Juvenile suicide on the rise

• May 6, 2024

One million people take their lives every year around the world, according to the World Health Organization . In Mexico, about 13 people commit suicide every day. In 2010, the Health Secretary reported that five thousand six people died from this cause, of which four thousand 86 were men and 920 women, figures that include suicide in adolescents.

Despite these figures, it is not considered a public health problem, such as Cancer wave diabetes ; However, within the age group of 15 to 24 years, suicide in adolescents is already the third cause of death.

As for the completed suicides, in Mexico we have a rate of 4.5 per 100 thousand inhabitants, it is a low rate compared with countries like the United States, where it is twice or with countries in Eastern Europe, where it is much higher ; even Latin American nations, such as Cuba, have a higher suicide rate among adolescents.

However, two aspects that could place suicide as a public health problem are the increase in these behaviors and the systematic growth of the same that has been experienced in the Mexican population, which is 300 percent compared to three decades ago. .

Guilherme Borges, researcher in Medical Sciences, of the National Institute of Psychiatry , commented that for five decades the rates of suicide in adolescents have increased in our country. "This increase is worrisome because it is affecting young people and there are no public health measures to counteract this phenomenon."

Some risk factors of suicide in adolescents are related to social, religious, family, alcohol consumption, drug use, mental disorders such as depression and economic problems, among others.

Among the events related to suicide are suicidal ideation, plans and attempts. It is known that if a person has recurring thoughts about taking his own life, and also has some mental disorder, it may be easier for him to move to a next stage.

Medical help is sought in five out of every 10 suicide attempts. As a society, we need a health system that helps individuals recognize that they have a problem of this kind and that they are attended to in a timely manner, he said.

The specialist commented that there has not been a national policy to achieve a decrease in suicide in adolescents in the country.
 

"We definitely need it. If we had a problem like Cancer that would have grown like suicide in the last thirty years, we would be dismayed. If an infectious disease had grown 300%, we would be fearful; However, with suicide this has not happened, we see that it continues to grow and we always think that it will not touch us, "he concluded.