Why do teens commit suicide when they only have 4 years of high school?

I didn’t realize until I was out of HS that I didn’t have to be bound to the label that had been placed on me by the HS crowd.
I’m sure that many HS students feel the same way and if that label is “loser” or “stupid” or “ugly” or any number of cruel labels people get stuck with I can imagine it would feel pretty hopeless, especially if it’s coupled with mental illness.

A boy in my son’s scout troop, who was 15, took his own life earlier this month. The whole town grieves over the heartache.

When anyone, especially a teen, is in such anguish, they are blinded and overwhelmed by the present, and cannot see even the rest of the day being different. High School has very little to do with it. It’s more with a visceral knowledge that the future is changeable, and it does get better. Without that, and considering the shortsightedness of a teenager, the present is a crushing weight.

@zenvelo, I completely agree with you. Another factor. I imagine. is what’s going on hormonally with kids during that time of life—including the wide mood swings.

This sounds like a question and its answer.

Four years seems like forever when you’re in high school. And what reason do they have to believe things get better after high school is over?

Don’t forget, in high school, it’s usually the first time you’ve done anything. Things like breaking up and depression can be the worst the first time you go through them. Actually, they say depression can get worse, but I think knowing you can survive it makes a difference. You don’t know that the first time.

So never having entered depression, and being young and not having much experience, nor any of the wisdom that experience brings, you can see that depression will probably never end, and that’s why people kill themselves. The pain is too much to bear, knowing it will always be like that forever more.

And it’s not so much about high school, as the feelings they feel. Those feelings are certanly related to high school, but they are also related to other things like loneliness, lack of friends, lack of understanding by parents and general existential angst. High school is just a part of it. And most of those other things will not be over in 4 years… or so it seems.

The amazing thing to me is that anyone survives teenage years.

Their mind isn’t clear when they commits such things. Life is beautiful, I believe that. I also believe that they have such a loving family, and lovely friends. Perhaps cyber bullying has gone too much, and like I’ve stated in my question, “They only have 4 years of high school” means they wasn’t wise enough, they’re too young to handle shit, or to deal with bad/negative compliments for others. Therefore, they chose suicide. And that’s bad.

When I was in high school I couldn’t ever imagine living to my current age. I could barely imagine even being out of high school, having a job, getting married, having kids, any of that. And I was always mature for my age and well loved at home. I can barely imagine the hell that some kids must face on a daily basis, and I have a pretty good imagination.

Lack of perspective and no one to talk to about it. It’s unfortunate, but a lot of kids feel alone in the world despite all the people around them.

People are so insecure at that age, and hormones raging, and as wunday mentioned, they are experiencing it all for the first time usually. Plus, high school kids can be very cruel to each other, especially if you have low self-esteem.

With all the material goods now, I would think it may lead to more ‘outcasts’ as well, those who can’t afford Juicy Couture and Nooks. Parenting is so incredibly important.

It certainly doesn’t help that every adult on the planet tells kids “It’s not that bad; this is the best time of your life. Just wait until you have real responsibilities”.

Good lord, @Seek_Kolinahr! Who tells kids this is the best time of their lives? Were none of them ever teens?

I tell my kids this is the hardest time of life. It was for me. Anything I can do to help you get through this, I will (although that does not mean lessening the load, optionally). It really scares me. I was thinking about suicide a lot when I was 16 and 17, the age my daughter is now. We just try to keep the communication lines as open as possible, given that teens are also trying to separate and become independent at this time, too.

^ Usually the idiots that did the bullying and partying.

Can’t tell you how many times I heard that line and lay in my bed at night contemplating whether life was worth it if this was the best I had to look forward to.

After my bf broke up with me, I though, I could totally run this car into that telephone pole and this wouldn’t hurt. Then I thought “what would that solve and is it really such a big deal”, I kind of rationally talked myself down, kind of like my mom would do.

Parents talking to their kids works more often than people think. .

I think people commit suicide because they are in pain. If it weren’t high school, maybe it would be something else. I’m not sure you can blame it on high school.

People feel very overwhelmed in high school and know that more often than not life just gets harder after it. People are rude, you do the same thing every day for a long time, and you’re doing something that you don’t even like half the time. Suddenly you have more and more adult responsibilities but are still treated like a child. It seems like there’s no end to the work you have to do and it’s a lot to deal with. And some people don’t even have someone they can talk to about it. It’s not just high school that does it, but sometimes it has a big role.

Out of balance hormones can cause a person to be blinded to any sense of future.