Milanes 1

Briguitte Milanes

Dr. Webb

ENC 1101

2 October 2020

Causes of Suicide

Lack of mental health awareness, not speaking up, and the inability to avoid overloading

the body with stress can cause anyone to suffer. As each person grows up with different

surroundings, societal expectations can crush them while they become adults. Culture, financial

status and age can all be factors for reasons a person commits suicide. Nowadays, there are

almost two self-inflicted deaths for every homicide committed (Brooks 1). People who avoid to

speak about their mental health issues increase the chances of them taking their lives. With social

media, people can pretend to have a wonderful and perfect life, but they may pay the price of not

opening the door to liberate the stress by "opening up." Faking happiness seems like something

that modern society has mastered; people show everything materialistic to paint a fake picture of

their "perfect life" as they want to portray an unreachable reality. Before committing suicide,

many humans give a heavy foreshadowing of their sad reality, but family and friends tend to

ignore the signs because they lack the proper education to catch them. For examples, we will

discuss suicide among the children of immigrants, elderly people, and military veterans.

Over the decades, the cultural expectations of becoming successful have increased but are

getting harder while getting even more expensive. Depending on the cultural background, the

parental pressure might become worse, as it is with Asian, Hispanic and Middle Eastern cultures.

These parents do not offer their offspring a choice as they believe they had a hard life; they

forget to acknowledge their children’s mental health because they want to see them succeed.

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They do not approve of bad grades or mediocre average grades, and they seek perfection even if

their children’s mental health suffers the consequences. One major cause of suicide in

adolescence is a feeling of rejection. The background of being an immigrant is hard, but because

of these parents assume that everything is easier for their children, they ignore the child’s

feelings. They want their name to be known as a successful family, so if children are average,

they do not accept that. “In the US, suicide was the top cause of death among Asian-Americans

and Pacific Islanders aged 15-24 in 2017. The combination of heavy pressure to succeed and a

conflicted cultural identity can increase the risk of depression” (Dongyao 1). Why do children of

this background commit suicide? Children tend to believe everything their parents tell them, so if

their parent is constantly diminishing them, their self-esteem decreases, and it creates a horrible

environment for them to develop correctly as they feel rejected and unloved. Rejection is often a

reason given by those contemplating suicide.

Depression is another cause of suicide; as it is known as the silent killer. It can affect

anyone for a variety of reasons: the stress, the lack of love, the feeling of loneliness. People want

to end things because they do not feel as if there is any other way out. The feeling of helplessness

prevails and is unavoidable while suffering this illness; the frustration of being unable to do

anything about their situation makes it even worse. “The elderly make up 12 percent of his

state’s population but account for almost 40 percent of the suicides” (Stern 1). Everyone ages,

and as young people suffer from depression for some reasons that have a significant level of

complexity, older people tend to suffer from it for the simplest of reasons. They lose their privacy

as they cannot care for themselves, they lose their assets, and they lose mostly everything they

have worked for since birth, and death is already closer than ever before. They try to take the

“easy way out” and have accessible fast ways of doing it, such as guns or medications. Nursing

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homes care for people who do not portray it publicly but show the silent killer’s signs regardless.

They refuse to eat or take medications and consequently die faster. It is still suicide, but is not

as well-known as the usual “bullet to the head” method. Depression is well known but still a

taboo topic in society.

Stress and anxiety deprive the human body of getting proper rest and increases the

chances of dying earlier because of health worsening or a self-inflicted death. People such as

service members or veterans tend to be affected more by stress and anxiety than civilians. PTSD

brought about by traumatic events has caused many veterans to take their lives, as it does not let

them live peacefully with horrible recurring memories. “Suicides among soldiers who had served

in Iraq and Afghanistan had increased to 121 in 2007, up 20% from 2006. The jump was

attributed to stresses from the long-lasting military operations in the two theaters, and inadequate

military mental-health resources” (“Soldiers’ Mental Health…” 1). Mental health resources are

limited in some countries; consequently, their army veterans do not receive the help they need

after such traumatic events. “According to a RAND Corp. Research Institute study released on

April 17, 2008, about 320,000 of the 1.64 million Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in the U.S. had

experienced a traumatic brain injury, and about 300,000 suffered from PTSD or depression”

(“Veterans’ Services…” 1).

Acknowledging all the possible different factors that might make somebody end their

life is hard, but mental health awareness should be spoken about frequently. The idiosyncrasy of

ignoring mental health prevents many lives from being saved. It needs to be taken as something

crucial to express with loved ones or publicly, if necessary. The debate of bringing the topic to

something commonly spoken about will continue, but efforts and changes need to be made in the

system as suicide takes more lives than homicides yearly as presented in the information. It will

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always affect everyone; it needs awareness. Will this topic continue to be a taboo? Will it

become something you can easily discuss with your loved ones?

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Works Cited

Brooks, Arthur C. “Suicide Is Not Someone Else's Problem.” ProQuest, 26 Jan. 2020, explore-

proquest-com.db16.linccweb.org/sirsissuesresearcher/document/2345956902?

accountid=45761.

Accessed 24 Sept. 2020.

Dongyao, Nie. “Why Are Young Asian-Americans Killing Themselves?” ProQuest, South China

Morning Post, 4 Mar. 2020, explore-proquest-

com.db16.linccweb.org/sirsissuesresearcher/document/2424552845?accountid=45761.

Accessed 24 Sept. 2020.

“Soldiers' Mental Health Follow-up: Mental Health Clearance Policy Revised; Increase in

Suicides Reported." Issues & Controversies, Infobase, 1 May

2008, icof.infobaselearning.com/recordurl.aspx?ID=10079. Accessed 24 Sept. 2020.

Stern, Caryl. “Why Depression Is a Silent Killer.” ProQuest, Parade, 28 Sept. 1997, explore-

proquest-com.db16.linccweb.org/sirsissuesresearcher/document/2267912087?

searchid=1600939671&accountid=45761. Accessed 24 Sept. 2020.

“Veterans' Services: Should veterans returning from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars be offered

more benefits and services?" Issues & Controversies, Infobase, 15 Aug. 2011,

icof.infobaselearning.com/recordurl.aspx?ID=2471. Accessed 24 Sept. 2020.

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