Suicidal ideation in adolescents is quite common. It does not always lead to suicide, although it is often a prerequisite.
22,07% of adolescents (12,5% in females vs 8,57% in males) have presented suicidal ideation in the last year
LAdolescence is a developmental stage in which a predominance of psycho-affective and behavioral movement tending towards the search for autonomyThis is achieved through a transition process that lasts several years, not without emotional ups and downs and a feelings of grief, ambivalence, and confusion.
Suicidal ideation in adolescents
The need to be oneselfEven without knowing exactly who, it basically begins in puberty. A new world of possibilities and challenges is discovered, for which one is not yet prepared. sufficient emotional maturity. The adolescent is idealistic, prone to mythologizing, and keenly observant of the deficiencies and injustices that daily life exposes. Faced with these, they rebel, without anticipating that they can be the agent of the changes they desire, nor that their rebellion will translate into concrete results. It is constructed an ideal and absolutely dystopian world, which he finds himself unable to reach by transforming the real world.
For the adolescent, there are no nuances. Their thinking, governed primarily by emotions, works on cleavage: "All or nothing," "black or white, with no shades of gray." Hence, due to his emotional volatility, he is capable of swinging from omnipotence to utter powerlessness. These emotional highs and lows cause him to experience immense anguish and hopelessness in the face of even the slightest failures. That is why I see so often death as a solution, even though it is a vague, poorly developed feeling and, in itself, of low risk of suicide as such.
If we observe Figure 1, 22,07% of adolescents in the general population confess to having thought about suicide during the last year. The reasons are varied and, most of the time, inexplicable to an adult: a girl or boy who doesn't reciprocate their feelings, all sorts of frustrations with peers… However, there are situations of great suffering, such as bullying, abuse, loneliness, and depression, that pose a real risk and require professional intervention. In these more extreme cases, a good indicator of suicide risk is when the individual progresses from ideation to suicide planning.
Adolescent girls have a higher prevalence of suicidal ideation than adolescent boys, although men are three times more likely than women to commit suicide. Figures 1, and 3It is observed that suicide among adolescents has remained practically constant from 1980 to 2020. The highest rates are found in the age group of 40-50 years.
Figure 1. Suicidal ideation in adolescents (count, histogram)
Figure 3:
Figure 4. Suicide in Spain by age
Observations on the incidence and prevention of suicide in adolescents
When I see news reports that exaggerate the incidence of suicide among teenagers, I truly don't understand the intention. The same thing happens when suicidal thoughts and completed suicides are lumped together, as if one inevitably leads to the other. This way of presenting the problem to society is not only misleading, but it also triggers unfounded fears in parents.
Preventive measures against child and adolescent suicidePrograms developed at the community level are generally not useful; some researchers even consider them risky, as they could produce what is called "contagion effect".
En Figure 5 We present the number of requests for help related to suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in minors. The increase experienced in 2021 compared to previous years is not necessarily indicative of a real increase in this problem, but is also due to greater awareness of this foundation, as well as increased parental understanding of this support system. ANAR Foundation It presents a preventative approach that I consider quite effective: the information is aimed at vulnerable populations, as well as parents, schools, and other centers related to childhood and adolescence. I believe this is the approach that should be taken with any preventative implementation.
In summary:
- Teacher training programs in the detection of bullying, abuse, and in the emotional and behavioral changes of students.
- Information for parents that enables them to detect changes in their children's emotional state and, especially, in their behavior, since in this area psychological suffering is usually expressed more in behavioral changes than in emotional ones.
- Training of professionals who work with children and adolescents that enables them to detect early social (sociability/isolation), emotional and behavioral changes that reflect a break with their usual trajectory.
Figure 5. Requests for help to the NGO Anar helpline from 2009 to 2021
- Díaz Atienza Joaquín. Depressive symptoms, self-concept, and academic performance in a representative sample of adolescents. University of Granada (2003) [↩]
