Teens Suicide

“You may wonder why your teen sometimes
feels there’s no way out!

During teen years, when teenagers are hurtling through intense physical and emotional changes, mood swings are typical. More often parents feel frustrated when their teens go through drastic mood swings.

According to one study, teenagers reported that when they tried to tell their parents about their feelings of unhappiness, their parents denied or ignored their point of view. When teenagers experience a wide range of mood swings, they appear very sad and depressed. This might be worrisome for parents. Feelings of unhappiness can sometimes lead to a feeling of “I’d just rather not be here.” Then, teenagers sometimes begin to entertain the idea of committing suicide. Most of the time, these are just thoughts but they do need to be heard and taken seriously. Ninety percent of suicidal teenagers believe that their families did not understand them. Boys commit suicide more often than girls, but no one is immune. In one recent survey of high school students, about 6% had thought about killing themselves and about 9% said they had tried at least once.

March 2005
 

Suzan Aldimassi, MS., MFT       Suzan@parenting-teenagers.com

949.235.7606