New Zealand and Suicide: A Tragic Relationship
New Zealand is dealing with a very sad thing the last two years. The suicide rate is exceptional high. From 2014 until 2015 a total of 569 people died. This is heart-shattering to hear. From 2007 until 2015 every year, at least over 500 people killed themselves for different reasons. Males are between 25 and 29 were in a high risk of killing themselves and females in their forties. The women- suicide rate is at its highest, a total of 170 women committed suicide. 2015 was the worst year when it comes to this topic, when we count from 2008 until then. The other terrible truth is that NZ has the highest rate of teen suicides in a developed world. Statistically every week one or two teenagers are killing themselves and each week they have to take care of 20 teenagers who are hospitalized with self-harm. In the year 2015 200 young men and women have ended their lives; this is something that has to change and cannot be ignored. But to help those people, we have to understand why are they doing this? Why is this last escape for them? Of course we cannot just talk about NZ. Suicide is a problem every country has to face. There are many aspects why people see no other way. The most common reasons are violence at home. Kids may face physical and mental violence from their parents because they have a lot of problems and the children are the ones who have to take this pain. May it be because the parents are divorced or the father drinks because his job is talking everything he has or even financial problems, which is also a reason in a lot of households and in families. Then we have schools. Kids get bullied, beat up at school or embarrassed by classmates because they do not belong to the ‘’cool kids’’. Another is loneliness, they are far away from home because they study abroad or may it be just another city but have a hard time to find friends in college. Others have a hard time finding a job, a purpose or reason to live, what they really want to do with their lives and getting older and older and time is running out and fall into depression, which can ultimate lead to suicide because they want to escape their misery once and for all. Suicide often or just plain and simple comes from depression. Everyone should know that depression is something that people should take seriously. It does not just go away, you cannot just be happy with a blink of an eye, it is not that easy. People who suffer from this are in need of help, from their family, their friends and the government. They have to understand that those people wake up every day and feel awful and worthless and they themselves do not know what could change that. All those things at the end can lead to suicide and right now NZ has a big problem and they need to take care of this. We all can hope that the next years will prove us wrong and they can do better and treat this illness, so less people will end their lives. Because if this is not changing, then it keeps what it is, a terrible tragedy with no happy end.
