According to the Centre for Disease Control & Prevention, during the time of February & March 21, the cases of suicide attempts by teen girls got spiked by 51% as compared to the last year. “Self-reported suicide attempts are consistently higher among adolescent females than among males, and research before the COVID-19 pandemic showed young females had both higher and increasing rates of ED visits for suicide attempts compared with males,” written by researchers in the study also showing this new study is connected with prior research.
The study published, investigated that the suspected suicide attempts among girls of age group 12 -17 got increased by 50.6% between 21 February and 20 March this year as compared to the same period in 2019 before the pandemic. Suicide attempts among boys of same age group also went up but by a marginal rate of 3.7%.
“However, the findings from this study suggest more severe distress among young females than has been identified in previous reports during the pandemic, reinforcing the need for increased attention to, and prevention for, this population,” the study continued.
For a brief period between March and April 2020, when many states implemented an initial wave of lockdown orders, ED visits for suspected suicide attempts among individuals ages 12 through 25 fell but then rose again during the summer of 2020. Between July and August 2020, suspected suicide attempts were up over 26% among girls ages 12 through 17, CDC researchers stated.
“Young people might represent a group at high risk because they might have been particularly affected by mitigation measures, such as physical distancing (including a lack of connectedness to schools, teachers, and peers); barriers to mental health treatment; increases in substance use;, and anxiety about family health and economic problems, which are all risk factors for suicide,” researchers who conducted the CDC study wrote.
The report shows that the core reason behind the spike in number is the coronavirus pandemic which has driven higher rates of mental health problems among teenagers. They are developing anxiety and depression because of the isolation from their friends and being at one place for months.
We urge each and everyone, especially the teenagers, that everything on this earth has an end. Getting suicidal thoughts is normal but dying due to them won’t lessen your worries. Try to engage yourself in a self care routine and keep checking up on your friends and family members. We hope that in this challenging time; you hold on to love and kindness. That’s all that matters!!
“Being at home for surviving is easy than choosing death. So many people in India have no place to survive the lockdown but yet they never give-up. Trust me, surviving lockdown is so easy. Just ask your elder brother or your elder sister about their experiences in hard times they passed through. What we are facing right now will pass through some day. Decisions in anger will just ruin things but nothing better than what’s going on right now,”
–Surya Naidu.