Children are the most vulnerable part of society, their honesty and ingenuity make them easy prey to any kind of mockery or lie, on the other hand, they are often the executioners of others without realizing the damage they are actually doing. That’s why talking about child suicide remains a complicated issue: it has many nuances and the danger of slipping into one of them is great.
Death is an event that, for children, is difficult to understand, faced with the death of a loved one, many continue to question the person, others continue to include him or her in his present, and others settle for “going elsewhere. “The point is that the explanations a single child receives can be multiple, very different and not always fair.
- That said.
- To assume that minors can think of suicide is something beyond our understanding.
- As an adult it is common for people to fantasize about this idea.
- Without realizing it.
- On the other hand a mature person is aware that dying is something that cannot be reversed.
- But a child may not be so clear about it.
- Child suicide remains an issue with many unanswered questions.
On December 2, 2009, Samantha Kubersky’s mother found the lifeless body of her 6-year-old daughter. He had wrapped a belt around his neck and then jumped out of a crib. Despite attempts by his family and doctors, it was not possible to do anything to save his life.
A few hours earlier, the girl had argued with her mother, she and another of her sisters were in different rooms when the tragedy occurred, according to the police, there was no indication that the family had anything to do with it.
It seemed incredible that such a little girl could have made the decision to do something like that. There was a lot of speculation as to whether this childish suicide could have been treated as an accident, a theory that does not match the evidence that the resulting questions were many: was it a joke that went wrong or was it just his way of escaping the boredom caused by the previous discussion?
“If we change the way we see things, things will change. “Wayne Dyer?
Suicide can be studied from a sociological or psychological point of view, in Samantha’s case the psychological factor plays a fundamental role, one of the theories that best fits in this case is the one proposed by the American psychiatrist Karl Menninger.
From his various studies on the subject, he concluded that suicide could be conceived as reverse homicide; the patient’s anger and hatred of another person could be the cause of his own death. He discovered three components of hostility: the desire to kill, the desire to be killed, and the desire to die.
On the other hand, it is extremely strange to find such an early case of child suicide, as children under the age of 10 generally do not develop suicidal thoughts unless there are certain risk factors, so the main subjects the police had to investigate were those in the nearest circle of Samantha, her direct family.
Despite what appeared to be, no evidence was found that the girl had been abused. The people who knew her emphasized her cheerful and loving personality, which makes it even more incomprehensible that she is done with her life. So, Samantha was really aware of what it was. According to psychiatrist Kirk Wolf, probably not.
“Until age 9 or 10, a child does not begin to understand the true meaning of death. At this age, he discovers that it is a point of no return.
This claim is strongly supported by the opinion of the officers in charge of the case, who at first denied that a 6-year-old boy had committed suicide, even after forensic experts ruled that it was a suicide, the idea that Samantha did. I don’t understand what was going to happen stays in place.
This leads us to the question: is it recommended w guests or not to talk to children about suicide?Death, in general, should not be considered a taboo subject for them, it is a very difficult and complicated subject, but it must be treated with respect. empathy.
It’s very beneficial to talk to them about something they’ll have to deal with sooner or later, death is an inevitable process that will come one day, we all have to go through some very difficult things throughout life, so we have to do it. Very clearly, there’s always another way to kill yourself, even if at some point we can’t see it.
In this way, by conveying the message that this is a subject like any other, who may have a voice, they will learn to express their feelings about it, have experienced or not the suicide of a loved one. Problems can avoid tragic and extreme decisions both now and in the future.
Polished Rodriguez, F; Glez. De Rivera y Revuelta, J. L; Gracia Marco, R and Montes de Oca Hernandez, D. (1990). Suicide and its theoretical interpretations. Psychs, No. 11, pages 374-380
Menninger, Karl A. (1958). Psychoanalytic Technique Theory, New York, USA, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New York, New YorkUSA: Basic Books