Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Youth Suicides Increasing

From 2003 - 2004 the suicide rate for Americans under age 20 climbed by 18% according to data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Whats to blame? Some experts blame the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a regulatory action that led to a black box warning on antidepressant packaging cautioning that the medication could cause suicidal behavior.

Read more HERE

1 comment:

Jennifer Abell said...

The below are some questions that were posed to me by a reader and my responses.
Now let’s break down your questions. These answers are MY OPINIONS.

1) define suicide
As referred to in this article - the taking of one’s own life.

2) why does someone attempt suicide?
I would say depression, temporary emotional and/or mental instability

3) why do some attempts fail and others suceed?
I believe on numerous occassions the person doesn’t really want to die, they just want the pain to stop. They want someone to pay attention. They want to hurt someone else for the pain they are feeling. The one’s that succeed, I believe, let the act go to far to turn back or genuinely want to die.

3) where can we examine reliable suicide statistics?
Center for Disease Control
http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/suifacts.htm

4) what are the risk factors for suicide?
See Center for Disease Control
http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/suifacts.htm
Also, the yellow ribbon suicide prevention organization
http://www.yellowribbon.org/WarningSigns.html

5) what is the most effective method of addressing those risk factors?

See above