Help Adolescents to Overcome the Suicidal Tendency
According to the ‘Mental Health of Adolescents’ published by WHO in November,2021,”Suicide is the fourth leading cause of death among the 15-29 years old.” Day by day the tendency of self-harm or suicide is increasing among the adolescents all over the world due to their break down to deal with the stressors of life. So, it is the urgent need to help adolescents to overcome the suicidal tendency and truly live their life. Suicide is the most serious health problem of the adolescents but we can prevent it through early identification and cordial support and creating awareness among people to break the stigma and taboo associated with it.
Risk Factors of Suicide among Adolescents
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The adolescents are in highest risk of suicide due to their less developed socio-emotional skills and also the inability to deal with the problems of life. So, to help adolescents to overcome the suicidal tendency, the parents should be familiar with the risk factors of suicide. Some major risk factors are as stated below-
. Suffering from mental health disorders like Depression, Anxiety Disorders, Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia etc.
. Conflicts with family members or friends in a serious note.
. Unhealthy Family Environment- Domestic Violence in family, Parental conflicts or Divorce, Parent’s addiction in Alcohol
. Loss of some near and dear ones like parents, siblings or closed friend.
. Terrible Experience of Abuse, Neglect or Bullying.
. History of Suicidal Thoughts in family.
. Inability to cope with the Failures in life-Academic failure, failure in Relationship or others.
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Warning Signs of Suicidal Tendency
To help adolescents to overcome the suicidal tendency, the parents should be familiar with the warning signs of suicidal tendency so that they can support their children to start the process of healing from this traumatic tendency. The major signs are stated below-
. Drastic changes in daily life activities- changes in eating habits and sleeping patterns.
. Frequent Mood Swings, Irritability and hopelessness.
. Negative attitude towards life-lack of interest in daily activities including the Hobbies.
. Low Academic or other Performance
. Direct or Indirect Verbal Threats of Suicide
. Prefer to stay Alone, Social Withdrawal
. Often talks about different ways of self-harm, internet search is done also to find the ways of suicide.
We should consider all those warning signs seriously and must help adolescents to overcome the suicidal tendency.
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Ways to Help Adolescents to Overcome the Suicidal Tendency
It’s the duty of parents, teachers and other elders to help adolescents to overcome the suicidal tendency and here the positive mindset and empathetic understanding matter a lot to deal with this sensitive issue. So some effective ways are discussed below to provide support to the adolescents to minimize their tendency of self-harm or suicide.
Accept the Negative Feelings of Adolescents
At first the parents should accept the negative feelings of the adolescents- their negative attitude towards life, their issues and difficulties and also the limitations. If the parents accept those fact of their children, then only they can provide support to overcome those feelings of negativity and the tendency of suicide. If those negative feelings are ignored, we can never minimize the suicidal tendency present in them.
Open Discussion with Adolescents
To help adolescents to overcome the suicidal tendency, the parents should discuss openly with them- they should try to understand the mental state of the adolescents, try to ask them about their feelings regarding their future and life and also how they are feeling now. All these types of open discussion surely act as an eye-opener to provide support to adolescents to overcome their suicidal tendency. Here we should break the stigma related to “talk about Suicide” in adolescents.
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Empathetic Understanding
The parents and other elders here should be empathetic to the mindset and feelings of the adolescents to understand their issues and difficulties. If the adolescents feel that their parents are really anxious for them and are trying to understand their problems, they will surely discuss with the parents about their feelings and may ask for help. Here the parents should never ignore the warning signs of suicidal tendency in adolescents- both verbal and non-verbal, try to look at the signs through empathetic manner.
Engage Adolescents with their Preferable Activities
Sometimes it is seen that if we can engage the adolescents with some constructive activities of their choice like learning to play some musical instrument or any game or some craftworks or simply in some social works, they can overcome those tendencies of self-harm to a reasonable amount. So to help adolescents to overcome the suicidal tendency, the parents should try to distract their attention from the threats of suicide and attract them to some constructive activities.
Take Professional Support
To help adolescents to overcome the suicidal tendency, it’s mandatory to take professional help and support, the parents should contact a psychiatrist or therapist and share those issues of their adolescents with them. The parents will also convince their children to take the help from the therapist or psychiatrist and beat their tendency of self-harm or suicide. It is seen that Psychotherapy, Person-centered Therapy, Cognitive Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy etc. are really beneficial to bring the adolescents back to their life
Words from Wingsofwishes.in
To help the adolescents to overcome the suicidal tendency, we should first learn to break the stigma and societal taboo related with Mental Health Crisis and Suicide- we should tell our adolescents that it is not a matter of SHAME to talk about your mental health or your tendency of self-harm or suicide and they can easily take help from mental health professionals to deal with their issue. Moreover, it’s needed to create awareness among people regarding the warning signs of suicide and also about the preventive measures like toll free numbers for crisis or suicide helpline, online counseling for remote areas, support groups etc. to help adolescents to overcome the suicidal tendency.
References
1.Suicide in young people: screening, risk assessment, and intervention | The BMJ
2.Suicidal behavior in Indian adolescents – PubMed (nih.gov)
4.Teen suicide: What parents need to know – Mayo Clinic
5.Adolescent and young adult health (who.int)