Gumleaf
September 29th, 2008, 06:45 AM
last week before our school finished for spring holidays, i had to write a 500 word essay about a social issue affecting teenagers in todays world. so this is what i wrote.
Suicide, why?
Sometimes in life people come to a point where they are convinced that there is no hope, no point and no light at the end of the tunnel of their lives. Often these feeling and emotions felt by a person when they feel like this results in them ending their life. When a suicide happens, especially if its someone you know, it can be hard to take, and questions like Why? Could I have done something? How could they have done this to their friends and family? are asked. Those are very valid questions, but the answers aren’t so easy to establish.
The first thing you have to do to answer these questions is to figure out why people get themselves into a state where suicide is their only logical answer to their problems. It’s very unlikely that a person wakes up one morning and out of the blue decides they will suicide. Usually a suicidal person has multiple issues that has got them to that place. A major cause of suicidal thoughts and feelings is through depression. A type of depression that is so deep that the person cannot possibly see any way out and that a solution that a non-depressed person would see as useful, would be discounted because as far as they are concerned, nothing will help.
One may wonder how depression can lead someone to suicide? But when you think about it, the answer isn’t all that difficult. Depression eats you up. It slowly makes you focus more on the negative parts of your life and less on the positive side. If the depression continues to grow, the person will be so focused on the negative things, that when something positive happens, it is pushed aside and somehow becomes a negative in the mind. The sadness that comes with the depression can cause pain that becomes so brutal that the person will finally reach a point where they can’t see the point of life anymore because each day will be as dark as yesterday and they see themselves as beyond being able to be helped.
The trap that people fall into when they reach this stage is that they see the idea of suicide as a solution to their problems. But suicide is not a solution, it’s a way to end things before a solution can be found. Once a person takes their own life, that’s it, there is no turning back. Although the person might think they are doing themselves and the world a favour by ending it, what they are really doing is just moving the pain and depression onto their loved ones like their family and friends.
Despite what the person may think, a person who is depressed to the extent that they are having serious suicidal thoughts, they need to receive help, whether it be through a therapist or doctor. This help is vital and could lead to the person not only stop having the suicidal thoughts, but also help them to dig themselves out of the hole they are in.
The main thing is that suicide is never the answer and will help nobody, especially the person taking their own life. Although helping and supporting people going through this is very important, what is even more important is that we can learn to understand why people feel like this and urge them to seek professional help. In the end, suicide solves nothing, and only creates more pain and depression.
Suicide, why?
Sometimes in life people come to a point where they are convinced that there is no hope, no point and no light at the end of the tunnel of their lives. Often these feeling and emotions felt by a person when they feel like this results in them ending their life. When a suicide happens, especially if its someone you know, it can be hard to take, and questions like Why? Could I have done something? How could they have done this to their friends and family? are asked. Those are very valid questions, but the answers aren’t so easy to establish.
The first thing you have to do to answer these questions is to figure out why people get themselves into a state where suicide is their only logical answer to their problems. It’s very unlikely that a person wakes up one morning and out of the blue decides they will suicide. Usually a suicidal person has multiple issues that has got them to that place. A major cause of suicidal thoughts and feelings is through depression. A type of depression that is so deep that the person cannot possibly see any way out and that a solution that a non-depressed person would see as useful, would be discounted because as far as they are concerned, nothing will help.
One may wonder how depression can lead someone to suicide? But when you think about it, the answer isn’t all that difficult. Depression eats you up. It slowly makes you focus more on the negative parts of your life and less on the positive side. If the depression continues to grow, the person will be so focused on the negative things, that when something positive happens, it is pushed aside and somehow becomes a negative in the mind. The sadness that comes with the depression can cause pain that becomes so brutal that the person will finally reach a point where they can’t see the point of life anymore because each day will be as dark as yesterday and they see themselves as beyond being able to be helped.
The trap that people fall into when they reach this stage is that they see the idea of suicide as a solution to their problems. But suicide is not a solution, it’s a way to end things before a solution can be found. Once a person takes their own life, that’s it, there is no turning back. Although the person might think they are doing themselves and the world a favour by ending it, what they are really doing is just moving the pain and depression onto their loved ones like their family and friends.
Despite what the person may think, a person who is depressed to the extent that they are having serious suicidal thoughts, they need to receive help, whether it be through a therapist or doctor. This help is vital and could lead to the person not only stop having the suicidal thoughts, but also help them to dig themselves out of the hole they are in.
The main thing is that suicide is never the answer and will help nobody, especially the person taking their own life. Although helping and supporting people going through this is very important, what is even more important is that we can learn to understand why people feel like this and urge them to seek professional help. In the end, suicide solves nothing, and only creates more pain and depression.