ISSUES DISCUSSION(NARRATIVE ESSAY)

ISSUES DISCUSSION

TOPIC: SUICIDE AMONG YOUTH

                

1. IDENTIFY THE MAIN PROBLEM

 

Suicide, the intention taking of one’s own life or according to other definitions, it is defined as a fatal self-injurious act with some evidence of intent to die (Turecki & Brent, 2016). Committed suicide among youth is rising over the year. the suicide rate for youth rose for 57.4% from 2007 to 2018 according to the report from U.S. Department of Health and Human Science in September 2020. The research shown that aside from accidents, committed suicide is the second largest cause of death among youth.

There are numerous reasons that contributed to the youth’s suicidal, but to list out the largest impact among the causes, the major reason would be the existence of social media. It is inevitable to put the blame on social media. Despite social media as a trending technology for the world and brings a lot of benefits and advantages especially in education and content sharing and providing a platform for youth to interact between each other, yet it exposes youth to cyberbullying and causing mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety and so on.

The suicide rates are increasing proportional to the social media uses. Youths bonded their life strongly with social media nowadays. Social platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube are the common ways for youngsters to access in this 21st century world to keep them in touch with their friends, accessing information and also exploring interest. However, the fact that cyberbullying has been rising over the years could not be ignored . The huge increase in internet accessing users has contributed to more and more people becoming the victim of cyberbullying especially among youth. The non-stopping criticism and sarcasm from the perpetrator has caused the victim to live an undesirable life. Under a long circumstances, it brings indelible consequences to them in term of mental and physical and the thought of committed suicide strikes up. It is really emotionally affected for being laughed at and harassed by others and yet could not fight back. In extreme cases, cyberbullying can lead to people ending their own life. According to the news on 28th May 2020, a girl named Thivyaanayagi Rajendran in Malaysia committed suicide at home due to the tension and peer pressure she had to face after a short Tiktok video filmed by herself being uploaded to the Facebook and comes hundreds and hundreds of offensive comments against her (orangkata.my, 2020).

Aside from corrupt practices of social media, there are several risk factors that contribute to youth suicidal. These factors could be categories into several including discouragement, rejection or breaking up and losing passion to study. Often, the undesirable changes in families such as divorce and death, give the children a feeling of losing the loved one and get really hurt in their heart. Moving on, teenagers who experienced rejection from friends or breaking up with their couples might push them over the edge as they feel like their world constructed by love is now shattered. In relation to study, it is normal for teens to be facing obstacles and challenges, sometimes they just need to take a rest, relieving their pressure and moving on as everyone did. However, it is not the case for youth with fragile hearts. They threat themselves as a burden of families for not meeting the expectation regarding to the results they obtained and germinated low self-esteem in their mind which lead to the thought of committed suicide might be the best solution to escape themselves from this setback.

Research shows that up to 90 percent of people who have died by suicide suffered from a mental illness.(World Psychiatry, 2002 Oct, 1(3): 181–185). A stressful life event suffered by people would possibly affect their health condition causing intense sadness or loss, hopelessness, anger, anxiety  and may have the thought that they would be ashamed to keep alive. Therefore, the crucial key to prevent or dispel the thought of committed suicide may be offering mental health related treatment or resources such as awareness campaigns and promote trust relationships to the patients. Any little attention from the others could be a huge support to the suiciders.

 

 2. SEARCHING AND GATHERING RELEVANT INFORMATION

From new report, Youth Suicide in Malaysia published by Relate Mental Health Malaysia in collaboration with the Institute of Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS), co-authored by Dr Chua Sook Ning and Vaisnavi Rao, in the report states with an approximate economic cost of RM 346.2 million in 2019, suicide is taking the lead cause of death among young people in Malaysia. The report also stated the COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on Malaysia's socio economic environment. Lockdowns, physical separation steps, economic breakdown, a boom in job losses, and improvements in education for children and young people have all exacerbated Malaysians' suffering, as shown by a spike in suicide cases since March 2020. The issue of adolescent suicide has also been addressed. IDEAS and Relate Malaysia encourage all relevant stakeholders to take practical steps to solve the public health crisis as soon as possible. Some of the report's main policy recommendations include a systematic needs assessment should be undertaken to determine the effectiveness and deficiencies in suicide prevention and recovery services.

 

Next, from article ”Suicide rate on the rise, particularly among youth”,Suicide is the second leading cause of death among 15 to 19-year-olds, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Suicide was also identified as one of the top ten causes of death by the WHO. Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said, According to the 2017 National Health and Morbidity Report, there is a growing trend in suicide among youths aged 13 to 17, with around 10% having suicidal thoughts in 2017 compared to 7.9% in 2012. Apart from health concerns, Dr. Noor Hisham emphasised that psychiatric illnesses, drug abuse, psychosocial problems in the family, life tragedies, relationship problems, and financial problems should all be taken into account. He also urged those who were having problems or were thinking of suicide to call the Befrienders 24-hour hotline at 05-547 7933 (Ipoh), 04-281 5161 (Penang), or 03-7956 8144. (Klang Valley).

            

Lastly, from New Straits Times articles stated, almost 500,000 Malaysians are depressed, with nearly 500 attempts on their lives according to the 2019 National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS 2019). Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye the Befrienders Kuala Lumpur patron NHMS 2019 said "Half of all mental disorders begin by the age of 14, and three-quarters by the mid-20s. Therefore, this needs to be addressed urgently”. Many people have experienced emotional distress as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and Movement Control Order (MCO), according to him, as a result of the shift in working environment, loss of income and employment, and concerns about their safety. As a result, Lee believes the government and the Ministry of Health should devote more resources to mental health care. Just RM344.82 million was allocated to mental healthcare in the 2020 Budget, which is slightly more than 1% of the overall healthcare budget, a percentage smaller than the international average of 2.8 percent. Aside from funding, Lee believes that efforts should be made to increase the number of mental health providers in the country, such as psychiatrists and clinical psychologists, so that those who need it have better access to cost-effective care.

 

3. INFORMATION NARRATIVE

 

The above information can be supported with, The Star newspaper which reported on May 26, 2019 with the title ‘Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people today’.  In this newspaper there is information that tells, the Rate of young adults with suicidal thoughts or outcomes (attempt or death) increased by a staggering 47% (from 2008 to 2017). This will harm the country if prolonged into the future. This is even more dangerous when many youth now think suicide is the solution to a problem. This is evidenced by this newspaper, When a 16-year-old girl in Kuching who was contemplating suicide put up an Instagram poll asking that question last week, almost 70% of respondents voted for death. And, apparently, that triggered her choice to kill herself. Malaysia should look seriously at the problem of suicide among youth and take steps to prevent this problem from lingering.

 

           In addition, Malaysian Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman said the suicide rate and mental health problems were increasing. according to the star newspaper which was also released on April 4, 2021 by sandhya standout, Malaysia has seen an increase in suicide attempts and deaths during the first movement control order last year. According to police statistics, the resulting MCO due to the Covid-19 pandemic saw 266 cases between March 18 and Oct 30. Undeniably, we can see a lot of suicide cases since this covid-19 pandemic hit our country. This is because youths spend more time at home and surfing the internet and social media. This way of life is very unhealthy for teenagers because it can affect their mental and physical health. They are easily influenced by negative things. So what is our ministry doing? What are our cities, schools, communities doing? And what are we doing?

 

           Moreover, Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said for each suicide, it was estimated that about 20 family members and friends would be impacted emotionally, socially and economically. He said to New Straits Times, in Malaysia, the 2017 National Health and Morbidity Study found there was a rising trend in suicide among youths aged 13 to 17, and in 2017 about 10 per cent had suicidal thoughts compared with 7. 9 per cent in 2012. WHO also stated that suicide was among the 10 top causes of death globally.

4. DEEP AND CRITICAL ANALYSIS

 

Youth suicide is when a young person, generally categorized as someone below the legal age of the majority. Deliberately ends their own life, rates of attempted and completed youth suicide in the western countries are high. Suicide happens when a teen causes his or her death on purpose. Before trying to take their own life, a teen may have thoughts of wanting to die. This is called suicidal ideation, he or she may also have suicidal behaviour. That is when a teen is focused on doing things that cause his or her death. This happens when the victim has a mental or psychological problem. Moreover, the victim also does not want to see experts on mental issues such as counsellors and psychologists. Due to this, it can lead to bigger problems such as suicide. youths are also among the people who are difficult to help because they are experiencing major changes in their lives such as finding an identity to stand out among friends, changes in way of thinking, mental confusion to find life goals and many more. such people also often take mental health lightly because they assume suicide will go away if they forget about it.

         Secondly, excerpts from an online Berita Harian Online (Rahim & Alias, 2018) article state, The risk of suicide among school students is becoming more alarming when teenagers as young as 13 are confirmed to have a predisposition or plan to do so. The National Health Morbidity Survey (NHMS) 2017, Ministry of Health revealed, 11.2% of adolescents in the group had suicidal ideation, 9% planned to commit suicide and 10.1% committed suicide attempts. Adolescents’ suicidal behaviour according to study is closely linked to biological, socioeconomic, cultural and environmental factors, with poverty and academic failure factors being the main drivers. Psychological or psychiatric factors such as hopelessness, hallucinosis, substance abuse, and personality disorders also trigger suicidal behaviour. The percentage was obtained based on a study conducted on 30,496 samples consisting of high school students aged 13 to 17 years. They are students in 212 randomly selected secondary schools throughout Malaysia, including Sabah and Sarawak.

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Center (PPUKM) lecturer and Psychiatrist, Dr Hazli Zakaria, said the NHMS study also found that teenagers as young as 11 years old had begun to assess the effects of any action, whether done by themselves or others, especially the parents. As stated by Dr. Hazli Zakaria, Most youths failed to adapt themselves in their surrounding to build an identity. This happened due to the lack of support by the parents since they were a child, thus they feel lonely and hopeless. This reason makes these youths get influenced by their peers that has negative behaviour and turn them to be rebel or impulsive. It pushes these youths to act out of control without boundaries. (Rahim & Alias, 2018).

Thirdly, according to Mohanraj (2018), late last year, a 15-year-old student in Malaysia was found dead hanging from a ceiling fan after being expelled from school, and a K-pop singer took his own life due to depression. These cases are the examples of alarming suicide symptoms among youths in Malaysia and around the world. According to Befrienders KL (year) , a suicide prevention NGO, suicide tendencies among youths are on the rise. There was an increase in callers who admitted suicidal thoughts from 5,739 cases (2015) to 7,446 cases (2016). The 2015 National Health and Morbidity Survey also reported an increase in the prevalence of mental problems among adults in Malaysia from 10.7% (1996) to 29.2% (2015) as well as 12.1% prevalence of mental problems among children aged 5-15 years. Malaysia's National Suicide Record reports the suicide death rate in 2009 was 1.18 per 100,000 population. This number is much lower than the real one and compared to the global index. This is due to the low cause of death reports in hospital records, possibly due to the stigma and law in Malaysia. Suicide is a serious problem in Malaysia, especially among adolescents and youths. We must work together to address this issue.

        

    Next, before something bad happens it will surely have prior signs even the fever will surely have early signs that the body starts to cool down, lose appetite and finally a new fever, due to the temperature of the body rising sharply. This refers to the fact that every disease will have early signs before the occurrence of unforeseen things, for this title when the initial signs occur it will lead us to something more dangerous that is the occurrence of suicide. Among the causes of youth suicide is that they have difficulty expressing their feelings to the responsible party such as counsellors, this is important as it is the main threat for the youths to do a treatment for their mental problems. Among younger youths, suicide attempts are often impulsive. They may be connected with the feelings of sadness, nervousness, anger, difficulties with attention, and hyperactivity. Among teenagers, suicide attempts may be associated with feelings of pressure, self-doubt, stress to succeed, financial difficulties, frustration, and loss. For some teenagers, suicide may seem to be the solution to their hardships. Depression and emotional suicide are mental disorders that can be treated if they are voiced out. The youths need to have their illness noticed, diagnosed, and treated with a comprehensive treatment plan.

            

            

    Most people that commit suicide give warning symptoms or signs of their desire. The best way to avoid suicide is to identify the symptoms and hold them whenever they are trying to react recklessly if they are in said situation. If you believe that a friend or family member attempts suicide, you can play a role in suicide prevention by providing opportunities, showing that you care, and accompanying them to meet a doctor or psychologist. Important early signs for suicide include addressing death or murder and discovering ideas that could be used in suicide attempts, such as the usage of sharp equipments and drugs. Certain signs are more critical if the person has a mental disorder such as bipolar disorder, an alcohol addiction, records of attempted suicide, or a history of family members attempted suicide. Due to that, it is threatening and the hint of suicide warning is not hopeful. Research has found that frustration is an influential predictor of suicide. People who feel hopeless can talk about the notion of "useless", foretold fate and something gloomy that they have nothing to see outside of the future. Other warning signs that point to suicidal thoughts include mood swings or sudden personality shifts, such as changing from outgoing to isolation or from good behaviour to stubbornness. People who commit suicide may also lose weight in their daily activities, forget about their condition or show major changes in their eating habits or sleep.

Lastly, These signs that were taken from other research and observations, youths who attempted suicide portray warning signs about killing themselves. Any research about attempting suicide, death or hurting themselves such as “I wish I had never been born” and “I would be better off dead”. Furthermore, they would find ways by searching for pills, sharp objects or materials that could potentially hurt themselves. Other than that, an individual that tried doing those actions in the first place will write their stories in a diary or a piece of paper. These incidents that was shown by them are the signs of unpredictable thoughts that unexpectedly doubt people. By this means, I hope that the youths nowadays will encourage themselves to reach out to their trusted ones in order to stop suffering alone.

Each human being born on the surface of the earth had to be well, and some had to be sick. This demonstrates that we are all ordinary people, even though it does cause us to believe that we must find a solution to any problem we face. "He is the one who has destined death and life (you) to try and prove to you which of you is superior in your deeds," Allah SWT 2. Al-Mulk. Individuals and families may also aid in the prevention of adolescent suicide by not promoting loneliness, resolving trauma in adolescents and teens who are at risk of suicide, avoiding or eliminating things that adolescents or youth might use to commit suicide, and paying attention to what they feel or hear in their secret voices. The best way to provide mental health services and resources for suicide prevention is in the school setting. Since most students spend the majority of their time at school, a school can be both a sanctuary and a catalyst for suicide, and students' friends and atmosphere can affect their state of mind and thought, this can be accomplished. The school setting is perfect for teaching children about the risks of suicide, because if they do have a concern, the school will undoubtedly assist. 

Suicide victims are begging for assistance. These comments, opinions, actions, or intentions should always be taken seriously. Any youth who shows suicidal feelings should not be left alone and should be evaluated as soon as possible. Discuss suicide with your teen's primary care professional and make a written evacuation plan. Any adolescent who has attempted suicide should undergo a physical test ahead of time to rule out any life-threatening health issues. He needed to have a mental health evaluation and therapy before he was stable. This is common in inpatient hospitals to ensure the welfare of the children. Experts in the area of psychiatry are applying their specialized knowledge to the topic of suicide. Brain shifts and risk factors linked to suicidal ideation and behavior are being investigated by basic science. Applied scientists are looking for new ways to recognise people who are in danger. Clinical experts are putting innovative therapeutic interventions to the test, and front-line physicians are assisting with the delivery of such therapies to patients who are in need. Meanwhile, advocacy psychologists use the most recent findings to advise the public and advocate strategies that have been shown to decrease suicide rates. Some suicide psychologists often have expertise that can be applied to various areas of psychology.

As the saying goes, prevention is better than cure, therefore it is crucial to identify and recognize the warning sign of suicide of youth in which they might have a drastically changes to their actions, emotions, and the way that they communicate to the others. These included alcohol use, unusual appearance, withdrawal from family and activities, or always feeling tired and desperate to the current situation. Most of the changes are affected by the depression happening in their lives. If someone has shown the symptoms of those, the next step to do is giving concern to their feelings. Be a good listener, sometimes being able to share the feelings with others could relieve their depression. Friends and families are especially essential to listen to their problems. It is a life-saving factor to increase connectivity with a person before they eventually decide to suicide. A research shown that the risk of suicide is relatively higher when someone experienced isolation, which make them to have a low sense of belonging, and at the same time feel burdensomeness(a mental state characterized by apperception by “would be better off if I were gone”)  and acquired capability(cause by continuous painful experience and view death as a lower fear) (Thomas Joiner, 2005).  Respond to them before they took their problems into a dead end make it become a tipping point of a suicide thought.

            

6. LIST OF SOLUTION

           Key prevention strategies can be population-based such as mental health promotion, education, awareness by campaigns on mental resilience, careful media coverage, limited access to means of committing suicide as well as targeting high-risk subgroups like specific school-based programmes, educating gatekeepers in different domains, providing crisis hotlines and online help, detecting and coaching dysfunctional families. Other than that, we even must focus on individuals identified as suicidal like improving mental health treatment, follow-up after suicide attempts andstrategies for coping with stress and grief. Since there is no really an effective treatment towards suicide for now, prevention should be taken before worst happen. Parents are advised to give attention to their children from time to time. Take the responsibility as an adult as well as a parent and spend more time with them. Showing your love and concern to your child makes them feel motivated and supported. Do not ignore the children when they ask for assists which seems to be insignificant. Even though the problems are not serious enough to warrant suicidal thoughts, it might be what perceiving them to be.

7. CONCLUSION

 

Suicide among teenagers is a huge public mental health issue. Young people, particularly adolescents, are by definition a susceptible demographic when it comes to mental health issues. Suicide is generally uncommon in children, but it becomes more common as adolescence progresses. Although adolescent suicide rates are falling in the European region, it remains the largest cause of mortality among the young worldwide, resulting in a significant number of premature deaths as well as a great deal of unnecessary suffering and societal loss. Individual attempts to forecast and prevent suicide tend to fail since each suicide is the consequence of a complex dynamic and unique interplay between several contributing elements. On the other hand, our understanding of risk variables is rapidly expanding. Mental diseases, prior suicide attempts, specific personality characteristics, genetic loading, and familial dynamics, in combination with triggering psychosocial stressors, exposure to inspiring models, and the availability of means of suicide, are all important risk factors for teenage suicide. The only way forward is to provide coordinated and multi-sector (primary, secondary, and tertiary) preventative measures to reduce these risk factors and improve protective factors as much as feasible. 

Lastly, to increase successful attempts to address youth suicide in the future, further unraveling of the complex suicide process must be accompanied by sustained and substantial efforts in scientifically underpinning and re-evaluating ongoing and new prevention strategy plans, and this is largely a matter of policy priorities and commitment.

 

 

REFERENCE

1. (Turecki G & Brent D, Lancet,2016,MAR 19) Suicide and suicidal behaviours, 

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5319859/

2. (orangkata.my, 2020, May 28). Bully cyber. 

    https://orangkata.my/teknologi/ada-yang-suka-buli-orang-di-internet-sampai-ada-yang-bunuh-diri-kerana-buli-siber/

3. (World Psychiatry, 2002 Oct, 1(3): 181–185). Suicide and psychiatric diagnosis: a worldwide perspective. 

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1489848/

4. (MedicalNewsToday, September 3, 2020). What are suicidal thoughts?

Suicide ideation: Symptoms, causes, prevention, and resources (medicalnewstoday.com)

5. (World Health Organization, 2 September 2019).Suicide

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/suicide

6. (HelpGuide, November 2020). Suicide Prevention

https://www.helpguide.org/articles/suicide-prevention/suicide-prevention.htm  

7. (American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, No. 10; June 2018). Suicide in Children and Teens.  

Suicide in Children and Teens (aacap.org)

8. (Sinar Harian, 18 Oktober 2018). Fenomena Bunuh diri remaja

Fenomena bunuh diri remaja - Sihat Aktif - Sinar Harian 

9. (Johan Bilsen, 30 October 2018). Suicide and Youth: Risk Factors

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6218408/ 

10. (Azura Abas, 10 September 2019). Suicide rate on the rise, particularly among youth

Suicide rate on the rise, particularly among youth (nst.com.my)

11. (IDEAS,

24 February,2021).IDEAS and Relate Mental Health Malaysia: Urgent Action Needed to Stem Rise of Youth Suicide in Malaysia

IDEAS and Relate Mental Health Malaysia: Urgent Action Needed to Stem Rise of Youth Suicide in Malaysia | IDEAS

12. (Bernama,10 October 2020).Almost 500,000 Msians depressed; nearly 500 suicide

attempts this year

Almost 500,000 Msians depressed; nearly 500 suicide attempts this year (nst.com.my)