New Page 1
Report: 3 Million U.S. Teens Contemplate Suicide (2002)
Three
million American teens have thought seriously about or even attempted
suicide, a government survey released on Sunday showed.
More than 13% of young Americans between 14 and 17 years of age
considered suicide in 2000, according to the report from the US
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Only
36% of them had received mental health treatment or counseling, SAMHSA
noted.
Depression is the main cause of suicide, SAMHSA administrator Charles
Curie explained in a statement.
"We need to help teens make the link between untreated
depression and the risk for suicide, and help them identify serious
depression or suicide risk in a friend," Curie said. "We must
encourage teens to tell a responsible adult when a friend is at risk for
suicide."
More than one third of the 3 million teens aged 12 to 17 who said
they thought about suicide in the past 12 months actually tried it, the
survey done by SAMHSA found.
Girls were twice as likely as boys to say they thought about suicide,
but race and areas did not seem to make a difference, the report
indicates. The highest rate was noted in the western part of the
country, where 13.5% of children aged 12 to 17 reported having had
thoughts of suicide.
美国政府7月14日公布了一份调查报告，其结果显示有300万十几岁的美国青少年曾有过自杀的念头，他们其中还有人将其付诸实际行动。
根据美国物质滥用与心理卫生服务部（SAMHSA）的报告，2000年，美国14至17岁的青少年中有超过13%的人曾想过自杀。然而只有36%的人接受了精神方面的治疗或咨询。
物质滥用与心理卫生服务部管理人员查尔斯·居里在一项声明中解释说，导致青少年自杀的主要原因是精神抑郁。
居里说："我们需要帮助青少年了解如果精神抑郁患者不进行及时治疗就会有自杀的危险，还要帮助他们判断自己的朋友是否患有严重的精神抑郁症或有自杀倾向。我们必须鼓励青少年在发现自己有朋友有自杀的念头时，及时通知成年人。"
这份报告说，在这300万曾经有过轻生念头的12到17岁青少年中，超过1/3的人承认他们在过去的一年中曾真的自杀过。
在接受调查的人中，有过自杀念头的女孩差不多是男孩的两倍，不过比例在种族上和地区上是没有什么差别的。自杀率最高的地区是美国的西部地区，曾有13.5%的青少年有过轻生念头。
