ForumGarden

That's very tragic. Especially when there is no warning. It seems depression is much more prevalent in the world today. Don't know the percentages of people on meds for mood disorders but remember that it is really outrageous. Bullying is also a terrifying threat in the last ten years. Now they have the grisly task of trying to understand what happened. My sympathies.

I have to deal with this all the time, unfortunately. I once knew a kid who used to greet me everyday with a happy, "Hi Mr. Ives!" then one day, he didn't greet me. I knew that something was bothering him, and I thought "I should talk to him and see what it is." But I was a first year teacher and was very swamped with the business of teaching.

The next day he blew his head off with a shotgun. It turns out that his girlfriend broke up with him and he decided, "I'll never have another girlfriend again, so I'd better just kill myself."

Teens are much more emotional, and have very limited coping systems to deal with terrible stress in their lives. They get depressed easily and make decisions on the spur of the moment.

I tell kids these days, "You never know what will happen to you tomorrow. You might feel like killing yourself today, but you might win the lottery tomorrow! Wouldn't you feel funny then? Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. All life changes from day to day, and no situation, no matter how bad, lasts forever. There's as much good as bad in the world."