Understanding and Preventing Suicide .
Suicide today is an enormous problem that is affecting every level of our society today. Statistics have shown that suicide is the third leading cause of death among those ages fifteen to twenty-five years of age and is the sixth leading cause of death among those five to fourteen years of age. (Lewis 15) Thousands are choosing to die by their own hand each year in our country and it's a problem that is only growing. Many may think this is a problem that they have nothing to do with but the truth is that an estimated five-hundred thousand teenagers attempt to take their lives each year and that about five thousand succeed. These numbers range up there with those of cancer related deaths and homicides. (Lewis 17) In this paper I hope to address this issue and explain the reasons some commit suicide and what can be done to keep the number of suicides from rising any higher.
Many have debated on why people commit suicide and whether or not it is their choice to make in the first place. There are many different factors that may contribute to a person committing suicide. These may range anywhere from depression to genetics and many different viewpoints are offered on the subject as to why people do it. The psychological analyses offers a number of ideas on suicidal behavior. .
Sigmund Freud was one of the first people in our era to contribute greatly to the study of the human personality. He held ideas such as: the suicidal person may feel considerable anger toward another; this anger may be turned inwardly against one self, ultimately resulting in acts of self-destruction; and people entertain these death wishes on an unconscious level (Wilmington 1). Freud had also believed that suicide and depression are associated with one another. Depression is often a characteristic of the emotions of many of those who attempt suicide. A great amount of evidence goes to support the idea that people who tend to direct their anger toward themselves are suffering from some level of depression.