Depression

Remarkably, more than 90 per cent of people who succeed at suicide have been diagnosed with depression or some other mental disorder. Like suicide, depression is complicated and caused by many factors. One important contributing factor is childhood and adolescent abuse in a “toxic socialization” process.Socialization is the process where we are trained by parents, teachers, priests and others to be citizens of our societies. Toxic socialization is when this process is characterized by neglect or ongoing physical and emotional abuse. The violence of a toxic socialization process is typically justified as beneficial in some way to the process. “Spare the rod and spoil the child” is the prototypical justification.Agents of socialization hit, scream, intimidate, threaten, shame and exclude because they feel that violence such as spanking turns out a better adult product.But it doesn’t, at all. Toxic socialization including emotional abuse and the childhood trauma that is associated with it contributes to negative behaviours.Children who are exposed to maltreatment, violence in the community or marital violence in families struggle with many form of mental disability including anxiety, alcohol dependence, eating disorders, personality disorders and
depression.Why does the violence of a toxic socialization process contribute to depression and suicide? It’s certainly linked to the neurobiological and endocrine damage that results from chronic exposure to the stress of violent environments, especially during the critical early years of childhood and adolescence.

 

Bully
Moreover, HealthDay News -A new analysis of research from around the world suggests that kids involved in bullying are at higher risk of suicidal thoughts and actions.Kids who bullied others and were victims themselves were the most troubled of all, the report found. Researchers already know that there's a connection between bullying being a victim, a bully, or both at different times and suicidal thoughts, said Robert Faris, PhD, an associate professor of sociology at the University of California, Davis, who studies bullying. It's also clear that the link is stronger for the victims of bullying. However, we also know that bullying alone does not directly cause suicide and it's not clear how we get from being bullied to suicide. Involvement in bullying, as a victim or perpetrator, is not by random assignment, so it's possible that the factors that lead kids to bully or be victimized also lead them to consider suicide. In the new report, researchers analyzed 47 studies of bullying from around the world. They found that victims, bullies, and those youth who both bully others and are bullied all report significantly more suicidal thoughts and behaviors than youth who are uninvolved in bullying. In the new analysis, these "bully victims" had four times the odds of suicidal thoughts and behaviors, compared to those who weren't exposed to bullying. Victims (only) of bullying had odds for suicidal thoughts and behaviors that were more than twice that of people not bullied, and rates were similar for people who were bully perpetrators only. They are emotionally and psychologically maladjusted, and these are risks for suicidal thoughts. But on top of that, bullying also has the potential to cause a lot of distress for bullies, either because their bullying has backfired, or because it is distressing to be feared, avoided or hated.

 
LGBT issues

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender young people, and young people who don’t identify with or ‘fit in’ to a traditional gender, are more at risk of acting on suicidal thoughts than others. It’s important to understand that it is not young people’s sexuality or gender identity that leads to suicide; it is experiences of discrimination, prejudice, isolation and family rejection because of their sexuality that increase the risk of suicide. LGBT young people who reported high levels of family rejection during adolescence were 8.4 times more likely to have attempted suicide. As well as this, research has shown that 81 percent of gender diverse young people in Australia who had experienced abuse and/or discrimination due to not identifying with a specific gender had thought about suicide and 37 per cent had attempted suicide. Family acceptance has been shown to protect against depression, suicidal behaviour, and alcohol and substance abuse, and to promote self-esteem, social support, and overall health.Homophobia is a common theme uniting all the stories behind LGBT suicides. Most of the men in a study spoke of experiences of violence, bullying and family rejection because of their sexuality. Others learned to internalize society’s negative view of gay and bisexual people.Because of homophobia, men described feeling isolated, lonely and invisible. These feelings often led to depression, sentiments of helplessness and thoughts of suicide. Homophobia is not the only reason these men contemplated suicide. It was often coupled with mental illness, financial problems or losing a job. For some, it was an abusive relationship, or the end of a relationship, that contributed to their thoughts of suicide.

 https://theconversation.com/why-do-so-many-gay-and-bisexual-men-die-from-suicide-78587

http://teenmentalhealth.org/learn/suicide/

Changes in baseline behaviour:
If you notice behavioural changes that aren’t a one-time issue, we must take caution. While suicidal behaviour is often associated with symptoms of depression, you might also notice the following changes if a teenage is suicidal such as changes in sleeping habits (too much, too little, insomnia, or night wakings), changes in eating habits (overeating or eating too little), withdrawing from family and friends (social isolation) and psychosomatic symptoms like headaches, stomachaches, or other aches and pains that can’t be explained.

Preoccupation with death:
It’s natural for teenagers to think about death at times, particularly when they are coping with loss or hear about tragic events in the news. Preoccupation with death, researching ways to die, and/or talking about their own death can be red flags. Watch for the following warning signs that involve thoughts about death such as frequent questions about looking up ways to die and statements about dying or what will happen if he/she dies (ex: “You won’t miss me when I die, I wish I was dead, I won’t bother you anymore when I’m gone.”).

Feelings of hopelessness:
Teenagers who have suicidal thoughts might communicate feelings of hopelessness for the future. They might also make statements about helplessness. These kinds of statements indicate that the child feels as if there is nothing to be done to improve their outcome, and no one who can help.

Source: https://www.psycom.net/teen-suicide-risk-factors

Although you are in a lot of pain right now, you can distance yourself from thoughts and actions. Make a promise to yourself: " I'll wait 24 hours and during that time I won't do anything catastrophic" . Thoughts and actions are two things–your suicidal thoughts must not become a reality. There is no deadline, nobody prompts you to act immediately on these thoughts. Wait. Wait, and distance your suicidal thoughts from your suicidal actions. Remember to avoid drugs and alcohol. Suicidal thoughts can become even more powerful if you drug or alcohol. It is important not to use drugs or alcohol if you feel hopeless or think of suicide. Besides making your thought safe,  you also must make your home safe by remove such things as pills, knives, razors or firearms that you could use to hurt yourself. If you can't, go to a place where you can feel comfortable. If you are thinking about taking an overdose, give your medicines to someone who can give them back to you one day at a time.
 

 Distract Yourself

 If you think about harming yourself, find self - harm coping techniques that work for you, such as holding an ice cube in your hand until it melts and focusing on how cold it feels, throwing something into hundreds of pieces or taking a very cold bath or shower. Next, breathe steadily. Take long deep breaths and breathe longer than you breathe can help you feel more peaceful. Besides, take care of your needs. Do not take drugs or drink alcohol, because it can make you feel worse. If you can, drink a glass of water and eat something if you are hungry, sit comfortably somewhere and write down how you actually feel. Get outside if you feel tumultuous, the rain, the sun or the wind can help you feel more connected to your body. You also can reach out for help by , contact a phone support service  13 11 14  000  if you can't talk to someone you know
 

 Work out a deal that you won't act today. Take time to find your living reasons. You may feel that the world is better without you or that it makes no sense to live, but this is just not the case. You actually can jot down what you look forward to, whether you eat your favorite treat, watch a loved one or catch up on the next TV series episode. Most importantly, just think of the significant people to you. No matter how bad you feel, it is important to remember that these people cherish you. Only then, you can start by saying you will get through this. We can sometimes focus on the negative things we say to ourselves and lose hope. If you repeat that you can overcome these feelings, you can regain optimism and concentrate on achieving it.
 
 source:
 https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/suicidal-feelings/helping-yourself-now/#.XBckplwzY2x

 

What is protective factor? A protective factor can be defined as a characteristic at the biological, psychological, family, or community including peers and culture level that is associated with a lower likelihood of problem outcomes or that reduces the negative impact of a risk factor on problem outcomes. Protective factor is believed to help in positive physical development, increase the self esteem, coping skills and solving problems. One of the example of protective factor is in the communities,which include the after-school activities. A lot of activities can be done after school hour to develop students to become a more independant and skillful individual such as self-defense arts, piano class and varieties of sports.

 

Mood elevating medication such as antidepressants will help the teen to cope with depression. A lot of antidepressant drugs available are effective to treat depression. For an efficient result, antidepressants need to be taken consistently at the prescribed dose. Overdose can be a risk for teens with depression,so the doctor may prescribe only small supplies of pills at a time.For example, Bupropion which is one of the example of antidepressant can cause hypertension and seizures in some patients at higher doses. Antidepressants reduce the number of teen suicide in the long run by improving their mood.

 

Psychotherapy is another way to get help if teenager are having depression. This treatment is also called talk therapy, because they will talk with a trained mental health professional. There are a few types of psychotherapy, but for all the method, they have the same goal which is to understand the causes of depression, help teen feel more in control, and teach them ways to handle how the condition makes them feel. The purpose here is to track their mood and practice new ways to react to people and things that happen. One example of therapy is the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy which is a talking therapy that can help people to manage problem by changing the way they think and behave.

Source : https://journals.lww.com/journalofchristiannursing/Fulltext/2016/04000/Teen_Depression_and_Suicide__A_Silent_Crisis.9.aspx