Spencer Jonas

Mrs. Townley

Composition

5 December, 2018

Suicide is on the Rise

Suicide is a touchy subject. It has become normal for people to experience someone close

to them commit suicide. Together, we need to break that stigma and end suicide altogether. The

rate of suicide is rapidly rising and we need to put a stop to it. Don’t let yourself or someone

close to you become another statistic.

Suicide is more has become more prevalent and the cases of suicide have spiked in the

last two decades. According to the NYTimes, “the number of suicides from 1999-2016 have

increased by 28%” (Friedman 2). Nearly two-thirds of all firearm deaths in the US are suicides,

from everytown.org. More schools around the nation have gone through the process of hiring

guidance counselors and psychiatrists in order to help students who may suffer with a mental

illness. This is a very important step because kids spend a majority of their time at school, so

having access to someone that can help them is vital.

Suicide can’t be prevented because there isn’t enough facts about mental health and the

main reasoning behind it to support it. According to everytownresearch, a study shows more

suicides take place in states that have lenient gun laws (everytown research 1). Also it’s not that

there isn’t a cure its that most people who have thought of taking their own lives refuse to seek

help. Many say that nothing can be done to prevent it because there aren’t any clear signs that
people show. Also people think mental illnesses are a joke because they can’t be diagnosed from

something visible therefore more work is required to cure them.

I believe more funding needs to be put into mental health studies. Also need to improve

quality of care for the people who are seeking help. The perspective of suicide needs to be

changed starting with schools. More and more young people are becoming okay with suicide

around them and getting used to it. In order to end suicide we need to start by getting rig of that

stigma.

Suicide is something that needs to be taken more seriously. In the ten years after Indiana

passed its Red Flag Law, the state’s firearm suicide rate decreased by 7.5 percent

(everytownresearch 3). Deaths by suicide were about a quarter lower in people who went to 6-10

therapy sessions according to Dr. Richard A Friedman of the NYTimes. Some studies indicate

that suicide risk peaks soon after patients have been discharged from a medical facility. I think it

starts with mandatory screenings in order to be released from these facilities.

Now, scientists think that they may have found one, an old anesthetic called ketamine

that, at low doses, can halt suicidal thoughts almost immediately. It is being tested for the effect

it has on suicidal patients. The drug has a positive outcome but some of the side effects make it

still up for debate on whether it should be legal to prescribe it to patients.

Using ketamine to treat depression and suicidality is somewhat controversial. Numerous

small studies suggest that it holds great promise, but it’s only now being tested in

placebo-controlled trials with hundreds of patients. It is also popular as a club drug in some

circles. Like morphine, it may operate on the opioid system, and it can induce feelings of

euphoria. Occasionally ketamine abusers develop severe symptoms, including brain damage,
persistent hallucinations and a painful inflammation of the bladder called cystitis

(Velasquez-manoff 3).

Three hundred and fifty million people suffer from depression each day, this number is

only going to continue to rise until we find a solution. You should consider supporting suicide

prevention because you don’t want someone close to you to become another statistic.
Works Cited

Carey, Benedict. “How Suicide Quietly Morphed Into a Public Health Crisis.” The New York

Times, The New York Times, 8 June 2018,

www.nytimes.com/2018/06/08/health/suicide-spade-bordain-cdc.html?module=inline​.

“Firearm Suicide in the United States.” EverytownResearch.org, 10 Sept. 2018,

everytownresearch.org/firearm-suicide/.

Rigo, Robert. “Let's Talk About Suicide.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 24 July

2017, ​www.nytimes.com/2017/07/24/opinion/chester-bennington-linkin-park-suicide.html​.

Velasquez-manoff, Moises. “Can We Stop Suicides?” The New York Times, The New York

Times, 30 Nov. 2018,

www.nytimes.com/2018/11/30/opinion/sunday/suicide-ketamine-depression.html?rref=collectio

n%2Fsectioncollection%2Fopinion&action=click&contentCollection=opinion®ion=rank&modu

le=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront​.