One thing is for certain: suicide is increasing in the United States. Suicidal thoughts can affect anyone, including people of color, the wealthy, the poor, your best friend, and even yourself. With a rise in anxiety and depression, mental health care has been needed more than ever before.
The perfectionist mentality of millennials has propelled them down a spiral of increased anxiety and depression, making us the generation with the most reported mental health complications. An important thing to understand is that depression, anxiety, or any other disorder is not a choice. No one would prefer having a mental disorder over living a healthy, normal life.
The problem is that nobody is listening when it’s important to acknowledge the facts. According to Healthline, suicide now ranks number 10 on the United States’ leading causes of death. the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated this year that “suicide rates went up more than 30% in half of states since 1999.”
Not only is suicide increasing, but society has romanticized and glorified it. When a celebrity commits suicide, the media coverage is nothing less than the acknowledgements of their success and a restoration of their reputation. It’s the validation that they’ve saught in their living days and we give it to them too late.
Even when parents want to point fingers at Thirteen Reasons Why for potentially motivating their children, a show alone didn’t propel a entire country into suicidal tendencies.
There is a stigma on suicide that needs to be clarified. When we assume that mental illness is solely the reason behind a suicide’s motive, we make it difficult for those struggling with mental illness to come forward about it.
In a country with corrupt and broken systems, overly competitive social media platforms, social isolation, and an insensitivity toward mental health, young people are left at a disadvantage. It is easy to blame a generation for their problems rather than address the formula that lead to them feel this way.
In the study “Depression as a disease of modernity: explanations for increasing prevalence” by Brandon H. Hidaka, he reports the causes of depression in young people. “Modern populations are increasingly overfed, malnourished, sedentary, sunlight-deficient, sleep-deprived, and socially-isolated”, Hidaka affirms. There’s no question that millennials are unhappy with the fate that they’ve been dealt, having to struggle between skyrocketing debt, few sustainable jobs to live comfortably, and the murky uncertainty of the future.
The upside to acknowledging mental illness is that there’s still hope. Some time ago, people felt shame with their diagnosis. The increase in reports just means that more people are open about this topic, which can result in greater resolve in the long run. Reaching out to a doctor, counselor, therapist, or even a loved one is already one valuable step toward recovery.
If you or a loved one are struggling with suicidal thoughts, know that you aren’t alone and there is still hope. If needed, don’t hesitate to reach out to the National Suicide Prevention hotline at 1-800-273-8255. You are important.
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