Myths and Misconceptions about Childhood Suicide
Childhood suicide has been recognized as being the third leading cause of death among children. Professionals and parents are opening their eyes in an effort to realize that childhood is not always the happiest time of ones life.
"Sometimes I just feel like dying, especially when my brother starts bugging me a lot. I just want to shoot myself" (nine year old boy).
"I've thought about dying many times before. I think about what it will be like when I die. My mom committed suicide, maybe I will too (12 year old boy).
Myths or misconceptions about suicide in children are:
1. Young children do not commit suicide:
Disputed by physicians and psychiatrists, they have concluded that children may regard themselves with hostility and criticism, as do their parents, forming a bad image.
2. Suicide is rare in the latency years:
Mortality rates can disprove this myth. Suicide risks increase with the age of the child, even more rapid from ages 8-14.
3. True depression is not possible in childhood:
Psychoanalysts claim that for most children their fantasies of being unloved, unwanted and discarded are intensified in depressed children. Traditionally the belief was that depression did not occur in children because the super-ego is not sufficiently distinguished to direct aggression in the self.
4. The finality of death is not fully understood by childhood:
For preschoolers the meaning of death is developed in stages. First the understanding of irreversibility is developed, followed by the development of cessation and causality, (which usually occurs by the age of five - seven years old).
5. Children are not capable, physically or cognitively, of carrying out a planned suicide successfully:
Methods of suicide require simple and uncomplicated planning, such as, jumping from heights, poisons, hanging, stabbing, drowning, running into the street and burning.
Four variables most frequently associated with childhood suicide attempts are; low self-esteem, depression, family discord and hopelessness. These factors can be measured and their relationship to suicide indicated. Except, family discord, in which a child witnesses a low level of support in family situations such as sexual, physical and substance abuse, separation, divorce, parental suicidal behavior and other family problems.
In conclusion, physicians and psychiatrists have disputed and disproved these myths among childhood suicide. It is everyone's responsibility who comes in contact with children, to be aware of the possibility of suicide among children, in order to make a timely intervention toward prevention by evaluation and referral to counseling.