Introduction
Suicide is a tragic event. It has a profound personal effect on all associated with the person who died. Families, friends and society as a whole are affected. There is a particular poignancy when the suicide is that of a young person at the threshold of life.
Australia has the fifth highest suicide rate per 100 000 persons in the world. While suicide is highest among males, suicide attempts are higher among females and youth suicide among males are highest in rural / remote areas. 1
This essay will examine some of the issues of youth suicide. The focus will be to view the underlying factors and the strategies employed to intervene and prevent a potential young person from suiciding.
Multiplicity of Factors
It is apparent that suicide is now a major cause of death among young people in Australia today. While numbers of deaths are highest in urban areas, the problem has particular significance in rural areas, where a greater proportion of young males is involved in fatal self harm.
What is also becoming apparent is that many causes have been linked to suicidal behaviour. As recently as a decade ago, it was still common to seek to find explanations in the immediate circumstances of the person who died. A dispute at school or home, the ending of a teenage romance or minor trouble with the law were frequently cited as causes in individual cases. The following examines a broad range of issues that may be viewed as contributing factors in youth suicide.
Mental Health
A critical question in addressing youth suicide is the extent to which mental health problems and illnesses are involved in youth suicide. In studies conducted, data suggests that depressive illnesses have been an underlying factor in almost all suicides.
Other research indicates that people who suffer from more than one psychiatric illness are twice as likely to suicide. This would add weight to the argument that those who are substance abusers, who have anti social personalities or have anxiety disorders coupled with depression are prime candidates for suicide. 2
Unemployment and Social Disadvantage
The issues of unemployment and poor long term job prospects are frequently cited in media reports on youth suicide, particularly in relation to suicides in rural areas. In recent studies of suicide trends, it has been demonstrated that unemployment is a significant cause of psychological disturbance in young people who were initially employed and not suffering from any previous documented history of physical or mental illness.
Young people who attempted suicide were also more often to have come from disadvantaged family backgrounds (broken homes). Such backgrounds indicate that parental role models were severely lacking or non existent.
Alcohol and other drugs
Alcohol and other drugs are frequently associated with suicidal behaviour. The increased risk associated with combining drug and alcohol abuse with mental health problems has already been noted, as has the association between attempted suicide and parental alcoholism.
In the above mentioned studies, alcohol was found to have been involved in half the cases cited. It can be seen firstly that alcohol through its disinhibiting and depressant effects, may contribute to the decision to suicide (which is often impulsive), and secondly, that alcohol may be used to reinforce the suicidal decision or to anaesthetize against the pain of the method used to achieve death. Similarly, drugs such as heroin and sleeping pills have been used as both the means of reaching death and to cushion the process. 3
Adverse childhood experiences
It has been clearly documented that a segment of those who commit suicide, do so because of physical or psychological abuse they suffered while they were children. Many studies have indicated that young people who have suffered from childhood sexual abuse struggle with ongoing bouts of deep depression and mood swings. They are the ones who are also substance abusers (alcohol or drugs), have antisocial personalities and other illnesses that compound their feelings of worthlessness.
It have been suggested that child sexual abuse is the platform from which all other illnesses are built on that may led a young person to commit suicide.
Prevention Strategies
Considering the continued high rate of youth suicide, it is critical that prevention programs be utilized as effectively as possible. Many different strategies have been employed, however, it has become evident that no singular approach to the prevention of youth suicide has been successful on its own. Since some of the underlying factors that may contribute to a young person committing self harm are complex, it is believed that a combination of prevention strategies should be engaged.
The following are some approaches that are used in prevention programs around the country that have been proved to achieved successful results.
Primary Prevention
Primary prevention responses are aimed at the whole community. The range of activities employed in prevention programs are targeted at strengthening family functioning, developing mentally healthy school environments and healthy local communities which enhance caring and connectedness and counter harmful social and cultural influences. Parenting skills, stress management and life skills programs are strategies utilized to strengthen personal resilience and build protective factors into a young person’s life. 4
Media Strategies
The risk that media depictions of suicide can encourage suicide contagion has been known to occur. The strategies that media organizations in the country can use to play a positive role in the prevention of youth suicide are adopting policies in regard to reporting of youth suicide, to avoid focusing on the hopelessness of the young person’s situation, glamorizing suicide or discussing the details of the method used.
Another method is to broadcast community service announcements concerning the availability of help and that counselling services are conducted by health care professionals, also phone numbers to contact in cases of emergency.
Enhanced Training of Professionals
Studies have indicated that those people who work as professionals within the health field may benefit from enhanced training in regard to their skills and competency in risk assessment of young people with suicidal symptoms. Fundamental skills including the ability to recognize when a young person may be suicidal, the strategies to intervene in such circumstances, to clarify the nature and seriousness of that risk and then to employ appropriate actions that would divert the potential suicide to corresponding counselling.
Conclusion
The tragedy of youth suicide is of serious concern for Australia as a whole. While the majority of evidence gathered shows that young males are the largest segment, there are also indications that females are attempting suicide in the same numbers, however, the methods used have proved not as effective. Over all, the trends in youth suicide rates have proved that the current generation of young people are attempting and suiciding at greater numbers than previous generations. 5
The multiplicity of factors which are implicated singly or in concert with one another in the suicidal behaviour of young people have been examined above as well as the strategies employed to mitigate those same factors.
Youth suicide is a tragic event, the loss of young lives is of great sadness and soul searching among both the immediate family of the decease and in the community at large. Suicidal behaviour by young people need attention from all segments of the community, from federal health departments to local government counselling. Careful planning, consultation and ongoing research are needed to reduce the high incidence of youth suicide in Australia.
End Notes
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P. Baume, “Suicide in Australia”. (Canberra: Australia National University Press, 1997) pp 24 - 56.
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P. Hassan, “Suicide Explained : The Australian Experience”. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1995) pp 32 - 48.
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L. Ruzicka, “Youth Suicide in Australia”. (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1999) pp 10 - 45.
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P. Baume, “Suicide in the Bush : Myth or Reality”. (Canberra: Australia National University Press, 1996) pp 15 - 63.
- M. Stainsby, “Youth Suicide and Suicide Prevention”. (Sydney: Sydney University Press, 1998) pp 27 - 52.
Bibliography
Baume, P. “Suicide in the Bush : Myth or Reality”. (Canberra: Australia National University Press, 1996) pp 15 - 63.
Baume, P. “Suicide in Australia”. (Canberra: Australia National University Press, 1997) pp 24 - 56.
Hassan, P. “Suicide Explained : The Australian Experience”. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1995) pp 32 - 48.
Ruzicka, L. “Youth Suicide in Australia”. (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1999) pp 10 - 45.
Stainsby, M. “Youth Suicide and Suicide Prevention”. (Sydney: Sydney University Press, 1998) pp 27 - 52.
