Childhood Suicide
What is "suicide" in teens and adolescents?
There are three different aspects to the issue of suicide. There is the suicidal ideation, the suicidal gesturing, and the actual execution of suicide. The suicidal ideation is the thinking about it, not actually knowing how you would do it or how you would have to anything you need to do it. The suicidal gesturing is having the ideation and the actual ability to do it, and then not being able to complete it, either because of unsuccessful cutting or hanging, not having taken enough pills, inability to moving on to completion. The actual successful execution of suicide is when the teen or adolescent succeeds in their intentions.
What factors make a child at high risk for suicide?
Factors that contribute to increase suicidal ideation and completion will be family discord. Other medical issues that may impacted child such as a chronic illness, trauma, really the key issue is you will not necessary see suicide in any of the population that doesn't really have a significant amount of issues going on for themselves. Usually from my aspect of it, I've seen in a lot of children who have a lot of trauma whether it's from within a home or of because of issues going on with parents or family and then let them to suicidal ideation at very least.
Is suicide common in children?
Suicide is the third leading cause of death in that age range. Children get to the point of suicide often before parents are very much aware of what's going on. So, parents should really be aware of what their children are doing, who their peers are, how they're doing in school, how they're sleeping, how they're eating, really knowing that your child is in balance.
What do I do if I think my child is suicidal?
Warning signs that your child may be suicidal are significant decompensations in areas such as sleep and eating, academics, peer relationships, but your child will not typically go from okay one day to suicidal the next. You'll see that slow progression, where a child is having issues, and you may have already made the stop in between to get an evaluation for an anxiety disorder, or depression. You may get to that point and then not know how you got there, but you've got to look back and see the pattern that was possibly evident, and then you can go back and build your treatment plan knowing that knowledge and moving forward.
