Mental illnesses are a huge problem in today’s world.

Mental illnesses are not confined to a singular place, people globally develop them, and just with depression alone it’s stated that over 280 million people have been shown to develop it. Estimates also show that around 1 million people die worldwide from suicide, and this isn’t even counting attempted suicides. Attempted suicide cases are 20x more frequent then completed suicide cases.

In the U.S suicide rates are shown to be 13.42 percent of 100,000 people, making that to be about 13,500 people that die in the U.S out of 100,000. 2019 had shown how prominent suicide and depression was, as suicide was the fourth leading cause of death globally at the time. And though suicide can’t really be stopped completely as it’s impossible to help every single person going through a struggle, people can work towards reducing the numbers and focusing on helping the people they can reach or influence.

Now, there are plenty of online sources about suicide prevention and how to help people out. Some things most of them have in common is just to be alert, notice things that go on around you, if you see someone that looks like they’re struggling then one shouldn’t hesitate to help them out or include them if they might be feeling left out. There could be many causes as to why people might have depression or suicidal thoughts, and honestly sometimes solving their problems for them could lead to the opposite effect and make them feel even worse, so when one goes about helping others out it’s important to be careful. Everyone thinks differently, but one typically good thing to do for those who may be struggling is just to let them know you’re there for them and care about them.

Be there for them and support them with what they’re going through, not necessarily solving their problems for them, but supporting them through the ordeal. Communication overall is a HUGE aspect of helping others that may be going through this. For some people all it might take is a simple phone call that pretty much anyone can do to help them and let them know they aren’t alone.

The main leading cause to people committing suicide is depression. Global estimates show that around 3.8% of people are depressed, and although that might seem like a rather low number to some people, as stated earlier, that number amounts to 280 million people depressed. Depression can be caused by many things such as: divorce, loneliness, or bad home life, and it won’t always be easily noticed. Depression most commonly can be seen in teens and younger adults, statistics show that of teens they know of, at least 20% of teens are seen to have experienced depression before they even reached adulthood.

Though many people know of depression a lot of people don’t truly no what it is, depression is defined as a common but severe mood disorder. It can change how you feel, think, and how you even handle everyday/daily tasks such as sleeping or eating. Though depression may be the leading cause to suicide there are still many other mental illnesses and other things that lead to suicide that others should be aware of.

Suicide isn’t just caused by one thing, typically it’s caused by many things that tend to pile up and lead the person to doing drastic things, such as self-harm. Some things people should be aware of that lead to depression are stress, substance abuse, family history/violence, and other mental disorders. Besides these ones though another big one that is found at the top of reasons why people probably would commit suicide is Loneliness.

Just about all of these symptoms or effects can be prevented – at least to some degree. Loneliness especially can be prevented even though it’s easily one of the main leading causes to suicide and depression, it’s not hard for people to reach out to others, and let them know you’re there for them, or make them feel included. If people see others by themselves and they look lonely they should try to get to know that person, and help them to feel more included.

Overall, suicide and mental illnesses are a huge problem in not just the U.S, but everywhere. Most of these cases can/could’ve been prevented with the help or support of another person or someone that would’ve even just listened to them. One key thing to remember is that Communication is a huge aspect when it comes to suicide or depression, and sometimes all it takes is just getting to know that person for them to feel better. People shouldn’t judge someone by what they may seem to be like, and get to know that person for themselves rather than listening to others talk about that person or judging them from afar. So in short, though this may be a huge problem it can easily be prevented with the support of others.