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NAME Shaynisa Siriwongsilp

STUDENT ID 6161032
UNIT NO 4 DATE SUBMITTED 22 May 2019

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 Unit 4 Research Report

Psychology and Human behaviour

How depressive disorder could lead to suicide

Shaynisa Siriwongsilp (Boya)

1006
Teacher Mr Matt Allsopp
School Mahidol University International Demonstration School

1
Contents

Introduction 3

Methodology 3

Findings and Discussion 4

Conclusion 5

References 6

Appendices 7-8

2
Introduction

“Close to 800 000 people die due to suicide every year, which is one person every

40 seconds. Suicide is the second leading cause of death in 15-29-year-olds (WHO, 2018).”

Depression, at its worse, can lead to suicide although surprisingly it is an illness that is

treatable. Affected persons may not display symptoms at early stage because they

themselves or people around them may assume their odds as just mood swing. And that

is why I think it is dangerous and that I would like to research on this topic.

Methodology

In order to be able to understand how these people are affected and what caused

it, I constructed an assessment that would help me find out if the affected persons have

ever had depressed feelings and have these feelings aggravated to suicidal level (appendix

A). I also wanted to find out if they knew what causes those feelings and have they reached

out for a remedy, as I had once experienced and reached out for professional counselling.

The result I had received was far better than I had thought and it helped me revived much

more quickly hadn’t I gone for help. So, I decided to opt for social media, such as line

groups, to collect the data. In this way, my questionnaire will be easily accessible and

quickly distributed. I will also be able to directly reach my target audience, which is

teenagers at the age of 14-19. I would use Google form to make and send out the survey.

When the recipients fill in the questionnaire and submit the survey, the result will go into

the response box and automatically calculate the data in tabulated percentage. The

response from the recipients will reflect some percentage of whether there is a risk of

depression in the population I collected. The infographic generated by Google will classify

statistics according to different categories as responded by the recipient. We will then be

able to use these statistics to analyse the severity of the majority of people of this group.

3
Findings and discussion

In this section, I will examine the results and explain the outcome of my survey.

As I had outlined in the previous section, my topic was about how depression could lead

teens to commit suicide. I was surprised how quickly my questionnaire was responded and

as many as 73 people took part in the survey through social media. Interestingly, result

from the survey (appendix B) showed that up to 30% of the participants responded ‘yes’

that they had a thought of committing suicide. It is said that “women are about twice as

likely as are men to develop depression during their lifetime” (Kuehner, 2016). So, I

recalculated the numbers of ‘yes’ and ‘maybe’ from male and female participants and

discovered that women are three times more prone to commit suicide than men. This

means that my survey showed a bit higher number than said in the statement. The good

news is about 46% of the population has never thought of committing suicide. When

medically categorizing the illness, depressive disorders can be mild, moderate, or severe

(WHO, 2018). My column graphs (appendix C) gave me a relieving sensation that the

participants in the survey did not display concerning symptoms of depression. In fact,

thoughts of ‘hurting thyself’, rated ‘never’ is as high as 43 people. Nevertheless, there are

3 out of all of the participants suffering in severe stage (appendix D). That is equivalent

to 4 percent, which is comparable to 5-8 percent of American teens depression rate.

(American foundation of suicide, 2017). According to appendix E, most of those people

who responded yes or maybe in having the thought of committing a suicide felt that their

problems stem from family, peers, school work, and themselves. Ironically, they also

consulted their problems with their peers the most as shown in appendix F, followed by

family and no one. In summary, I was satisfied with my survey. The statistics that I have

computed is relatable to other sources that I had previously read. This proves my

understanding on the topic.

4
Conclusion

I have to admit, teens are quite an awkward age to be in. They face a lot of new

challenges all at the same time, whether they be biological change, pressure from peers,

or own emotions. So, it is really inseparable between mood swings and probable illness.

Knowing that mood swings - if left prolonged - could lead to depressive disorder, it is

important to observe oneself as well as to look out for one another. Additional opinions

from the survey by the responders analysed that perhaps the affected persons were

suffering something beyond our understanding and suggested that they should reach out

for help.

5
References

World Health Organization (2018, March 22). Depression. Retrieved from

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

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (2017). Suicide claims more lives than war,
murder, and natural disasters combined. Retrieved from
https://www.theovernight.org/?fuseaction=cms.page&id=1034

https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lanpsy/PIIS2215-0366(16)30263-2.pdf

Prof Christine Kuehner, PhD (2016, November 14). Why is depression more common
among women than among men. Retrieved from
https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lanpsy/PIIS2215-0366(16)30263-2.pdf

6
Appendices

Appendix A – The survey I constructed

Appendix B – Thought of Committing Suicide

Appendix C – Depressed Feelings

7
Appendix D – People Who Are in Severe Stage

Appendix E – the Causes of The Problems

Appendix F – Consulting the Problems