Suicide is a sticky subject.
As far as prevention goes, we need to look into the roots of the issue. Why do they do this to themselves? I think their are a few main areas that we'd do good to focus on: Bullying/Non-Accepting Culture, Mental Illness, and Lack of Self Esteem. How can we fix that? Well, we're nudging in the right direction when it comes to bullying and acceptance, but it's very one-step-forward-two-steps-back. Using homosexuals as an example, as one in four are likely to commit suicide, we are trying to integrate them into culture and give them equal rights and value in society. However, there is still a large group of people who don't think we should. In turn, they react nastily to these people and, about 1-in-4, it ends badly. This needs to change. Humanism is the best combatant to non-acceptance. Mental illness needs to be more accepted, too. People (particularly men) are afraid to seek help for their problems. The is a stigma around getting help for mental and emotional issues and that needs to change. This extends to drug abusers and addicts who sometimes take their lives rather than deal with addiction. Then there is self-esteem. In the US culture, there is a lot of pressure for perfection. It isn't attainable. Instead of barking out that women need to look like this model (whose body type only approx 2% of the world has) and men need to be smooth and successful with ladies to "be a man", we should just be focusing on normality. It's normal to fail and it's normal to not be popular, tall, handsome/pretty and rich. Children need to grow up gaining little pleasures from little things, which keeps esteem and self-image high (little things like being proud of an 'A' on a test or completing a big project on time). The most important thing, I think, to realize is that these aren't separate issues. In some form or another, they intertwine and interact as the people who suffer from these issues do. Suicide is something I'm familiar with, more cozy than i care to admit, and I know I'm not the only one. We know there is hope and a reason to keep on keeping on. This is a message we should spread.
As far as prevention goes, we need to look into the roots of the issue. Why do they do this to themselves? I think their are a few main areas that we'd do good to focus on: Bullying/Non-Accepting Culture, Mental Illness, and Lack of Self Esteem. How can we fix that? Well, we're nudging in the right direction when it comes to bullying and acceptance, but it's very one-step-forward-two-steps-back. Using homosexuals as an example, as one in four are likely to commit suicide, we are trying to integrate them into culture and give them equal rights and value in society. However, there is still a large group of people who don't think we should. In turn, they react nastily to these people and, about 1-in-4, it ends badly. This needs to change. Humanism is the best combatant to non-acceptance. Mental illness needs to be more accepted, too. People (particularly men) are afraid to seek help for their problems. The is a stigma around getting help for mental and emotional issues and that needs to change. This extends to drug abusers and addicts who sometimes take their lives rather than deal with addiction. Then there is self-esteem. In the US culture, there is a lot of pressure for perfection. It isn't attainable. Instead of barking out that women need to look like this model (whose body type only approx 2% of the world has) and men need to be smooth and successful with ladies to "be a man", we should just be focusing on normality. It's normal to fail and it's normal to not be popular, tall, handsome/pretty and rich. Children need to grow up gaining little pleasures from little things, which keeps esteem and self-image high (little things like being proud of an 'A' on a test or completing a big project on time). The most important thing, I think, to realize is that these aren't separate issues. In some form or another, they intertwine and interact as the people who suffer from these issues do. Suicide is something I'm familiar with, more cozy than i care to admit, and I know I'm not the only one. We know there is hope and a reason to keep on keeping on. This is a message we should spread.
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