TW!!: Teen Self-Harm/Suicide Statistics
Okay, so I became a member to 7Cups in November, and in December after having such a positive experience, I decided I wanted to give back and signed up as a listener. I?m a teen listener. Don?t get me wrong, I love giving someone a helping hand, but it troubles me how many issues young people have to deal with, and how frequent I speak to a member or guest about self harm or suicide. It worries me how common it is. After doing some research I discovered that more young people die from suicide than cancer. Let that sink in. Cancer is a disease everyone is terrified of, makes changes in their lives to prevent, but more teens are taking their own life than this deadly disease. Clearly something is wrong if so many people want to die before they graduate. It?s estimated that 1 in 15 young adults with deliberately hurt themselves. 1 in 15 adolescents and children are hurting themselves rather than having fun, like you?re supposed to when you?re young. And not enough are getting the help and support they need, many feel too ashamed, due to the stigma against depression and other mental issues. Something really needs to change, we need to see less comedic use of suicide and self harm, and more education and resources for young people.
As an end note I?d like to say to anyone reading this struggling with the issues discussed here- seek help. Do not be ashamed. Reaching out is the first step to recovery. Someone cares, someone will support you reaching out to a therapist, or a doctor. Someone out there wants to see you live another day. Never give up.
The sad truth is that these dilemmas, as you said are very common, however, many parents still shy away from communicating with their children about feelings. So at times, I listen to members who are ashamed of what they feel. They turn to self harm to quietly make their feelings go away or to deal with them without having to ''disappoint'' their parents.