Suicide- Psychology Essay

Submitted By phish16
Words: 565
Pages: 3

Psych Paper 2
Suicide is a major, preventable public health issue, yet is the 11th leading cause of death in the United States. Suicide is where people do repulsive, violent things to themselves to die. These rates are increasing, mostly in the young. Studies show that males are more successful at committing suicide, but females attempt suicide more. Right now, China has the highest suicide rate. College students in the United States have the second leading cause of death by suicide in the last five years. Unfortunately, we have all watched the news with our young killing others and then killing themselves. As for family history, research suggest that someone has an increased chance of committing suicide if someone else they are related to has done this to themselves. Most of the people who commit suicide are depressed or have some kind of mental disorder.
Well we now face the question: If the person killed themselves, did they simply adopt a familiar solution that they have witnessed in their family or do they actually inherit the trait for their behavior? I agree with research and say it is a combination of both. A variety of evidence suggests more than 80% of people who kill themselves suffer from some sort of psychological disorder, usually mood, substance abuse, or impulse control disorders, and it also shows that a low level of serotonin may be associated with suicide and violent suicide attempts as well. In addition, a shameful event or being humiliated can also factor into suicide. How about sexual abuse? They all ultimately lead to stress!
Evidence shows that a natural disaster can cause our suicide rates to increase. Example: out of 337 countries, the rates of suicide increased 31% in 2 years after a hurricane, 13.8% in 4 years after a severe flood and 62.9% in the first year after an earthquake. A stressful event can often put a person over the edge. So let’s see if prevention and treatment mental health professionals are thoroughly trained in assessing for possible suicide ideation.
As far as predicting suicide, that is still an uncertain art even despite identification of important risk factors. Individuals with few precipitating factors unexpectedly kill themselves and many who live with seemingly insurmountable stress and illness and little to no social support somehow survive and overcome their difficulties. Some health professionals