Youth suicide is a significant public health issue with high social and economic costs. Identifying and treating mental disorders is a crucial strategy for prevention of suicidal behavior in children and adolescents.
Teenagers are at a vulnerable time of life, with many challenging circumstances that can lead to thoughts of suicide. These include emotional changes, traumatic experiences, relationship problems and other factors that can make a teen feel alone or isolated.
Stressors
Stress is one of the leading causes of suicide among adolescents. It can be very intense, a one-time event like the loss of a family member or a friend, or it can build up over time.
Suicidal ideation and attempts are commonly reported to be preceded by stressful life events that are outside the person’s control, including death, divorce, separation involving an interpersonal loss, and a major negative experience such as losing a job.
However, this does not mean that the person must have been dealing with an especially high level of stress at the time of the attempt.
In this study, a Bayesian network model was adopted to investigate the probabilistic relationship between important stressful life events and suicidal behavior conditionally on sex of subjects and personal coping skills. The results show that both sex and personal coping skills play an important role in the risk of suicidal behavior. The probability of suicidal behavior decreased significantly with increasing approach coping skills.
Depression
Teens and young adults are prone to depression, which can increase their risk for suicide. It is a treatable condition, and if you suspect your teen has depression, it’s important to take action and seek treatment right away.
The causes of depression are many and varied, including genetics, brain structure, medical conditions and substance use. Depression can also be triggered by early childhood trauma.
Adolescents are particularly vulnerable to mood lability because their emotional centers (limbic system) and impulse control (prefrontal cortex) are still developing.
A depressed teen often shows short tempers, has trouble making decisions, is distracted and doesn’t pay attention to personal safety. They may also start to talk about their feelings and thoughts of death.
Regardless of the cause of depression, the risk of suicide is higher in teens and young adults who have been depressed for a long time. This is because they are at greater risk for impulsive behaviors and self-injury, which can lead to suicide.
Relationships
Teens are a vulnerable group for mental health problems and suicide is one of the leading causes of death among adolescents.
The risk factors that lead to youth suicide are often complex, interplaying both biological, psychological, socio-cultural and family factors. Suicide can be seen as the result of an interaction between a young person’s current emotional state, background personal and family factors and a recent significant life event that caused intolerable distress.
There are several relationships that can increase a youth’s risk of suicide, including peer victimization and poor social self-worth. However, a lack of longitudinal studies has limited our understanding of both the relationship between social factors and NSSI onset and how social stressors interact with other risk factors to influence a youth’s ability to avoid or resist NSSI.
Trauma
Experiencing traumatic events can have serious effects on a person’s life. They can affect their mental health, relationships, and physical well-being and increase their risk for a range of problems, including PTSD, substance abuse, and suicidal thoughts.
Traumatic events can include death of a family member or friend, a violent event, separation from family members, loss of stability, and other adversity. They can also result from bullying, neglect, and abuse (emotional, physical, or sexual).
When a person experiences a trauma, their body responds by sending out signals to the amygdala and other brain areas that signal danger to the body. These reactions can include fear, anxiety, and shock.
Many of these reactions resolve quickly without severe long-term consequences, but for some individuals, they can linger, interfering with their daily activities. They can be the first step toward a more severe mental illness such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Treatment can help reduce these symptoms and improve a person’s ability to manage their distress.