Adults are ceasing to be the protagonists of suicides. Rare is the day when the media does not report on adolescent suicide. According to the World Health Organization, suicide is already the third leading cause of death among adolescents in most countries, after accidents and homicide. Moreover, there is a clear upward trend. The issue of boys who die by suicide in adolescence is four times higher than that of girls.

Why does this problem continue to increase (affecting even adolescents as young as 12 years old and without symptoms of psychological disorders), when they have not yet had time to swell the unemployment rolls, nor to suffer disappointments in love?

Some parents obsess, without any objective basis, about the risk of their teenagers becoming suicidal. Others, on the other hand, dismiss it, even though risk factors already exist.

Suicidal thoughts are not uncommon during the adolescent crisis, but this is not worrisome unless associated with other risk factors.

The current progressive increase in suicide cases is due, in my opinion (not as a psychiatrist, but as an educator), to new social factors that cloud the vision and appreciation of life by adolescents. In some of these factors there is an ideological background: that of prioritizing the culture of death over the culture of life (abortion, contraception, euthanasia, suicide...).

A widespread misconception is that adolescent suicide can never be prevented; another misconception is that it is the exclusive task of psychiatrists in which educators cannot collaborate.

Suicide is not an equal danger for all adolescents. Some are affected by more risk factors than others. It is essential that those who live with them on a daily basis (parents and teachers) observe their behavior and inform the specialist, in order to jointly develop possible prevention strategies. A good tool for diagnosis is the Shaffer Test, which is usually applied in school check-ups.

There are at least 5 risk factors that can be cleared from a preventive Education :

1. Alcohol abuse

Continued addiction to alcoholic beverages is a staged suicide, which can be preempted by an alcoholic coma. Children should see that family parties without alcohol are no less fun.

2 Abuse of video games

A recent study by Eric Lewkowiez, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Georgia Regens University, concludes that unrestrained and unselected video game playing can lead to suicidal thoughts.

The original music of the "Pokemon" video game, the "Lavender Village" song, induced suicide in 104 children between the ages of 7 and 12 in Japan in the summer of 1996, the year the game was released. The reason was prolonged listening to a dark, sad melody that has peaks of tonal intensity that only teenagers can hear. It often causes headaches, insomnia, and depression.

To prevent this, it is good to encourage traditional games and recreational reading habits.

3. Fondness for depressing melodies and songs.

"Gloomy Sunday" was written by Hungarian composer and pianist Rezsó Seres in 1993. Several hundred people from different countries committed suicide after listening to it. The melody was very seductive. For obvious reasons, I reproduce only the first stanza:

"Sad Sunday, with a hundred white flowers/ and adorned the altar of my crazy illusion/ where my soul has gone to prostrate/ while my mouth calling you is/ Dying in me dreams sunsets of boredom/ tired of waiting and loneliness."

Prevention requires developing a critical sense in music and fashionable songs.

4. Harassment and cyberbullying

Suicides due to bullying or school bullying are becoming more frequent. Cases of suicide among adolescents who have been victims of cyberbullying are also increasing. Prevention requires having permanent information on the mood of the children during school time and when they are connected to the Internet. A climate of solidarity should be created at classroom to prevent bullying.

5. Pathological gambling

The gambler who can no longer play because he has gone bankrupt runs the risk of thinking that his only way out is suicide. This could be prevented by promoting the idea that the best lottery is work.

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Educators are expected to try to detect the existence of possible environmental influences that predispose children and adolescents to see the voluntary Withdrawal as a "liberation" to continue living.