Causes and Effects of Teenagers Suicide

CHANG YEE LENG (Lynette)

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Causes and effects essay

Causes and Effects of Teenagers Suicide

     I remember that day with much horror. One fine morning, my mother woke me up from bed. “Lynette, your dearest cousin sister committed suicide and passed away early this morning,” she says. “Get ready now, as we’re going down to the city to pay our last respect to her. ’’ I was totally bewildered.

     On the day of the funeral, everything was just depressing. The entire melancholic atmosphere directly affected me from all the black clothes to the tears from the immediate family. I couldn’t hold back my tears and I just let it all out. At that moment, I tried to put myself in their shoes. I imagined that I lost somebody so close to me in an unwanted death and it was overbearing. While my mom was consoling her sister, I walked to my cousin’s coffin, staring at her beautiful face, and I realized that I would never see her anymore in my life. She was 19 years old. Love dance, music and was absolutely brilliant. Reminiscing back to our pasts, we used to spend a lot of time together when we were kids. She danced ballet and played music for me to hear. She was so young but so graceful and talented. I really looked up to her as a cousin, a sister, a best friend and a role model. I even took up dance and music lessons because of her and now majoring in music in a university. As we grew up, everyone just kind of went his or her separate ways. Before I even have the opportunity to tell her; three days ago, she drank pesticides to end her life. No explanation, no warning.

     I just want to know why. What happened that was so bad? What could have made her leave her family behind? Somehow, I was still expecting a call telling me that she cheated death and she’s alive. Maybe if I knew the reasons, it wouldn’t hurt so much. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Until today, there hasn’t been an answer to this tragic incident. We hear of teenage suicides so frequently in the news as if it’s almost a trend and we’re so used to it that we barely flinch anymore. Being alive is not easy. We need to cope with problems, make decisions, deal and communicate with others, and sometimes undergo a lot of psychological pressure. As a result, teenagers today opt for suicide due to academic stress and romantic breakup.

     Teenagers are more vulnerable to academic stress have a high risk of attempting suicide. Families that keep pressuring their kids to score highest score possible academically might turn out fatal. In order to fulfill the requirements of an education system that focuses heavily on academic grading, teenagers face a lot of pressure to excel in all their examinations. Be it from their parents or from their peers. However, no matter how hard they have tried, sometimes getting an unsatisfying exam results do occur. While some would manage to get over their disappointment over exam results and moved on; sadly, there are some who decided to end their life. For instance, there are many Malaysian students who think that their SPM results as the key to their career. There is certainly a vast amount of pressure on them to do well in this exam. Many of them are disappointed when they could not fulfill their parents’ expectations. They would even be considered as a disgrace to the family.

      Some teenagers commit suicide when they fall into depression due to a romantic breakup. In this transition, teenagers naturally yearn for a lover and to seek for the special someone. Nevertheless, not every relationship is like Cinderella and her prince charming with a happy ending. Life is not a fairy-tail. For most of them, romantic break ups means the loss of someone who meant the whole universe to them; the love and intimacy, the daily activities and the special kind of friendship that the used opt share. The end of a relationship can feel as though life has ended as well for them. As cliché as it may sound, “love is a drug” can be likened to going through drug withdrawal. They experience physical pain, hopelessness, sleeplessness, anxiety and depression and thoughts of suicide. Ending life in their own hands would be the only escape for the feelings of rejection, hurt and loss.