Post date: Dec 16, 2016 3:54:52 PM
Suicide and Pop Culture
Beth Shirk-12 The loss of someone to suicide can bring about many different reactions from people and everyone grieves in a different way. Some seek the comfort of close friends or loved ones and some stay isolated in their sorrow. Some are quietly angry, while others use their anger as motivation to write an investigative article for their school newspaper.
To say that suicide is an epidemic may be overstating a bit, but there is no doubt that too many people commit suicide each year for the subject to be ignored.
“Suicide is the third leading cause of death among persons aged 10-14, the second among persons aged 15-34 years, the fourth among persons aged 35-44 years, the fifth among persons aged 45-54 years, the eighth among person 55-64 years, and the seventeenth among persons 65 years and older,” according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC).
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) estimates that there are about 117 suicides per day.
Rates of suicide among young people have increased tremendously over the course of the last ten years or so. Something else that changes over time (often at rapid rates) is culture. This possible correlation has posed the question, “has our recent culture influenced the increased rates of suicide in adolescents?”
We often link suicide to feelings of depression. Today’s culture seems to have multiple outlets for expressing those depressed feelings and themes, such as Edgar Allen Poe’s notoriously dark works (which have recently gained popularity), increased interest in the supernatural and its place in horror films, and styles of music that explore melancholy emotions.
This is by no means an opinion piece intended to berate those outlets, but many of them parallel those dark and depressing feelings that are often believed to cause young people to commit suicide. With any trend, there are always some young people who get involved simply to be included, normal, or get attention.
Kirksville High School Counselor, Brenda Niemeyer, believes that this is not always the case.
“ Sometimes if you’re feeling dark you’re not as attuned to those things around you as others are, because you’re focused internally on self,” Niemeyer said.
With that in mind, how do we differentiate between people who are following trends and those who are really feeling bleak and depressed?
“That depends on the individual and the circle of friends around that individual. If their circle is drawn into that culture, yes, they can also be drawn into it,” Niemeyer said.
Therefore, even though culture can draw people to a certain way of thinking or feeling, a trend does not have the ultimate control over feelings that may lead to suicide.
The answer to the questions, then, is that culture does have an affect on the individuals, but their susceptibility to those dark and depressed feelings is dependent on them and the people with whom they surround themselves.
According to (AFSP) Note: Top line is the average for Missouri and the bottom line is the National