I have attached the previous literature review draft to revise and the previous comments that were on the paper.

Depression and Suicide

Cassandra Harris

Columbia Southern University

Depression and Suicide

Introduction

Depression is a mental condition that has been associated, by many researchers, with suicidal thoughts, especially among the teenagers in the United States. Researchers have established that depressive symptoms included helplessness which drives most of the affected to suicidal behavior and attempts to take their lives. However, other studies have indicated that the assessment of suicide in teenagers and different age groups is not sufficient to identify signs of suicide which accounts for most of the cases, and not necessarily due to depression. While a contention exists between depressive symptoms and likelihood of suicides, researchers have continued to show that further research is required to understand issues surrounding mental illnesses. Davidson et al. (2013) noted that most of the practitioners lacked enough knowledge on the pathways related to depression which could account for the increased cases of suicide despite mechanisms to protect against the same. Shahtahmasebi (2015) noted that some patients who were diagnosed with clinical depression and under management for some time, under professional therapies, have resorted to suicide showing that something must be wrong in the practice. The most affected population are the teenagers who appear to be struggling with increased societal stressors, which if identified, could lead to decreased cases of teen suicide in the country. Espelage and Holt (2013) highlighted that when teens are bullied in school, they experience increased stress levels that often lead to depression which may translate to suicidal thoughts if help is not accorded. Therefore, it appears that specific actions to address depression symptoms in teenagers could be a first step in dealing with cases of teen suicides. Indeed, employing evidence-based strategies in understanding the progression of depression and its management could be a critical method in understanding its contribution to death among teenagers.

Literature Review

The issue of depression and its association with suicide rates among teenagers can only be understood if all collaborators can work together to develop correct assessment tools for care. The literature review will provide an overview of what different researchers have found regarding the linkage of depression to suicide in various settings. The knowledge will show points of contention and consensus to highlight further how practitioners can work together to deal with the negative impacts of depression and lower cases of suicide. The main idea is to establish that depression cannot be blamed in isolation as a motive for suicide, as many other factors could be responsible for suicidal ideation. While teen suicide has led to increased deaths among the youth, the exact causes are believed to be an interplay of several factors. Several researchers have attempted to weigh how the two issues relate to giving differing arguments as will be shown below.

Con Argument on how Depression leads to suicide

The complex issues surrounding teen suicide cannot all be attributed to depression, as many factors could be leading to suicide among teenagers. Baams, Grossman and Russell (2015) explored several factors that could lead to suicide among teenagers to reveal an interplay of biological, psychological and environmental issues that all could lead to death even without depression signs. For instance, the authors noted the contribution of being from a minority group or having a different sexual orientation that led to most of the suicides and attempts from teenagers. Indeed, Shahtahmasebi (2015) showed that most of the teenagers who commit suicide had no apparent signs of depression revealing a need for better measures in understanding suicide ideation.

In the same way, Cummins et al. (2015) highlighted that assessment of depression is not well understood which shows that missing links as to what behaviors could be translated to suicidal ideation and behaviors cannot be fully explained. Therefore, in line with Campos et al. (2016) recommendations, a better psychosocial perspective is required when dealing with depressed patients in order to note any behaviors that may be considered suicidal. Implementation of tools that focus on depression and how each patient views life could inform their propensity to suicide.

The case for Depression leading to suicide

As Goldman, Shah and Bernstein (2015) reported, most of the student physicians had depressive symptoms before committing suicide. The pressure associated with high expectations of success in medical school was believed to contribute to most of the depression and isolation of students. The conditions are said to have led to suicidal ideation. A similar conclusion was arrived at by Espelage and Holt (2013), who had noted that bullying among teenagers in school led to depressive symptoms and later suicide among affected victims. The researchers noted that bullying led to emotional distress and victimization which caused disinterest in social activities and life in general. The excess depressed states are seen to have contributed to suicidal behavior and ideation.

Taking a different approach, Davidson et al. (2013) revealed that depression was poorly studied and this explains that patients under counseling services and undergoing management by trained professionals still committed suicide. Therefore, the authors noted that maybe the approach to depression and its progression was wrong, which contributed to cases of suicide despite treatment. However, strong evidence can be shown to show emotional distress and how it could result to suicide, which in part could be considered a characteristic of depression. As Goldman, Shah and Bernstein (2015) noted, the need for better reforms in mental health awareness will be one way of ensuring that teenagers get the needed help before they can consider suicide.

Conclusion

While concerns about the rising cases of teen suicide in the united states continue, there is a looming debate as to whether depression could be contributing to some of these cases. Since the number of deaths threatens the future of the country due to the lost live and emotional trauma of the families, finding a solution to end teen suicides would be vital as a mental health intervention. Those linking depression to teen suicide purport that it is the depressive symptoms such as withdrawal, helplessness, isolation and emotional pain that causes most of the teenagers to consider suicide. However, those against the claim suggest that lack of proper tools to assess, treat and manage depression and suicide contributes to the blame game for both issues. Therefore, they recommend that efforts should be directed at understanding what leads to suicide in non-depressed teenagers and how some people with chronic depression do not show suicidal behaviors. Further, a need to review the assessment tools to understand their effectiveness in the identification and prevention of suicide cases among teenagers would be more informative. Indeed, these views represent a gap in how the progression of depression is understood in the area of mental health and how teenagers can benefit from programs that target suicidal thoughts and lowering of depressive symptoms. Although one does not influence the other, there appears to be a link to how the depression could contribute to suicidal thoughts or how suicidal ideations could lead to depression.

References

Baams, L., Grossman, A. H., & Russell, S. T. (2015). Minority stress and mechanisms of risk for depression and suicidal ideation among lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth. Developmental psychology, 51(5), 688.

Campos, R. C., Holden, R. R., Laranjeira, P., Troister, T., Oliveira, A. R., Costa, F., ... & Fresca, N. (2016). Self-report depressive symptoms do not directly predict suicidality in nonclinical individuals: Contributions toward a more psychosocial approach to suicide risk. Death Studies, 40(6), 335-349.

Cummins, N., Scherer, S., Krajewski, J., Schnieder, S., Epps, J., & Quatieri, T. F. (2015). A review of depression and suicide risk assessment using speech analysis. Speech Communication, 71, 10-49.

Davidson, C. L., Babson, K. A., Bonn‐Miller, M. O., Souter, T., & Vannoy, S. (2013). The impact of exercise on suicide risk: examining pathways through depression, PTSD, and sleep in an inpatient sample of veterans. Suicide and Life‐Threatening Behavior, 43(3), 279-289.

Espelage, D. L., & Holt, M. K. (2013). Suicidal ideation and school bullying experiences after controlling for depression and delinquency. Journal of Adolescent Health, 53(1), S27-S31.

Goldman, M. L., Shah, R. N., & Bernstein, C. A. (2015). Depression and suicide among physician trainees: recommendations for a national response. JAMA Psychiatry, 72(5), 411-412.

Shahtahmasebi, S. (2015). Suicide research: Problems with interpreting results — British Journal of Medicine and Medical Research, 5(9), 1147.