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teens in crisis economist xwjribiy 1987 3 suicide stats are tip of the iceberg editors note in this first of a threepart series reporter maxine share identifies the prob lem of teens attempting suicide by maxine share barbie was 14 when she tried to kill herself she drank three- quarters of a bottle of vodka then took about two dozen aspirin the worst part she says five years later was waking up another young girl gave up on her future at 16 tina quit school and moved out on her own when her parents separated but she was lonely and depressed and longed for the security of a loving home when she couldnt find it she swallowed a handful of sleeping pills she had stolen from her mother believe me she says nine years later i had no inten tion of ever getting up again the cases of barbie and tina arent isolated alarming num bers of teenagers from every walk of life attempt suicide there were several cases reported from among markham high school students in the last academic year according to markham district high school guidance counsellor carol drake there were about a dozen attempts that people were aware of among the student body suicide statistics are only a small indication of the problem attempts often go unreported and many deaths recorded as accidents may in fact have been suicides its there and its happening she says although there are surprisingly few completed suicides among adolescents eight in metro last year there are 100 reported attempts for every life lost and experts agree those statistics are only a small indication of the problem attempts often go unre ported and many deaths re corded as accidents may have been suicides consider this in judith smiths book coping with suicide she says 90 per cent of attempts go unreported to police or medical authorities she also cites two american studies one that concludes 84 of teena gers have made one or more attempts to kill themselves the other 13 per cent staggering implications the implications and the questions are staggering the answers may come in accepting the scope of the prob lem and examining the reasons teenagers turn to suicide fol lowed by an understanding of the special risks markham teenagers face growing up in an affluent community but regardless of a familys economic status teenage suicide attempts happen its probably more of a prob lem than people care to think ab out according to dr bob sim mons coordinator of psychiatric emergency services at torontos hospital for sick children he says statistics can be misleading from a professional point of view its quite a chunk of our business half of the emergency departments psychiatric refer rals are suicidal he says most of the 250 to 300 attempted suicides his staff treats each year are 13 to 14yearold females he dds 1 4 w c the triangle on its apex represents a teenager in crisis the crisis can tip either toward stability and solid ground or toward disaster two of the common factors for teenage crises are failing grades and broken relationships janine strom slashed wrists but we see only the most ob vious ones he says where someone has taken a gun or slashed their wrists but when police suspect by the nature of tire tracks that a car deliberately turned into a bridge abutment if you ever breathe a word of this to anyone i never want to see you again barbie promptly left home to live with a friend and began her downward spiral into depression and despair i just wanted to die she re calls i really did dont want to die somewhere deep inside of themselves they dont really want to die they see death as one of the more appealing alterna tives what kinds of problems then are causing teenagers to attempt suicide somewhere deep inside of themselves they dont really want to die they see death as one of the more appealing alternatives says mdhs guidance counsellor carol drake what kinds of problems then are causing teenagers to attempt suicide experts agree the loss of a first love family breakup and poor academic standing may contribute to teenage depression that is not recorded as a suicide he also suggests the high motor vehicle accident rate among 16 to 18yearold males may indicate selfdestructive suicidal be havior in that group at markham high mrs drake agrees the problem is not accur ately reflected in current statis tics a lotof time a kid will swallow a handful of pills sleep through all of the next day and wake up groggy the parents never sus pect anything and its not re ported barbie can attest to that sexually abused hell i didnt teu anyone she says people knew id been drinking so they just figured i was tired i guess and my parents wouldnt have cared anyway she insists still bitter from a difficult family situation years earlier she says she was sexually abused by her stepfather from ages 10 to 13 when she finally told her mother her mother warned why do teenagers like barbie feel suicide is the only remedy for their pain glamorous view mrs drake says many adoles cents have a glamorous view of suicide often they dont per ceive it as an end they have the view that theyll be dead but its like a play where the main character dies they see themselves as knowing what hap pens next she says many of them talk ab out having very elaborate funer als they think theyll be lying in the casket watching the whole thing these are often the teenagers that repeatedly threaten to kill themselves she says but it is im portant to take their threats seriously because they some times attempt and they some times succeed in contrast to this group of teenagers are the kids who are very upset and distressed and cant see another alternative than death to their problems she says experts agree the loss of a first love family breakup and poor academic standing may contri bute to teenage depression according to dr simmons at sick childrens hospital a suicide attempt comes when pa rents are not in tune with what their adolescents arc going through he says research shows the only common thread linking suicide victims is the breakdown of communication that occurred before the attempt he describes a popular fallacy believed by some parents that as a child grows up he breaks away from the parents and it is normal for them to stop sharing to stop communicating but it is so important for com munication to continue to be open during the adolescent years he says desperate effort closed communication chan nels can be fatal brian cunnington a counsellor with the markhamstouffville family life centre says a teena ger may make a desperate effort to communicate by attempting suicide he may be communi cating dont split up by trying to kill himself he says or the attempt may be saying to the pa rents life isnt worth living any more by attempting suicide a teenager may be telling his parents dont split up closed communication channels could be fatal while some teenagers attempt suicide to seek relief from the pain they were experiencing dr simmons says periods of pain are part of growing up the real world has a certain amount of painful aspects and you need to develop the inner resources to cope with that suicidal teens may have diffi culty handling very painful feel ings he says and in some respects growing up in an affluent home could potentially limit the teenagers ability to cope with lifes inevit able disappointments and hear taches mr cunnington explains that in affluent communities kids think if i wish for something it will come true its like i want a new bike where is it he says when children who are catered to in this way grow up and a wish cant make things hap pen anymore it cant bring back their boyfriend or get mom and dad back together there is a sense of incompetence magic wish it is the difference between cutting lawns to get what you want as opposed to wishing for it and getting it he says magic wish children may grow up without the cognitive abilities to make decisions that come on in adolescence about drugs careers sexuality mr cunnington says they have a sense of worthlessness of helplessness of i cant really make things happen he says there are other prob lems unique to children in affluent communities theres a real pressure to suc ceed how free are these kids to choose nonprofessional careers or to choose careers that deviate from the family pattern if your dads the president can you be a salesman if your moms the president can you be a housewife he asks it must be scary he says deadly serious for some teens like barbie and tina its so scary they try suicide but how can parents know when ordinary depression a normal and common emotion has adv anced in their teenager to a point that it is deadly serious and how can parents communicate with teenagers who petulantly announce nothings wrong by learning the symptoms of suicidal behavior they may be able help their teen through a suicidal crisis next week reading the writing on the wall how to identify the symptoms of suicidal behaviour