Teen Suicide and Depression: Speech

This country is phased with many problems. We all know that. Many of these problems are caused by and are affecting us, adults, the current generation. Problems such as pollution, global warming and the Economic and Financial crises.

And of course, the next generation are also facing these problems. Problems that we have caused. But they also have their own problems though.

A person’s teenage years have been referred to as the ‘Social years’ of one’s life. This is the time when they are the most ‘out there’. They meet new people, they get to know the world, and they also learn.

For many teenagers, this period of exams, sociability and learning can be extremely stressful. And 34% of teenagers globally suffer from some kind of depression throughout their teen years. 34%. That’s 1 in 3.

And I think there is a relationship between those two facts. And I’m right. Stress is one of the leading causes of depression. And stress is easily at its most abundant in people between 13 and 19.

These people are very young, and we are making them cope with more stress than most adults ever will or have had to deal with. And it’s taking its toll.

As I said, 1 in 3 teenagers will suffer from some sort of depression. Well here’s another fact; 100,000 teenagers also commit suicide each year. That’s one teen suicide every 40 seconds.

Bam! A child just killed himself. He might have had a loving family, friends, a good social life. He might have been about to get his school grades, they could have been outstanding!

But he could have been alone. He could be an orphan. Maybe he didn’t have any friends. Perhaps he thought; ‘There’s no one there for me. I need help, but I don’t have it. What’s the point of living?’

Either way, he was probably suffering from some sort of depression, and he hadn’t told anyone about it. He could have told his family, friends, a counselor. But he didn’t, and he ended his young life.

Well there’s the problem. People have lost hope. There is someone for everyone. In every realm of life. As the population grows, the amount of compassionate people grows. They’ll be more people identifying problems and attempting to solve them.

And of course, people have already tried to counter suicide and depression. They’ve found their target group to help, teenagers, and they’ve set up counselors in every school that can accommodate one.

So we know that there are people suffering, and we know that there are people who can help, but do the people suffering know that there is help available to them? No. And if they do, they are so depressed and obsessed with their problems that they don’t seek the support they know they could easily have.

Bam! Another child just killed themself. Let’s have a girl this time. Because the rate of suicide in females is growing too. 16 girls commit suicide a day.

And all these children need help. They need you! They need me! They need us! Together we can help them, together we can fight! We can fight for their problems, we can do our bit to fight for the next generation!