MWM I agree that suicide is nothing new. What is new is the rise in suicides among younger people, such as teens and 20-something's.
What used to be called teasing is now referred to as bullying...our society has become so politically correct, if you will, to a fault. Helicopter parents never give their children an opportunity to grow what used to be called a thick skin.
I agree that some level of mental illness must be present to take ones life, even fluctuating periods of low level depression, but I do feel that societal norms have change and is also a contributing factor.
Hound Dog, I love ya and often agree with you, but I don't this time. Mentally healthy people don't kill themselves. I'll back off of this one.
Now onto this one. I was bullied badlly. It is a trauma and it IS bullying. We just let it go at one time. When kids in groups of ten corner you, beat you, call you names, and belittle your very existence and nobody helps...how does that help the child? I have never trusted people much because of that and, worse, never liked people much because of it. It's not something you ever forget. If you are prone to depression this is a very big reason for suicide. Many things are, if you aren't mentally healthy, such as families disowning their own kids for reasons they can't help, such as being gay or not going to college.
Suzir, anyone in the US can go to college. There are many ways to get to college. I don't think you are reading our country right. I don't know where you are from, so I don't know your perspective, but our movies and television shows are not correct depictions of our country. They are somebody's imagination laced with drama to catch the viewer.
Back to everyone, when I went to school we WERE on our own. And there was no ADHD. And no learning disabilities. And no excuses if you couldn't learn. You were "dumb" and teachers could call you dumb and they did. I had a teacher pull me to the front of the class and throw me into the blackboard while making fun of me as the class roared with laughter. Then she tossed my desk over because it was messy and made an example of me again. You think that is better? Explain how. Of course, the kids just hated me more after that and they copied the teacher. I could not stop the bullying (yes, bullying) until I escaped to high school where other towns joined my town and I could find new friends. By then however my self esteem, especially with peers, was basically "bad attitude."
I also have one child who is 34 and one who is 28. That is the generation behind mine. There most certainly were teenage suicides then because a few happened in both of my kid's classes, devestating my children. One girl seemed to have it all, but after her death her poor mother told us all that she had severe mood swings. She hung herself. The other kids I don't remember...I think drug use was involved.
Taking one's life is the opposite of what healthy people do...fight to survive. I still say that to take one's life, the person has to be unstable or pushed to instability by so much outside pressure that one feels it is better not to exist than to go on the way things are.
I will bow out of the discussion now and hope there are no hard feelings, but...as long as I've been alive the older generations have been berating the younger generations as being "weaker" "not as good" "low in values" etc. And our grandchildren will criticize us too. In the end, mentally healthy people are resilient. Mentally unstable people need help or they may kill themselves. And I agree with intervening in bullying. It is a horrible thing to be on the receiving end of it. Nobody can fight ten kids at one time. It doesn't build your character.
Ok, I'm done with the topic
Peace!