Nena Arias | April 23, 2018
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have reported an alarming increase in the number of teen suicides between 2006 and 2016.
Too many young people are in such deep despair that they are opting for suicide thinking it is the only way out. The latest data analysis available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have reported the suicide rate for white children and teens between 10 and 17 was up 70% between 2006 and 2016.
The following was reported on USA TODAY (according to information released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention):
“A study of pediatric hospitals released last May found admissions of patients ages 5 to 17 for suicidal thoughts and actions more than doubled from 2008 to 2015. The group at highest risk for suicide are white males between 14 and 21.”
The “experts” want to pin the blame for this increase on poor mental health services and the refusal of teens to admit they have a problem with this enough to seek help. Also blamed are what people call the “hard to solve” issues like opioid-addicted parents, the chaotic political environment that offers no real solutions to anything despite the record low unemployment rate, which puts the economy on an upswing. And then there’s the lame excuse that “they are teens.” As if teens in other generations did the same thing, to resort to suicide to solve their problems. Nice try but it doesn’t hold water!
What has left our young people so despondent and so empty of hope and real solutions to their problems to think that suicide is the answer? What has made teens think that suicide is the best option to solve all their problems? It is obvious that teens are feeling abandoned, alone and with broken hearts, which, for the most part, can only mean that the adult population around them, and society as a whole, has failed to prepare them properly for the pressures of life that require real solid answers for an iron clad foundation to face life, and especially the hereafter.
There are exceptions to the rule of what I am going to say next because ultimately a decision is made by the individual that opts for suicide, but for the most part, the teens that opt for suicide do so because they cannot find a lifeline to grab onto in their despair. They can find no life anchor to hold onto coupled with the culture that offers no stability, especially one like ours that is attempting to leave God out of the picture.
Parents mistakenly believe that providing the necessities of life, a decent opportunity for a good education, annual physical medical check-ups and trips to the dentist and a pat on the head once in a while, that their kids will do pretty good in life. Children are allowed to spend endless hours alone in their bedrooms with their electronic gadgets that exposes them to so much filth, chaos and comments from others who have too much time on their hands to only spew thoughts of idleness.
Parents interpret some of the mood swings in their children as part of being a kid or a teenager and that is that, they’ll get over it and move on like they did when they were kids. If the mood change persists in their son or daughter, parents might even take them to a counselor of some kind in their efforts to give their child the best care possible. They may even seek out hotlines that assist with problem teens. When all of the above fails, the teens problem is labeled as a mental health issue and then it is time for the “big leagues” to enter into the fray: modern psychiatry, whose treatment of choice is to prescribe drugs that sedate the patient down so far, that it may even bring on suicidal tendencies. The cure, in many cases, is worse than the “illness.” Yet, society says there needs to be more psychiatrists to meet the demand. Psychiatrists have been made out to be the gods of the modern world.
All of these efforts are commendable and certainly shows that the parents are doing all that society tells them are the things to do, but the most important part is still missing.
The human make-up is not just a mind, which we educate, and a body, which we feed, clothe and take care of, it is also a spirit, which is the most important part and too often it gets left out. It is the real identity of a person that will go on living forever. It is the part of a human being that cries out to know its true identity and purpose for life and what lies out there after this earthly life. The Bible teaches about an afterlife, but we must enter it properly. So, what seems to be the “solution” for many people who commit suicide, it’s only the beginning of their problems. We must talk about this just the way it is from God’s perspective, not mine. Hebrews 9:27 says, “…it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.”
Our young people should not be dying before their time, least of all through suicide because in Christ there is always hope and answers to the challenges of life. Our time of passing into eternity is appointed by God. Our bodies are not our own, they are God’s temple where he wants to abide in his fullness, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
The lifeline for all of us is only found through the Lord Jesus Christ and he offers everything of value to us. Especially how to cope with the issues of life as the advice says in this proverb:
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6