-character actions. The loved one is so blinded by their anger that they take unnecessary actions, that they may later regret. The last form of anger is, victim-inflicted. Victim-inflicted isn’t normally broadcasted, but in the quiet times, the loved ones will sometimes get mad at the victim for giving up, being selfish, and taking such drastic measures. This normally isn’t pure anger, but rather sad anger. The effects that suicide has on communities is drastic, and overwhelming.
One example of suicide is caused by cyberbullying. In the movie, Cyberbully, “A teenager is subjected to a campaign of bullying by classmates through a social networking site” (Cyberbully (TV Movie 2011). Cyberbullying is a new reality with all of the new up and coming technologies. This is when bullies are able to hide behind a screen, while saying hurtful things to other online users. The movie Cyberbully follows a girl named Taylor Hillridge as she is cyberbullied by a group of mean girls. The constant torment puts Taylor into a depressed state, like many suicides, and leads to an attempted suicide. After her attempt, you can see the effects impacting her mother, as she searches for justice, for what her daughter had to endure. Ultimately, Taylor made it through the suicide, but others are not so lucky. Of all kids cyberbullied, “20% of kids cyberbullied think about suicide, and 1 in 10 attempt it” (Cyberbullying Rampant on the Internet). Another example of suicide is one that is partially caused by drugs, such as Kurt Cobain. Kurt Cobain was a part of a popular band called, Nirvana. Before his suicide, Cobain “suffered with heroin addiction and mental illness” (Waring). In fact, when he was found dead, he had high concentrations of heroin inside of him. Heroin is a highly dangerous drug that is supposed to block pain, which brings in its addictive abilities. After the initially effects of heroin block off, it has a difficult last phase. “The effects of this final stage of the heroin high can be potentially life-threatening. In particular, slowed breathing can reduce the amount of oxygen that is able to reach the brain. This condition is known as “hypoxia” and may lead to coma, permanent brain damage and even death” (Heroin Effects on the Body). Being on drugs can inhibit the mind, which is why, “Poisoning is the third-leading method used in suicide deaths and drugs make up 75 percent of suicide deaths caused by poisoning” (Seay). Lastly, a less known, but still relevant case of suicide was Rebecca Sedwick’s suicide. Rather than being cyber bullied, Sedwick faced her bullying in person, at school. “Police who investigated her suicide uncovered abusive messages directed at Rebecca from a group of about fifteen girls at her local school. The girls had apparently been spurred by jealousy over Rebecca’s former involvement with a local boy. These messages included “Why are you still alive?” and “Go kill yourself.’” (Goad). With a lot of bullying suicide cases, you see that the bullies specifically tell the victim to actually kill themselves. The hardest part to wrap your mind around, is do these bullies understand the seriousness of their words? Suicide is permanent and should not be taken lightly, the people in these examples have families that will never hear from them again.
Suicide is an epidemic that cannot be looked at as something that could be solved, but something that could be prevented. Due to the length of time that suicide has been around, many lengths have been taken to attempt to prevent the act. The first is to gain an understanding of all that makes up a suicide; this can be learning about misconceptions, statistics, warning factors, etc. Some of these warning signs can be; talking about suicide, loss of futuristic hope, self-destruction, and many more. To start, you must ensure that you are being aware of the people around you, as well as their emotions, so that you can identify signs before they take root (Peterson). So what happens when you clearly identify someone as suicidal? You should; speak up if you’re worried, respond quickly to a crisis, and then offer help and support (Peterson). Sometimes, suicide seems like too much for just one person to handle, so suicide prevention activates has come up with accessible, helpful resources. The first is, the official suicide hotline, the number is 1-800-273-8255. This hotline is, “a national network of local crisis centers that provides free and confidential emotional support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress 24 hours a day, 7 days a week” (National Suicide Prevention Lifeline). The second is, researching real people’s experiences with suicide. There are plenty of documentaries and videos that you can educate yourself with. Prevention mostly comes about for people that know individuals at risk of committing suicide. But, there is also the aspect of the actual suicidal individual searching for help. If you find yourself having suicidal thoughts; it is important to surround yourself by loved ones, develop a healthier lifestyle, seek help for doctors, etc. “There are no treatments that specifically stop suicidal thoughts. However, for each individual, identifying and treating any mental illness, and dealing with any stressors can reduce the risk of suicide” (Peterson). These solutions often do not work, simply because suicide is way more complex than people can wrap their minds around and isn’t something that can be cured, because once an individual commits suicide, they are dead. The seriousness and permanence of suicide is what makes this a fatal epidemic.
Albert Camus is the author of The Plague and is also known for his thoughts on absurdity. Absurdity is what is used to describe the ridiculous, or unreasonable. Camus uses absurdity to explain the conflict between two topics, and that is also used when he is explaining suicide. In his work he extensively goes over how suicide relates to absurdity. He looks at suicide as the conflict and individual faces between life and death. “‘There is only one really serious philosophical problem,’ Camus says, ‘and that is suicide.’” (Aronson). Camus discusses his beliefs behind suicide and his ultimate declaration is that, people commit suicide because they “judge life as not worth living”. His belief in absurdity leads him to believe that suicide is just an experience that we must get through which is where many’s beliefs will differ from his. The idea that something just, is, is not one that humans generally settle with, and that is why there are many precautions being taken to prevent suicide in the world today. Camus reflects on why people believe that life is worth living, and he says that the answer of the individual can determine whether or not they are at risk of committing suicide. Ultimately, Camus’ take on absurdity can be used in many situations, and can shed some light onto the suicide situation, but it does not give people the closure they need to make it through this epidemic.
Ultimately, suicide is something that cannot be taken lightly and is an extreme form of an epidemic. Suicide is an epidemic that not everyone will face, but only people with deeply rooted problems. If you do not take anything away from this paper, I hope that you can take away all of the resources that are out there to try and prevent suicide. There is; medication, counselors, hotlines, support groups, etc. If you feel that you, or someone you are close to is at risk of committing suicide, it is key to reach out to one of these resources. Lastly, I would like to give credit to Camus for not sugar coating his opinions and that people need to find their reasoning to live most of all, in order to prevent suicide.
Works Cited
Aronson, Ronald. “Albert Camus.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, 10 Apr. 2017, plato.stanford.edu/entries/camus/.
“Suicide.” American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, afsp.donordrive.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=cms.page&id=1226&cmsContentSetID=D5C4DC12-C299-258B-B0B6FCF9EF015CE0.
“Cyberbullying Rampant on the Internet.” CyberbullyHotline, Group Cast, 2013, www.cyberbullyhotline.com/07-10-12-scourge.html.
Waring, Olivia. “Kurt Cobain.” The Sun, The Sun, 4 Aug. 2017, www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/4161956/how-kurt-cobain-die-suicide-note/.
“Heroin Effects on the Body.” Heroin.net, Heroin.net, heroin.net/heroin-effects/heroin-effects-sub-page-1/heroin-effects-on-the-body/.
Goad, Jim. “15 Teen Bullying Cases With Tragic Ends.” Thought Catalog, The Thought and Expression Company, 22 Apr. 2015, thoughtcatalog.com/jim-goad/2015/04/15-teen-bullying-cases/.
“National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.” Lifeline, suicidepreventionlifeline.org/.
Peterson, Michael J. “How to Get Rid of Suicidal Thoughts: Suicide Prevention.” EMedicineHealth, WebMD Inc., 20 Nov. 2017, www.emedicinehealth.com/suicidal_thoughts/article_em.htm#preventing_suicides_the_community.
Seay, Nikki. “How Are Addiction, Depression and Suicide Linked?” Rehabs, Rehabs.com, 18 Feb. 2015, www.rehabs.com/how-are-addiction-depression-and-suicide-linked/.
Smith, Melinda, et al. “Suicide Prevention.” How to Help Someone Who Is Suicidal and Save a Life, Oct. 2017, www.helpguide.org/articles/suicide-prevention/suicide-prevention.htm.
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