Suicide is skyrocketing in young people

[Techno-Druid]

(Source)

Suicide is skyrocketing in young people, even as deaths from accidents, cancer, and murders are down

Suicide rates are up dramatically in the US, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Nurses, construction workers, and students are all at risk.
Suicide rates are also up among kids, teens, and young adults from ages 10 to 24
This is true even though death rates from other leading causes, including cancer, homicides, and accidents are all going down for young people.
Developmental psychologist Peter Gray told Insider that young people are under immense academic stress today and more anxious than ever. He says that "childhood has become a period of resume-building," to the detriment of kids' mental health.

The number of young people dying by suicide has skyrocketed in recent years, a troubling trend that health experts say will likely continue if it goes unaddressed.

In 2000, the CDC tallied 4,294 deaths by suicide in people from ages 10 to 24. But in 2017 (the most recent year for which the CDC has final data) that number rose by more than 50%, to 6,769 young people.

"Rates will likely continue to go up if we don't, as a society, really put more emphasis on comprehensive suicide prevention," CDC suicide prevention researcher Deb Stone previously told Business Insider.

Suicide rates are up in almost every US state, and they're rising for both men and women
Suicide is now the second leading cause of death for people from 10 to 34, according to the CDC, but there's rarely one single reason for it. Some of the most common factors that contribute to suicide can include relationship issues, crises, job or school stresses, and physical health problems.

No demographic group is immune to the trend (men over 75 and Native Americans still have some of the highest suicide rates in the country). But the recent rise in pre-teen, teenage, and young adult deaths is especially disturbing given how fast it has gone up, and the fact that it's bucking a trend of improving death rates for young people from other leading causes of death like accidents, homicides, and cancer.

Child psychologist Peter Gray has been investigating how child and teen suicides seem to track neatly with the academic school year. He says that "childhood has become a period of resume-building," leaving kids more stressed about tests and with less time for free play, which is vital to their mental health.

"People want to blame social media, they want to blame video games, they want to blame bullying by other kids — this is the elephant in the room that nobody wants to talk about," Gray told Insider.

He says play is the critical way that young people learn to build resilience and courage in ways they can't when their parents and teachers are watching.

"They play in risky ways," he said. "They chase one another around, they fight, they play fight. They do things that look dangerous. And what they're doing is they are learning how to deal with fear."

Gray is involved with the nonprofit organization Let Grow, which is working with some US schools to incorporate more unstructured time into kids' schooldays.

"What makes kids happy is freedom and play," he said.

It's OK to ask 'Are you thinking about killing yourself?' if you're worried someone might be suicidal

Only a medical professional can diagnose someone as suicidal, but asking the question, "Are you thinking about killing yourself?" and providing a judgment-free space for someone to talk about their feelings can be extremely helpful.

There are also a few warning signs to keep an eye out for if you're worried that someone close to you may be suicidal. These include:

Threatening to hurt or kill him/her/themself
Looking for ways to complete suicide, like getting access to pills or a gun

Talking about death, dying, or suicide out loud or on social media
Rage and revenge-seeking

Being reckless or doing uncharacteristically risky things

Feeling trapped and withdrawing from social activities

Anxiety or trouble sleeping

Dramatic shifts in mood

It's a myth that talking about suicide might somehow plant the idea in a person's mind. Telling someone you care and want to help is always a good idea. Mental-health trainers say one of the best things you can do for someone is express concern and willingness to help — then let them do most of the talking.

Reminding someone that suicidal thoughts are common and often associated with a treatable mental disorder can also be a way to support them. Ask that person to think about some things that may have helped them in the past, like a doctor, therapist, family member, or friend. Don't ever use guilt or threats to try to prevent a suicide.

"Help people," as CDC Principal Deputy Director Anne Schuchat said last year. "Look for those warning signs in people you love and care for."

What do you think is a viable solution to the epidemic of young people committing suicide? I'm honestly somewhat disappointed that this subject had largely only been covered in passing (if at all) by the mainstream media, especially compared to other youth-related topics such as Juul, it seems pretty weird that the media and society seems more afraid of teens and young adults vaping than it is about them taking their own lives en masse.

Do you think there's a correlation with an increase in academic pressure and/or a decrease in childhood autonomy and privacy and the drastic increase in youth suicides?

[YUPPIE]

I'm not being sarcastic or ironic here but I always thought the prospect of children and teens dedicating their lives to studying without distractions was a great idea and the solution to declining education and downfall into gangsta/hood life. But your article seems to say "no" and recreational distractions like video games are necessary.

[NoiseTank13]

Cancer from the ocean, cancer from the sun.

You watch the news and see supposed 'leaders' of your local communities and representatives behave no better than some of your shittiest classmates and somehow get rewarded for it constantly in the form of money, favors and influence.

You are raised and educated through the school system as to how to better enrich the lives of those above you, rather than yourself, your peers, your community and those below you.

Yeah I can see why the suicide rate is going up. What's the point of being an adult anymore these days.

[Belize]

Are you saying that giving young people the choice between being saddled with crippling debt or not getting an education and not having good prospects for getting a well paying job might have a negative effect?

Are we also saying that the propagation of social media and its tendency of only highlighting the good parts of other's lives may have a negative effect on people's mental health and their view of themselves.

You don't say.

[Puzzlesocks]

Are you saying that giving young people the choice between being saddled with crippling debt or not getting an education and not having good prospects for getting a well paying job might have a negative effect?

Are we also saying that the propagation of social media and its tendency of only highlighting the good parts of other's lives may have a negative effect on people's mental health and their view of themselves.

You don't say.

Shocking isn't it? It's almost if the prospect of living a fulfilling life goes down, that suicide rates go up.

[Lodreh]

As a society we have taken something from the youth... yes, part of it is unsupervised play but a bigger part is we have taken their drive... their desire to do anything. When no matter how hard you work at something everyone receives the same trophy you have no incentive to succeed. There is no reason to push yourself to improve when everyone is treated the same regardless of outcome. We should be teaching merit over adversity... instead we teach conformity over adversity. So what did you expect would happen. They would grow up well adjusted? No. Conflict brings growth. Without conflict at earlier ages they are not equipped to deal with any challenges later in life... it's easier to give up.

[Techno-Druid]

Are we also saying that the propagation of social media and its tendency of only highlighting the good parts of other's lives may have a negative effect on people's mental health and their view of themselves.

You don't say.

From the article:

Child psychologist Peter Gray has been investigating how child and teen suicides seem to track neatly with the academic school year. He says that "childhood has become a period of resume-building," leaving kids more stressed about tests and with less time for free play, which is vital to their mental health.

"People want to blame social media, they want to blame video games, they want to blame bullying by other kids — this is the elephant in the room that nobody wants to talk about," Gray told Insider.

This article mostly points to academic pressure in both primary school and a lack of autonomy as a major drive, not so much student debt or social media, the latter of which the researcher sees being used as a scapegoat.

[JohnBrown1917]

Shocking isn't it? It's almost if the prospect of living a fulfilling life goes down, that suicide rates go up.

Thank god for the conservative idealogy making that possible.

[NoiseTank13]

As a society we have taken something from the youth... yes, part of it is unsupervised play but a bigger part is we have taken their drive... their desire to do anything. When no matter how hard you work at something everyone receives the same trophy you have no incentive to succeed. There is no reason to push yourself to improve when everyone is treated the same regardless of outcome. We should be teaching merit over adversity... instead we teach conformity over adversity. So what did you expect would happen. They would grow up well adjusted? No. Conflict brings growth. Without conflict at earlier ages they are not equipped to deal with any challenges later in life... it's easier to give up.

You need to stop reading articles from questionable (at best) sources. There is no epidemic of 'participation trophy awards', and what there is, is way overblown and certainly not the main reason people are killing themselves.

[Techno-Druid]

I'm not being sarcastic or ironic here but I always thought the prospect of children and teens dedicating their lives to studying without distractions was a great idea and the solution to declining education and downfall into gangsta/hood life. But your article seems to say "no" and recreational distractions like video games are necessary.

Assuming you're serious, children can't just spend the majority of their lives studying, that's not an organic model of learning and doesn't help them build things like social skills or the ability to cope with stress.

The famous developmental psychologist Jean Piaget (1932) noted long ago that children develop a more sophisticated and useful understanding of rules when they play with other children than when they play with adults.With adults, they get the impression that rules are fixed, that they come down from some high authority and cannot be changed. But when children play with other children, because of the more equal nature of the relationship, they feel free to challenge one another’s ideas about the rules, which often leads to negotiation and change in rules. They learn in this this way that rules are not fixed by heaven, but are human contrivances to make life more fun and fair. This is an important lesson; it is a cornerstone of democracy.

Perhaps the most important function of the culture of childhood is to teach children how to get along with peers. Children practice that constantly in social play. To play with another person, you must pay attention to the other person’s needs, not just your own, or the other person will quit. You must overcome narcissism. You must learn to share. You must learn to negotiate in ways that respect the other person’s ideas, not just yours. You must learn how to assert your needs and desires while at the same time understanding and trying to meet the needs and desires of your playmate. This may be the most important of all skills that human beings must learn for a successful life. Without this ability it is not possible to have a happy marriage, true friends, or cooperative work partners.

By increasing the amount of time spent in school, expanding homework, harping constantly on the importance of scoring high on school tests, banning children from public spaces unless accompanied by an adult, and replacing free play with adult-led sports and lessons, we have created a world in which children are almost always in the presence of a supervisor, who is ready to intervene, protect, and prevent them from practicing courage, independence, and all the rest that children practice best with peers, away from adults. I have argued elsewhere (Gray, 2011, and here) that this is why we see record levels of anxiety, depression, suicide, and feelings of powerlessness among adolescents and young adults today.

[d00mGuArD]

Are you saying that giving young people the choice between being saddled with crippling debt or not getting an education and not having good prospects for getting a well paying job might have a negative effect?

Shocking isn't it? It's almost if the prospect of living a fulfilling life goes down, that suicide rates go up.

Aaaactually, you can study at university of London online dirt cheap and finish without debt. The whole degree costs around 7000. If you do it part time and take 6 years, you will end up paying something like $100 per month (for 72 months) during your studies.

Those that get into debt, just don't bother to google and find it.

Edit: this is online, so available to everyone anywhere in the world. Often it is even cheaper for 3rd world countries.

[Elegiac]

Are you saying that giving young people the choice between being saddled with crippling debt or not getting an education and not having good prospects for getting a well paying job might have a negative effect?

Are we also saying that the propagation of social media and its tendency of only highlighting the good parts of other's lives may have a negative effect on people's mental health and their view of themselves.

You don't say.

:surprised pikachu:

I mean c'mon, next you'll be telling me being subjected to an environment where their performance is constantly encouraged to drift towards a quantified median regardless of how ill it fits them and having their personal worth be graded on percentile points might also be damaging.

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Aaaactually, you can study at university of London online dirt cheap and finish without debt. The whole degree costs around 7000. If you do it part time and take 6 years, you will end up paying something like $100 per month (for 72 months) during your studies.

Those that get into debt, just don't bother to google and find it.

So you're saying people deserve to be bankrupt because they decided to get an education then, yes?

[d00mGuArD]

So you're saying people deserve to be bankrupt because they decided to get an education then, yes?

I did not say that anywhere. I said there is super cheap education available online to everyone. Anyone that did not bother to google and find it, will end up in debt.

[Belize]

From the article:


This article mostly points to academic pressure in both primary school and a lack of autonomy as a major drive, not so much student debt or social media, the latter of which the researcher sees being used as a scapegoat.

If you hadn't cut half of my post in half, you would see I've also addressed that.

Can you imagine being able to consider multiple causes to a problem. What a revolutionary fucking idea.

[JohnBrown1917]

Aaaactually, you can study at university of London online dirt cheap and finish without debt. The whole degree costs around 7000. If you do it part time and take 6 years, you will end up paying something like $100 per month (for 72 months) during your studies.

Those that get into debt, just don't bother to google and find it.

This is from the US.

[d00mGuArD]

This is from the US.

I said online. Online does not care where you live!
It is available to everyone on the planet.

On topic: I think students, from younger age, will have a much easier time if they know this option is available, and they don't have to worry about debt and stuff. It may help suicide rates. Instead all they hear is how bad things are (they are not!) and how hard it is to get educated (it is not)

[Elegiac]

I did not say that anywhere. I said there is super cheap education available online to everyone. Anyone that did not bother to google and find it, will end up in debt.

Is people being in debt for school a bad thing or not?

If it is a bad thing, what's the point in saying "well actually" when the problem is tuition fees, not people being able to game the system sufficiently well.

[Ayla]

lol - suicide prevention. Okay society.

I only had to spend 3 hours every day getting to/from work
Spend most of my paycheck on rent
retirement is unlikely
haven't gone on vacation in my adult life
my body feels 50+

But hey, if you just learn some resilience, you too can realize if you just stay in a positive mindset the cardboard box that you live in can be a mansion

Kindly get fucked.

[Elegiac]

I said online. Online does not care where you live!
It is available to everyone on the planet.

On topic: I think students, from younger age, will have a much easier time if they know this option is available, and they don't have to worry about debt and stuff. It may help suicide rates. Instead all they hear is how bad things are (they are not!) and how hard it is to get educated (it is not)

Wow, genius. Why didn't someone fucking think of this before.

This is as useless as "have you tried not being depressed?". You aren't helping, and your goal isn't to help; your goal is to look superior to others because you feel yourself above their problems.

[d00mGuArD]

Is people being in debt for school a bad thing or not?

If it is a bad thing, what's the point in saying "well actually" when the problem is tuition fees, not people being able to game the system sufficiently well.

Yes it is a bad thing they end up in debt, but they don't have to. The option to not end up in debt is here: https://london.ac.uk/

The problem is not tuition fees when there is an option to get educated online for $100 per month* that I said earlier. (*part time 6 years)
The problem is people don't know it or don't bother to google it!
I am willing to bet, if universities were free and you had to attend a local university, you would spend more than $100 per month in transportation, snacks and stuff.
So this is online option is often cheaper than free education!

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Wow, genius. Why didn't someone fucking think of this before.

This is as useless as "have you tried not being depressed?". You aren't helping, and your goal isn't to help; your goal is to look superior to others because you feel yourself above their problems.

Of course I am helping, I am spreading information to people how to get dirt cheap education and not end up in debt. This knowledge may help them.
What did you do, except QQing and insulting the person that tries to help?