Suicide Suicide is increasingly becoming a fatal antidote to the problems of emptiness, pain and depression that seem to be reaching epidemic proportions in our culture. But suicide is preventable. Most suicidal persons desperately want to live. They are just unable to see alternatives to their problems. The number of suicide attempts is much greater and often results in serious injuries.
Suicide cuts across all ages, economic, social and ethnic boundaries.
Four times as many men kill themselves as compared to women, yet three to four times as many women attempt suicide as compared to men. Suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people ages 15-24, and is the eighth leading cause of death among all people. Following the late 1970s the rates for youth have remained stable. One adolescent attempts suicide every 38 seconds. One out of six adolescents attempts suicide before graduating from high school.