Comment on Suicide

Suicide in recent years has increased by 300% in adolescent males aged 15 to 19 years old. Male adolescents were 6 times more likely to commit suicide then a female (Adolescence, C. O.,2000). Suicide between the ages of 15 to 19 is the third leading cause of death for adolescents (Edelman, C., Kudzma, E., Mandle, C., 2010). Adolescent suicide is preventable as problematic adolescents tend to give clues that can be verbal and nonverbal. It is important for people around the adolescent to recognize important warning signs.

There are many factors that contribute to suicide such as family history of mental illness, substance abuse, history of child abuse, and any type of abuse the adolescent has faced are leading factors of suicide. Depression leading from social problems, family problems, or environmental issues can also lead to suicide. There are three levels of suicide prevention first being the primary prevention which is reducing the risk factors and promoting the factors to end suicide by educating and giving the awareness of suicide. The second prevention is secondary prevention where a person has tendency of suicide and has been assessed as suicidal. It is then that the person is offered crisis counseling to help address any underlying problems and gets screening for suicide. The third prevention is the tertiary prevention where long term services and program are used to help the suicidal person because of the consequences of attempted suicide (Georgia Institute of Technology, 2018).

For a nurse it is hard to assess if an adolescent child is suicidal or not. There are warning signs & symptoms that a nurse can look for to make an assessment. Behavioral changes such as substance use and abuse, writing notes or letters, poems and essays with suicidal material written in them, the adolescent becomes more of a risk taker, and increased physical violence to themselves or others.(Edelman, C., Kudzma, E., Mandle, C., 2010).  Other symptoms include mood change like increased anger, sleep problems, hearing voices or talking to people not there, taking interest in death related things, and an expression of hopelessness (Edelman, C., Kudzma, E., Mandle, C., 2010).  Other symptoms that are physically noticeable are posture, body movements, unusual dressing, and grooming and hygiene (Jarvis, C., 2012).

New Jersey state has a peer support & suicide prevention hotline where people can call 1-855-NJ-HOPELINE 24 hours a day to talk to someone confidentially. They can help provide support to people who just needs someone to talk to when life becomes stressful. The NJ hopeline can provide further counseling, support and referrals to local resources in your difficult times. Another resource the state offers is nj211 which also can help not only for suicide, financial assistance, food, utilities, and housing. The local community resource that that helps suicidal people is the National Alliance on Mental Illness organization. The organization offers help to all ages providing them the programs to go to receive education and peer to peer learning.  The National Alliance on Mental Illness offers professional help and support by providing trained professionals. The organization can be reached at http://www.naminj.org/ or 732-940-0991.

As a nurse and health care provider it is important to provide their patients with prevention methods. It is important for a nurse to asses the mental health status of the patient and offer help. Help can be in the form of patient safety, or referral to a religious organization, peer to peer help, and educating the patient on understanding self-harm. The nurse will educate the patient on coping skills to help the patient handle the stressful situation they are going thru.

3 Simple steps to get your paper done
Step 1	Step 2	Step 3
Place Order	Down to work	Paper is Ready!
Takes just a few minutes!	Best writer takes the order	Access via your account