Suicide Risk and Mental Illness - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 6 Words: 1842 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2019/07/01 Category Society Essay Level High school Topics: Suicide Essay Did you like this example? Mental illness, is it a disease? Is it just a figment of a persons brain? Why is it so common? Lastly, why are adolescents burdens with this dark cloud of mental illnesses and suicide? I never really had any type of contact with mental illnesses as a child, it wasnt till middle school when it started to become prevalent in my life. As a dramatic 14-year-old, I thought I was depressed and wanted to kill myself. By high school, I saw it as a phase of just getting through middle school years. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Suicide Risk and Mental Illness" essay for you Create order But as I have gotten older, depression and anxiety have always had this cloud over me. I grew up in the small town of Rockford, where I went to school at Freeman. We honestly were pretty sheltered from the world. Going to a small school, you dont have to worry about things like mentally ill people right? No, turns out that is very wrong. The freeman community has experienced some of the most horrifying accidents. Theres been several cancer cases, suicides, and one shooting. After that, it changed my life forever and how I see things. This kid that I have been going to school with forever, committed suicide the summer before my junior year. When I heard about it, I was so shocked. It really took a toll on me, all I could think about is what could I have done to make him want to stay alive. But instead, I sat there next to him in English class every day, never saying one word to him. Maybe one word could have saved his life. Another suicide happened, He graduated from Freeman about 5 years back and just out of nowhere he was dead. Then the shooting happened. If you talk to any kid that goes to Freeman, they will say that we thought we were cursed. I just thought, why? Why are these innocent people dying? Why isnt anyone doing anything about it? Then I knew that something had to change. We cant go through life ignoring the fact that there are mental illnesses and people need to be helped. First, what is a Mental illness? It is health conditions involving changes in emotion, thinking or behavior. Mental illnesses are associated with distress and/or problems functioning in social, work or family activities. Different types of mental illnesses are anxiety, mood disorder, eating disorders, personality disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, etc. One main disorder that is related back to suicide is depression. In the article, Depression , suicide and deliberate self-harm in adolescence written by Richard Harrington, he explains how to determine whether someone is depressed and how severe it can be. The basic way to find out whether an adolescent has depression starts with a basic question of diagnosis. Start with interviewing the young person alone, it is not reliable to take ay account from parents because sometimes they are the ones that are most blind to it. There are some huge indicators that the person is depressed or suicidal such as, weight loss or suicidal planning/attempts. Polysymptomatic depressive states that if depression lasts more than six weeks, there should be an intervention. If the person is depressed, there are certain ways to handle the situation. The assessment may include how the child reacts to situations. For an example, if the depression is mild, an approach of sympathetic conversations with the child and parents can help reduce any stress. On the other hand, if the depression is severe, treatment will be enforced. They will warrant a admission to the hospital and try to get this person help. Suicide is so prevalent with adolescence, it has become a normal thing. Why is it that teenagers deaths come in clusters. In the article, Clustering of Teenage Suicides After Television News Stories about Suicide., Phillips, David P., PhD., and Lundie L. Carstensen M.S dive into depth about the possibilities in why teenagers do that. They analyzed the total of 12,585 suicides among teenagers before and after the news put out stories on other teenag e suicides. First, the stories appeared on ABC, CBS, and NBC. Second, mixed stories, were those who a person who harmed others and then killed themselves. Third, when suicides occurred within seven days apart, they considered the deaths to be the same stories. The results to their surveys were on average, teenage suicide rose by 2.91 per store during the period zero to seven days after each story. Although, they did find other explanations. You cant relate all suicides to news stories, you dont know what that teenager had going on in their mind. There are many other causes that people commit suicide like seasonal effect, it tends to occur at certain times in the year. For example, the holidays or busy times of the year that can cause stress. Is there a way we can help prevent these tragedies from happening? Yes, there is, Thomas Szasz author of The Case Against Suicide Prevention gives more input in this area. Towards the end of the Enlightenment, around the year 1800, there was a very big change in the perception of suicide. Before that suicide was considered a crime and sin. The person was punished if he/she committed suicide. For an example, a man named Jean Baptiste, killed himself in 1765 and his punishment was that he got dragged behind a cart in the middle of town and then got hung upside down from a scaffold for 24 hours. The idea that anyone who kills himself or herse lf is crazy reinforces the negative valuation of the act Nowadays, we see suicide as mental abnormality or illness. Thomas Szasz, gives a very interesting point, If suicide is bad because it injures society, then why is it not a crime (as it used to be) and punished accordingly by the state? If suicide is bad because it injures the soul or spirit of the victim, then why is it not a sin (as it used to be) and punished accordingly by the church?. We normalize suicide because it is so common, that needs to change. Suicide is never a way out. The phrase suicide prevention is itself a misleading slogan characteristic of our therapeutic age. Szasz Explains. Suicide is a physical possibility, there can be no suicide prevention If one person is to prevent another person from killing himself or herself, a person cannot have that type of control over a person or their mind. This does not mean that individuals who are suicidal should not be able to seek professional help. Only you can look for the signs of a mentally ill person and try to help them with the step I gave you. Suicide affects the survivors years after it was done. There was a survey done by Sidra J. Goldman-Mellor, Ph.D.; Avshalom Caspi, Ph.D., and HonaLee Harrington, who wrote A signal for long-term health care social needs, to test whether suicide attempts in early years cause health and social issues. The overall rate of suicide attempt for young adults is three times higher than people over 30 years old but young people are more likely to survive an attempt. Wi th carrying out a survey on people who have had suicidal attempts, the ages ranged from 18,21,26,32, and 38 years old. All had symptoms of depression and have at one point did self-harm. These following behaviors include: cutting or stabbing, overdosing, taking poison, attempting to gas oneself, jump from high places, crashing a car, burning, or another method. The outcomes of these have predicted cost to health care systems, for an example, being put in a physic ward. Another outcome could be related to crimes, harms to others or removal of a child from parents care. Seeing that, it gives you an outlook on what people go through after suicide and how much it can affect the rest of their lives. Suicide doesnt only just affect the person who is harming themselves, It affects family members, friends, and the community. In the article, Suicide; A Death by Suicide is Difficult to Cope With., the author Louise Sinclair explained that Death from suicide is a very hard pill to swallow due to several reasons. It happens out of nowhere; people dont have time to mentally process that their loved one is actually gone. Because of that, it is referred to as unnatural death. When people experience a loss of a loved one due to suicide there are so many deep emotions. After a suicide, people tend to feel guilty. They think was it something I did?. In all reality, most of these people who are family members, friends, etc, didnt do anything wrong. The person that committed suicide made his or her own decision to do so and must be in a very dark place at the time. ( Sinclair, Louise) Some people feel anger towards the individual that took their own life. They think, how could you be so selfish. Or even be mad towards others such as doctors, community, relatives. Anger like that must be dealt with or it can destroy a persons life. To release that type of anger there are suggestions for activities that may help such as running, hiking, and boxing. Survivors of suicide, tend to search for meaning. People need to accept that all questions to life may not be answered and just move on and live your life the best way you can. You cant go through life drooling on things that you cant change now, life is so short and frugal. What you can do is just be present. Live every day to your fullest and dont look back. If you are having problems with mental illnesses or just need a person to talk to, please dont hold back. If you see signs of suicidal thought in someone, help them. I hope that this paper opened your eyes to the world of mental illnesses and see that they are a real thing that occurs in everyday life. Little by little, people can save lives. If I would have seen the signs of the kid that sat next to me in English class, maybe he would still be alive. Suicide prevention hotline: 1-800-273-8255. Work Cited Goldman-Mellor SJ, Caspi A, Harrington H, et al. Suicide Attempt in Young People A Signal for Long-term Health Care and Social Needs. JAMA Psychiatry. 2014;71(2):119â€Å"127. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2013.2803 Phillips, David P., PhD., and Lundie L. Carstensen M.S. Clustering of Teenage Suicides After Television News Stories about Suicide. The New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 315, no. 11, 1986, pp. 685-689. ProQuest, https://search.proquest.com/docview/1879376066?accountid=1169, doi:https://dx.doi.org/10.1056/NEJM198609113151106. Richard Harrington; Depression, suicide and deliberate self-harm in adolescence, British Medical Bulletin, Volume 57, Issue 1, 1 March 2001, Pages 47â€Å"60, https://doi.org/10.1093/bmb/57.1.47 Szasz, Thomas. The Case Against Suicide Prevention. American Psychologist, vol. 41, no. 7, 1986,pp.806-812.ProQuest,https://search.proquest.com/docview/614289254?accountid 1169, doi:https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.41.7.806. Sinclair, Louise. Suicide; A Death by Suicide is Difficult to Cope With. News from Indian Country, 07, 1991, pp. 24. ProQuest, https://search.proquest.com/docview/367691914?accountid=1169.

Gerald Graffs Hidden Intellectualism - 1503 Words

College has always been a process that introduces students to academic challenges that are not present during high school. So when my professor assigned Gerald Graffs essay, Hidden Intellectualism, I thought this was his thesis. â€Å"Missing the opportunity to tap into such street smarts and channel them into good academic work. (Graff 142) I thought that this was his thesis because it explains the main idea of the essay but I assumed its purpose because of where it’s placed. I am so used to reading an essay in high school where the thesis is located right in the first paragraph. So naturally that is where I look for it. However, with more reading I knew that the following is the thesis, not only because it discusses the main topic, but†¦show more content†¦During my very first session, Adam didn’t know exactly what a thesis statement was. His professor had made remarks on his paper that he needed a stronger thesis. Wyatt his tutor made sure he understood tha t a thesis needs to be your big idea or your general claim, by stating, ‘Your thesis should be your main statement†. Your thesis must answer a question without having any counter arguments. With that being said, Adam understood that day that he needs to find his general claim in his paper. He did that by revising his essay and finding his big idea. He asks himself a question regarding what his essay is about and that would be part his thesis. If you don’t have a claim for your paper, it makes it difficult to comprehend what exactly you as a writer is trying to get across. A thesis should also be written with the reader in mind with a road map they could follow along easily. A road map is basically the direction you want your reader to take when reading your essay. You want your thesis to start at the beginning and power forward clearly to the end. No detours, no circles. If you write with the reader in mind you are more likely to communicate successfully. The read er should not waste the effort that would go into understanding the substance of the writing, in order to guess what the writer intended to mean. You have to lead the reader inShow MoreRelatedHidden Intellectualism : An Analysis Of Gerald Graffs Hidden Intellectualism701 Words   |  3 Pagesthat one who is so intelligent about so many things in life seems unable to apply that intelligence to academic work. This is how Gerald Graff’s essay titled â€Å"Hidden Intellectualism begins. Although this is not Graffs personal belief, he is approaching us with a common stereotype. After reading Graffs article I would say that I agree with him from beginning to end. Gerald Graff begins with differentiating between â€Å"book smarts† and â€Å"street smarts. Book smart is defined as a person who is intelligentRead More Gerald Graffs Hidden Intellectualism Essay1644 Words   |  7 PagesCo-author of â€Å"They Say/I Say† handbook, Gerald Graff, analyzes in his essay â €Å"Hidden Intellectualism† that â€Å"street smarts† can be used for more efficient learning and can be a valuable tool to train students to â€Å"get hooked on reading and writing† (Graff 204). Graff’s purpose is to portray to his audience that knowing more about cars, TV, fashion, and etc. than â€Å"academic work† is not the detriment to the learning process that colleges and schools can see it to be (198). This knowledge can be an importantRead MoreRhetorical Analysis Of Dr. Gerald Graffs Hidden Intellectualism890 Words   |  4 PagesWhy don’t schools take advantage of a student’s so-called â€Å"street smarts†? Why weigh down students with heavy textbooks when they could be learning from resources that they enjoy? This is exactly the argument Dr. Gerald Graff makes in his article Hidden Intellectualism, where Graff attempts to convince teachers to broaden the scope of school curriculum to accommodate street smarts and m ore popular topics. To persuade teachers that this method of teaching is effective, Graff uses personal anecdotesRead MoreLangston Hughes Theme for English B and Gerald Graff’s Hidden Intellectualism882 Words   |  4 PagesLangston Hughes â€Å"Theme for English B† and Gerald Graff’s essay â€Å"Hidden Intellectualism† portray racial separation and intellectual isolation, respectively. Hughes’ essay is poetic justice, and Graff’s is a call to arms. Hughes’ is short and to the point and is simply what it is, no arguing or convincing, just raw thought. Graff’s is highly intellectual; offering examples and reasoning, and it could even be seen as a not-quite-finished plea to the nation to reevaluate our education system. But theRead MoreHidden Intellectualism : Hidden Intellectualism729 Words   |  3 PagesHidden Intellectualism Avery Mears  Abstract When it comes to the topic of hidden intellectualism, most of us will readily agree that a lot of students are seen to have an issue with it. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of is it the students fault. Whereas some are convinced it is, others maintain it is at the fault of the teachers or professors. Gerald Graff has his argument that in many cases book smarts can be hidden in street smarts. I believe that kids that struggleRead Moreâ€Å"There Must Be Many Buried Or Hidden Forms Of Intellectualism1360 Words   |  6 Pagesâ€Å"There must be many buried or hidden forms of intellectualism that do not get channeled into academic work†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Graff 22), this said by non-other than Gerald Graff himself within his article â€Å"Hidden Intellectualism†. This quote being his overall main point of the entire article. Graff meaning that students can be intellectual even if they feel like they aren’t a book smart student. Graff argues th at students who are street smart could also be intellectual. Within Graff’s article, there are a few argumentsRead MoreHidden Intellectualism Gerald Graff Analysis787 Words   |  4 Pages In Gerald Graffs short essay, â€Å"Hidden Intellectualism,† he explains people are intelligent in their own unique way, but educators must help adolescents convey their intellects into a classroom setting. Graff targets students, teachers, and administration to educate them about a hidden intellectualism that can be found outside a classroom setting. Schools and colleges might be at fault for missing the opportunity to tap into such street smarts channel them into good academic work; Gerald GraffRead MoreRichard Graff s Hidden Intellectualism871 Words   |  4 PagesUndiscovered Intellectualism: An Amendment to Hidden Intellectualism In Hidden Intellectualism, Gerald Graff seeks to expose what he believes to be a fundamental issue in today’s schools and colleges. He brings attention to â€Å"street smarts†, students who are intelligent about so many things in life, yet their potential is overlooked because the things they are knowledgeable about are not things we associate with educated life such as cars, sports and video games. He claims that students are moreRead MoreHow Tv Makes You Smarter1532 Words   |  7 Pagesnourishing.† In a statement made by Graff in â€Å"Hidden Intellectualism†; â€Å"What doesn’t occur to us, though, is that schools and colleges might be at fault for missing the opportunity to tap into such street smarts and channel them into good academic work. Nor do we consider one of the major reasons why school and colleges overlook the intellectual potential of street smarts with anti-intellectual concerns.† I think that Johnson would completely agree with Graff’s statement and would back it up with researchRead MoreHidden Intellectualism By Gerald Graff1237 Words   |  5 Pages In Gerald Graff’s essay Hidden Intellectualism he aims his writing towards schools, universities, teachers and the academic community. He responds to the situation of; teachers, schools and colleges overlooking intellectual potential of â€Å"street smarts†. His purpose in this essay is to acknowledge the readers that that there are different types of intellectualism and to point out flaws in the academia. The message Graff is trying to convey is that schools and teachers need to approach education in

Home Schooling And Educating Children At Home Free Essays

One of the major advantages of homeschooling is that it allows parents to be profoundly involved in the instruction of their kid. Lyman ( 1998 ) and Mayberry ( 1988 ) suggest that parents are interested in homeschooling their kids because of the turning perceptual experience that the school system is unequal in developing kids into high winners and that many schools by and big deliver standardized instruction without respect to the person ‘s endowment and potency. Lyman ( 1998 ) and Mayberry ( 1988 ) write that by supplying their undivided attending to their kids, they are in a better place to acknowledge their kid ‘s possible and promote the kid. We will write a custom essay sample on Home Schooling And Educating Children At Home or any similar topic only for you Order Now In a survey by Lines ( 1991 ) , it was found that about three fourths of the parents who home schooled their kids besides prepared their ain instruction stuffs. Furthermore, in a survey comparing the public presentation of homeschooled kids with the regularly schooled kids, it was found that the former outperformed the latter on many steps ( Ray A ; Wartes, 1991 as cited in Abell, 2002 ) The 2nd advantage of place schooling is that parents can avoid the disadvantages of modern twenty-four hours public instruction ( Clark, 1994 ) . Clark ( 1994 ) suggests that parents are progressively concerned that many public schools have a batch of offense and other bad pupils can negatively act upon their kids. He suggests that parents feel that because drug usage and force is increasing in many public schools, they are better able to guarantee the safety of their kids by educating them at place. Therefore by homeschooling their kids, parents can guarantee the safety of their kids. Homeschooling is non without its disadvantages and one of the normally quoted disadvantages is that place schooling consumes a batch of clip and the parents do non hold any clip for other activities. For illustration, if a kid has to be homeschooled, one of the parents has to give up work and pass a big portion of the twenty-four hours in learning and tutoring the kid. This may put a major load on the parent and may take to feelings of depression, ennui etc. Furthermore, because the parent may or may non be qualified adequate to learn the kid, he or she may non be in a place to learn every bit good as the instructors in a school where there are different instructors for different topics and are hired by the school based on their makings. The 2nd disadvantage of place schooling is that parents feel that they are paying revenue enhancements and other responsibilities, which go into making public schools, and if they do n’t direct their kids to these schools, it would be a waste of the money spent. A related ground is that many parents feel that schools have many installations like research labs and playgrounds that place schooled kids do non hold entree to and hence miss out on several chances to larn and socialise ( Abell, 2002 ) . Another disadvantage of homeschooling is that societal cost of place schooling. Diana Jenkins writes that kids feel the demand to socialise and a major portion of their development is in their ability to interact with other kids of their ain age group. She suggests that kids who are place schooled are non in a place to interact with other kids and frequently feel that they are losing out on a really of import experience. Furthermore, Jenkins besides suggests that a major portion of acquisition is the ability to larn while taking the positions of others into consideration. She suggests that homeschooled kids do non hold the luxury of taking into history other pupils ‘ thoughts and sentiments and hence stop up with cognition that is merely in one way. It appears from the above reappraisal that homeschooling has more disadvantages than advantages and that it may be better for the kids to go to schools than stay at place and survey. However, because many parents feel that public schools have many disadvantages, their concerns can be removed by making better place school partnerships. While traditionally parents have merely dropped their kids at school, and participated in some pupil parent meets, some bookmans have suggested that schools can affect the parents more by back uping them with better instruction resources which they can utilize at place to do place tutoring by them more interesting, and besides ask foring parents to school to take part in synergistic activities with instructors so that instructors can besides profit from some of the cognition that parents have. Another suggestion is that better communicating channels should be created between instructors and parents so that the instructors are cognizant if the kid is tra veling through a hard stage and is underachieving because of that ground, and likewise parents are cognizant if the kid is holding some interaction jobs at school because of some issues at place. This manner the environment at both the school and place can better ( Patrikakau, 2005 ) . Therefore, it is clear from the above the place schooling is popular among many parents because of the feeling among them that public schools have many jobs like offense and make non pay single attending to the pupils like the parents can. However it is besides clear that because parents can non supply many installations like research labs and resort areas and can non assist them with societal interactions with friends and schoolmates, homeschooling may non be a really good thought. It appears that both schools and parents can profit from better coaction between parents and instructors where parents experience safe about their kids and instructors can profit from cognizing more about the pupils from the parents. How to cite Home Schooling And Educating Children At Home, Essay examples

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock Analysis Essay Example For Students

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock Analysis Essay When our lives begin, we are innocent and life is beautiful, but as we grow older and time slowly and quickly passes we discover that not everything about life is quite so pleasing. Along with the joys and happiness we experience there is also pain, sadness and loneliness. Hemingways A Clean, Well-Lighted Place, and Eliots The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock both tell us about older men who are experiencing these dreadful emotions. In Hemingways short story there are three characters, two waiters and their customer. Of these three, two are older men who are experiencing extreme loneliness. The customer sits alone drinking his glasses of brandy slowly, and very carefully, peacefully becoming drunk. While he is meticulously drinking his alcohol, the two waiters talk about him. They discuss his suicide attempt of the week past. The younger waiter doesnt seem to understand why a man with money would try to end his life. Although the older waiter seems to have an insight into the customers reason, he doesnt share this with the younger one. He seems to know why this deaf old man is so depressed, and sits there alone and silent. When the younger waiter rushes the customer, the older waiter objects. He knows what it is like to go home to emptiness at night, while the younger man goes home to his wife. The older waiter remarks on the differences between him and his younger companion when he says, I have never had confidence and I am not young. He tells the waiter and us that he prefers to stay in a well-lit place instead of going home to darkness and loneliness. When he does go home, he waits until daylight to sleep. The light seems to cure his inner darkness, his despair at being alone, and his despair at the nada-ness in his life but only temporarily. In T. S. Eliots poem J. Alfred Prufrock tells the reader of his fear of rejection. He is a lonely man and wants to ask someone to make his life a little less desolate. He doesnt know what to say or how to ask. We are at a party, a setting Prufrock seems to visit often. He tells us about himself, his bald spot, his skinny arms and legs. He knows that the people at the party will talk about those flaws in his appearance. Prufrock is so unsure of himself that while trying to find a way to ask his question, he loses the opportunity to ask it. He loses his chance at ending the nothingness that seems to fill his life as well. His uncertainty and his inferiority complex are touchingly revealed when he tells us, I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each. // I do not think they will sing to me. It is this forlorn attitude that moves us. He is extremely lonely and yet, he cannot do anything about it. In both these works men talk of loneliness and sadness. They are all alone in a world filled with people. The misery they experience from this feeling of solitude moves the reader because we have all at one point or another felt likewise even if not to that intensity.