一个悲哀的统计:Teenage Suicides on the Rise

Suicide - cutting

From February 2021 to March 2021 average weekly visits to the emergency department for suspected suicide attempts among young girls were up more than 50% from the same period a year ago. OSF HealthCare Children’s Hospital of Illinois in Peoria has seen an increase in emergency department visits as well.

The study says the data likely underrepresents the real number of suspected suicide attempts because people were hesitant to go to hospitals during the pandemic, in fear of contracting Covid-19.

“We often thought like teenage years and that that's a challenging time, but we're getting kids of a younger age and especially girls. Now there's lots of information and lots of research really targeting those girls because that's a different need. There's a comparison, their bodies against each other and social media, and there's also, peer relationships, and just what we call Mean Girls. I hear a lot of those kinds of things, of feeling left out or not feeling good enough,” explains Bernice Gordon-Young, LCPC, a psychotherapist with OSF HealthCare who treats both children and adults.

Gordon-Young listens to the challenges faced by those who come to her. Some of what she has heard over the past 16 months during the pandemic is of great concern.

“There are things like self-harming. There's a lot of vaping going on, they're also getting access to edibles, and they're coming through the mail. Those are coming to your homes, many homes, and parents just don't know. They find people who have access, and it just gets distributed to them. And that's how they're coping in an unhealthy way. That's why I really work with our kids because they will share - if we listen to them without judgment - they'll share with us. If it's not happening to them, what’s happening around them,” says Gordon-Young.

That’s why Gordon-Young says it’s important to talk to children, and, more importantly, tolisten给他们。

According to the CDC report, the disruption of daily life as teens and young adults knew it before the pandemic - with lockdowns and social distancing orders - may have contributed to the rise in suicide attempts.

The influence of social media may get some of the blame for what young people are going through, but Gordon-Young sees both goodandbad influences from it.

“There are numerous factors that our children are facing when they're on social media. There is homophobia, there is racism, and there's bullying. So they are seeking assistance or seeking acceptance is some of the places that may hurt them the most. And so we have to monitor that as well.”

“有时他们在社交媒体上花了太多时间，他们没有社交，他们正在失去这个组成部分。所以孤立成为了他们的常态，他们很难重新融入社会。因为我们很长时间没有联系了。”

One of the positive outcomes from the pandemic is the expansion of telehealth services, which has opened and extended counseling and other mental health services to those in need, especially in more rural areas. Gordon-Young was counseling people around the world because the need was so great.

She says regardless of where the call was coming from, the concerns, for the most part, were the same - they wanted to know when they were going to be okay, how to help make things be okay, and they needed to hear that it's okay not to be okay, something Olympic gymnast Simone Biles has called attention to.

Gordon-Young says to watch for signs that something isn’t quite right, and know there are resources out there to help.

“饮食失调或其他一些原因导致的问题越来越多。焦虑通常与饮食失调有关，有时也与抑郁有关。有很多辅导项目。让孩子们参与一些事情也很重要，今年夏天有一些夏令营要举行。让他们走出家门，让他们找点乐子。重要的是要认识到这里有资源，也有不需要任何成本的资源。”

There are a variety ofprograms and servicesoffered throughout the communities served by OSF HealthCare and throughIt Takes A Village, the 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established by Gordon-Young as a support system for children, families and other individuals.