According to WHO a suicide is committed every 40 seconds in the world- making it one of the leading cause of death in world. Also, suprisingly it is noticed that this tendency is more in the age group 15-30.
It is indeed painful to lose a beloved one to death-and more painful it is when it comes as a Suicide. When an youngster decides to end his life unable to deal with the stress and emotional trauma he is experiencing within himself-it might look upon as an easiest solution to the innumerous problems going on in his life.
Teenage years can be tough and it is perefectly normal to feel sad, low, irritable, lonely, every now and then. But the problem is when these feeling stay with the teenager for longer period, making them sulk in to their own world. When these feelings become very intense for the teenager to handle- it is important to confide and talk about it, and seek help from an adult because the teenager is undergoing depression. The very young mind is not able to assess what is going on within him and decides to find a permanent solution to the temporary problems . It is also the duty of the parent to keep an open eye and observe their kids closely to know if there are any changes in the life of their teens. Most important is to develop a realtionship of trust and understanding, so the teen could talk freely about his problem without fear of being laughed upon, or rebuked. Teenage years are filled with lot of problems like infatution, one sided love stories, bullying, peer victimisation, feeling of being useless, worthless, not feeling good about ones physical appearance, personality, and much more.
Rather than judging your teenager and making him feel low about himself and his feelings try to understand his world and help him emerge out as a stronger human being. Many teenagers get so cosumed with their emotions, it starts affecting their accademic performance. This leads to lot of pressure from school as well as parents imposing their expectations on the teenager, and pushing them in to further depressive feelings when they are not able to meet up to the expectations of their parents or teacher. The depressive mind constantly sends out signals of being worthless.
When an youngster decides to end his life abruptly he thinks he is doing it right, because he has not confided in anyone who could make him see that the path chosen by him to solve his problems is wrong .
His love for his family or his friends has not reduced, but somewhere he feels weak, he feels lonely, he feels he can not carry it any longer, he does not want to be a cause of shame for his teachers, his family or his friends. He loves his parents too much, and does not want to share his problems and make them more sad or disheartened. He does not have the courage to tell them he will not be able to fulfil their dreams of seeing him as a Doctor, Engineer, Chartered Accountant, because his dreams are different. He finds it very difficult to confide in his teacher that he is not interested in the Science classes being offered at the college but he is passionate about pursuing music, dance, art. He does not want to hurt his friends by admitting that he feels low and depressive when they joke about his physical appearance or his personality. He tries to show his parents he is unaffected when they constantly fight at home and threaten each other of seperation. He tries to find solace in substance abuse; and rebounds quickly in to another physical relationship after a break up . There could be a lot more than can be seen or felt going on in the mind of the teenager. With so much exposure and influences flowing in to his life, with so much of conflicts going on within him, he tries to put up a brave front; tries to be a rebellion, tries to imitate others to be socially accepted amidst his peer group, but somewhere within he is also seeking a shoulder which could comfort him and tell him that this phase would pass off soon.
Being human is an emotional experience - we all go through different phases of life ; good days; bad days; emotional days; depressing days; happy days; challenging days- but learning to deal with them is a skill which comes with age, maturity, experience. However strong or matured we might consider ourselves as teens - yet we need a support system to help us and guide us , to help us deal with our emotions and feelings.
So whenever you are undergoing any kind of stress or problems as a teenager as an yougnster- please reach out to some one out there who is ready to listen to you, who is ready to help you out because although your parents and teachers might seem tough, might have set very high expectations from you, yet they value you more than any other thing.
You are the most precious relationship in this world . Do not decide to leave this world with a note which would leave all your relations traumatised that you never gave them a chance to express that it is not your grades, not your achievements, nor their ego which is really precious and valuable to them- but it is " You".
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