By SANCHESKA BROWN
Tribune Staff Reporter
sbrown@tribunemedia.net
POLICE are investigating the apparent attempted suicides of two teenage boys, aged 13 and 17.
Police have remained tight-lipped on both the attempted suicides, but The Big T understands the first occurred around 4pm on Thursday near Bernard Road.
According to sources, a 13-year old boy tied a rope around his neck and attempted to hang himself from the shower curtain rod in the bathroom. He was discovered unconscious by his father who removed the shower rod and called the ambulance.
About an hour later, around 5pm, police received a call of another attempted suicide, this time in Delancy Street.
Sources say a 17-year-old boy was found hanging from a fence with a show string. He was cut down and taken to hospital where he is said to be in stable condtion.
Active investigations are continuing.
Police are appealing to members of the public who may find themselves stressed to please talk to someone. You can also contact the police at 919, 322-3333/4, the Crisis Centre at 328-0922 or the Community Counselling & Assessment Centre at 323-3293/5 or speak with the pastor at any church.
These two apparent attempted suicides come just two months after two persons – 31-year-old Jamal Kemp and 35-year-old Shante Gibson – died just hours apart.
Government officials concerned about a “suicide trend” in the country appointed a task force in February to investigate past suicides in an effort to determine their cause and work out what can be done to prevent future cases.
Leading psychiatrist Dr David Allen said then that these suicides indicate that there is a “deep, deep level of stress in our country.”
Comments
lazybor 11 years, 7 months ago
13 yo suicide???? thats terrible!
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SP 11 years, 7 months ago
These two teenagers’ suicide attempts and recent suicides are undeniable messages’ that Bahamians have surpassed the threshold to mentally deal with the degradation of unemployment.
Children easily develop feeling of depression or feelings of loneliness or helplessness and humiliation caused by watching their parents suffer joblessness, unpaid rents or mortgages, power off, water off and empty food cupboards.
It is also important to realize that 90 percent of those who kill themselves actually have depression or some other mental health issue-The CDC reports that it is the third leading cause of death for youth ages 15 to 24. The only two things that cause more death among teenagers are accidents (usually in the car) and homicide. And even younger children do not escape. Suicide is the fourth leading cause of death for young people between the ages of 10 and 14.
Bahamians' are extremely succepaical to rapid development of suicidal tendencies during financial difficulties because Bahamians' are simply unaccustomed to financial loss caused stress's.
Unlike Haitians', Jamaicans', Philippians’ and Latinos’ who were born into poverty and accustomed to living without basic infrastructure and comforts of life, Bahamians have always enjoyed a higher standard of living and know nothing else.
The average Bahamian mindset is one of pride and totally different than Haitians', Jamaicans', Philippians’ and Latinos’ in that they are generally unwilling to migrate out of the Bahamas in search of a better way of life because of a perception that life in the Bahamas is better for them than it could ever be United States or elsewhere.
Government must stop the procrastination, get off their hands and get our people back to work. Getting rid of the 35,000 blue collar workers brought in by the FNM must be accelerated at all cost. Why must we be "humane" enough to give the foreign workers 1 year notice but not "humane" enough to save our people from suicide by making jobs that are rightfully theirs available to them immediately?
Understandfacts 11 years, 7 months ago
You write as if you a certain the unemployment rate was a direct or even indirect cause of the attempted suicides.
It could have been something completely different, or maybe a contributing factor as to why, but you are not certain. You can suggest that the creation of more jobs will increase moral throughout the country and have an impact on suicide attempts, but you can also argue that about child molestation, bullying, other forms of child abuse and neglect and in adult-hood you can argue different things as well.
SP 11 years, 7 months ago
It stands to reason that pending a conclusive investigation of these teen attempted suicides, conjecture can be claimed on both sides of the fence.
However, one does not have to be a genius or psychologist to look at where we came from to where we are now to figure out with some honesty why the Bahamas has had more suicides and attempted suicides in the last 5 years than any time in this country’s history.
Unquestionably suicide among teens often occurs following a stressful life event, such as problems at school, a breakup with a boyfriend or girlfriend, the death of a loved one, a divorce, a major family conflict or prolonged feelings of hopelessness caused by financial hardship.
Easily verifiable facts prove that teens going through major life changes i.e. parents' divorce, moving, a parent leaving home due to financial problems, parental separation or financial changes and those who are victims of bullying are at greater risk of suicidal thoughts.
One can argue any number of reasons to suit ones individual bias.
An overbearing irrefutable actuality in the Bahamas today is the existence of a 14%+ unemployment rate mainly in the blue collar sector caused partially by a bad decision by the former government to raise $40M in revenue through the approval of 30,000+ work permits for foreign low skilled blue collar jobs.
Spain’s' overwhelming amounts of suicides due to over 400,000 foreclosures’ in five years is a prime example. Enough Spain suicides of homeowners losing their property to foreclosure has resulted in the country passing a new eviction law to better protect families.
What are we doing to protect Bahamians?
Family breakdown due to financial distress remains the leading cause of depression among adults and teens alike.
We will know in short order exactly why these two teenage Bahamians attempted suicide.
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