Discussion Do you Think all Young People who Commit Suicide are Impulsive?

[ayanonikki]

do you think they haven't lived enough life to be able to make such a decision?

as well as that, do you think the younger generation nowadays are weaker than previous generations in terms of perseverance and determination to get through struggles in life? or do you think we just have it more difficult than previous generations? i am asking this as a general question as we can see there is a lot more attention being brought to mental illness in young people and youth suicide at the moment.

 

[Escaper Boy]

It's difficult to answer this question objectively. I don't really want to say young people as "not mature enough" to make the "right" decision for themselves. At the same time, in my own experience, I did plenty of impulsive foolish actions during my teen years mostly because of the lack of "maturity".

I guess there is no clear cut black and white answer to this issue.

 

[Begemont]

In general I can't answer that - depends a bit on what you think of as young too. It all depends on the situation, the person in question.

As to the other question: No.

Throughout time the older generations complain about the youth. Youth are always weak, shit, don't listen to the right music and generally ruining anything and everything. Truth is, we're all the same still. Not weaker, not stronger. Facing different problems, certainly. And the problems of today might or might not in certain ways be worse than before. They're so different it's hard to say.

 

[Ruffian]

In general I can't answer that - depends a bit on what you think of as young too. It all depends on the situation, the person in question.

As to the other question: No.

Throughout time the older generations complain about the youth. Youth are always weak, shit, don't listen to the right music and generally ruining anything and everything. Truth is, we're all the same still. Not weaker, not stronger. Facing different problems, certainly. And the problems of today might or might not in certain ways be worse than before. They're so different it's hard to say.

This is so true. I remember in my early 20s hip-hop/rap became popular from Run-DMC's cover of "Walk This Way." All of my slightly older, male friends flipped out as if someone had a burned a bible. It wasn't music, Aerosmith were sell-outs, etc. I knew then, and I still believe now, that is a sign you are old in spirit, not to mentioned very closed-minded. I'm 51 now and still don't tell certain friends I like Nicki Minaj or Drake. As far as attitudes go, "milleneals are the most educated generation ever. That being said, I can't tell you how many people with graduate degrees I've met serving coffee, waitressing, or as my Uber driver. How would that not depress an entire generation? I've seen at least one person on here because she can't use her degree, can't get a job in her field, or a job period, and feels like a burden to her family. Throw in the culture of hate Trump has produced (or maybe just brought to the surface,) and I can understand the nihilistic attitude of younger generations. It just looks like laziness on the surface.

 

[S5E51mbB]

No. I don't think you can arbitrarily pick an age and say that anyone who kills themselves before is impulsive and not thinking straight. I know personal anecdotes don't mean much, but I'm 18 and I've been suicidal since I was 12. Maybe earlier. I guess you could say that I am, indeed, impulsive. I doubt my eventual suicide attempt will be impulsive though. I've planned way too much for it to even be considered so. Perhaps you could say the teens who kill themselves, or try to, over breakups or bad grades are the impulsive ones who don't mean it. I'd still disagree with that view: I think it's too much a reductionist approach.

With regards to your other question, I don't think the current generation is weaker mentally. I'd say that's only the narrative created by some people of the older generations. We do have a tendency to view people of our generation as an ingroup, while viewing the others as an outgroup. I think we're still the same people in many ways. We're not weaker, and we're not stronger. Maybe more disillusioned.

 

[TAW122]

No, not necessarily. Some people even though they are young have rationally thought out the act of suicide as well as planned it. Therefore, they do have the cognitive ability to rationally plan, acquire their means, and consider their choices. I will say though, most people, especially those who are early teens are oftenly impulsive and just decide to attempt CTB'ing (most of which end up in failure) without considering the consequences. Now of course, a lot of people would say their 'reasons' aren't sufficient and probably not, but then again, since I nor they are what the said person is experiencing, it would be unfair to invalidate their suffering by determining that their 'reason or reasons' are insufficient. So in short, I'd say there are young people (including teenagers) who have rationally thought out their suicide both the decision and their plan, but most of them (especially early teenagers) are impulsive.

 

[headinghome]

I don't think as humans we truly grasp the concept of death until after the teenage years...maybe this is a technique to help people survive...I remember when it hit me I was about 20.....still pro choice on this one...and if there are physical reasons then everyone should be able to decide at any time.....no one should be forced into anything or any line of reasoning.....being young though there are many different paths and opportunities that I would not have wanted to give up.....so perhaps encouraging and listening ....most on here seem to have some spark to live

 

[EmotionlessWanderer]

It can be impulsive yes but it doesn't change the fact it will always be a choice of free will no matter the reason or what anyone says.

 

[housecat]

No.

 

[EddieAllenPoe]

do you think they haven't lived enough life to be able to make such a decision?

Yeah. In the sense that I'm a person that is older than them and I can often see their reasons stem from a lack of emotional maturity. I was as young as them once. I can remember having the same kinds of struggles and I can remember how I got through them. It makes me think of all the things they'd be missing out on if they gave up too soon.

To be honest, I still look to older people in my life for guidance. I wish had more help than I'm finding but I still do. I look at them and wonder how they survived. It seems sometimes like my problems pale in comparison to what they went through and I wonder how they did it.

That's all me speaking in general. I obviously can't speak for every person. I haven't lived in everybody's shoes. I have seen a few times where a young person did commit suicide and I really have no words. It seems to me that the adults in their life had failed them. In particular, I'm thinking about a news story I read once where an 8 year old hung himself at home because he was bullied at school. I have no doubt that kid went through some real suffering. He deserved to have somebody there for him that could have helped him sort through his feelings. If I were their parent and I saw them attempting this I would have done everything in my power to stop them. I don't think their parent could have known what he was going to do though. I don't think he could have really known what he was doing and I wonder how he learned how to do this. It's a real shame.

as well as that, do you think the younger generation nowadays are weaker than previous generations in terms of perseverance and determination to get through struggles in life? or do you think we just have it more difficult than previous generations? i am asking this as a general question as we can see there is a lot more attention being brought to mental illness in young people and youth suicide at the moment.

No. I don't think there's anything magically different about younger generations today that makes them weaker. It does seem like they're facing a new set of problems their parents didn't have. This is the same kind of story repeating itself though. Every generation changes.

 

[Fallen bad23]

Here is a personal story, when I was 18 I acted as mature as I thought I was. Flash forward few months after I went to university I had a look at myself and realised that I wasn't mature enough at that time. Flash forward again, now almost 2 years after graduation I just realised how dumb and stupid I have been through out the past years. Time does change us and believe or not we just grow and form a better understanding of life. There is no guarantee that life will get better or that your pain will go away but there is also no guarantee that it won't. In time things may just work out for you. Suicide is final so do whatever you can to avoid it and keep it as a last resort exit escape.