Parents and doctors need to recognize “the increasing difficulty of life, especially as a teen,” Shain said. Teen girls are double as likely as boys to attempt suicide, Shain wrote in the treatment recommendations. Boys, however, are three times more likely to succeed at killing themselves. Among teenagers, one in 50 to 100 suicide attempts is successful. Bullying is associated with an enhanced risk for suicide for both victims and perpetrators, Shain noted. While online bullying is a problem unique to teens of this generation, the Internet can also be a source of support that can help teens cope with issues that might contribute to suicidal thoughts, Shain said.
Antidepressant use has become frequently common among teens and may have contributed to a declining suicide rate. But these medications can also contribute to suicidal thoughts. When teens take antidepressants, parents and doctors need to watch for signs of increased anxiety, agitation, aggression, impulsivity, insomnia, irritability or self-destructive behavior. When possible, doctors should also ask about whether firearms are in the home and discuss with parents how guns and resources in the house might contribute to an increased risk of suicide. Doctors should also ask how parents store medications in the home to ensure these are kept in a place where teens can’t get to them. The shortage of psychiatrists and mental health professionals is a difficult problem to tackle, said Dr. Bernard Biermann, An adolescent psychiatry researcher at the University of Michigan’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital.
“Access to mental health services is increasingly challenging due to funding cuts, insurance restrictions and other barriers to care,” Biermann, who wasn’t involved in the AAP guidelines, said by email. Teens are also under huge pressure to succeed in school, extracurricular activities, and social settings, Biermann noted. More and more youth are graduating high school with multiple college credits and feel pressure to perform well in sports and other activities. “Adolescence is a time of tremendous stress and it seems like today’s teens have surprisingly high, often unreasonable, expectations for themselves,” Biermann said. “As a result, depression, anxiety and other mental health concerns are increasingly common as are maladaptive behaviors such as substance abuse, self-injury, eating disorders and other forms of unhealthy coping.”
