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By 20yearold who committed suicide8/31/2023 Sudden changes in behavior: Adolescents may begin to perform poorly in school, skip school, stop caring about how they look, lose interest in the things they used to love, sleep more than usual, stay out late for no reason, or present sudden weight changes.Suicide threats: Adolescents may either directly or indirectly tell others that they plan to commit suicide (e.g., “I have decided to kill myself,” “I wish I were dead,” “I just cannot go on any longer,” “I am getting out I am tired of life”).According to Nelson and Galas (1994), some of the signals are: It is not merely because the adolescent is gifted that he/she is immune to emotional distress. Parents and teachers must recognize warning signals of suicide risk to successfully intervene. Gifted adolescents’ inability to deal with complex and intense feelings may be a source of vulnerability that can contribute to suicidal thoughts. When one or more of these issues occur, potential problems emerge. The lack of support from family, peers, and teachers may also contribute to self-concept problems (Lovecky, 1993). Finally, gifted adolescents who present traits of sensory overexcitability such as high energy levels, emotional intensity, unusual capacity to care, and insatiable love of learning may not find a receptive environment. Feelings of being abnormal or experiencing rejection from peers can lead the talented adolescent to experience severe identity problems. ![]() Supersensitivity may be associated with gifted students’ heightened awareness about world problems and their feelings of frustration and powerlessness about making changes that can affect the world. As explained by Pollack ( Teenage Suicide, 2000b), “you cannot separate out students’ emotional report card from their academic report card” (p. However, the emotional and social development of these youngsters has been neglected by the school. Students may feel the pressure to succeed. Academic success and cognitive development have been the focus of educational goals, especially for gifted students. In the school environment, attention has been paid to raising standards and testing students. ” The shame and guilt of ‘failure’ can lead them to suicide” (Nelson & Galas, 1994, p. ![]() As a result, they do not allow themselves to fail or make a mistake. Many gifted youngsters believe they are loved for their grades, honors, and special abilities. ![]() Excessive concern about errors, in addition to high parental and societal expectations, can result in depression and absence of self-worth. To do the best is no longer enough and the individual feels frustrated no matter how well he/she performs (Lajoie & Shore, 1981). Driven by a self-oriented or socially prescribed perfectionism, the individual establishes high and rigid standards. The most salient characteristics of gifted adolescents that may be associated with vulnerability to social and emotional disturbances are: (a) perfectionism, (b) supersensitivy, (c) social isolation, and (d) sensory overexcitability (Delisle, 1986 Dixon & Scheckel, 1996 Fleith, 1998 Hayes & Sloat, 1989). Although literature on the relationship between suicide and giftedness is scarce, as are the statistics involving suicide rates among gifted adolescents, characteristics often associated with gifted and talented young people are also viewed as suicide risk factors (Dixon & Scheckel, 1996). The literature has reported affective states, environmental conditions, and interpersonal problems as suicide risk factors (Blatt, 1995 Dixon & Scheckel, 1996 Hayes & Sloat, 1990). While suicide rates among adults have steadied or declined over the past few decades, suicide rates of young people have increased ( Teenage Suicide, 2000a). Department of Health & Human Services, 1999). Among youngsters 15-19 years of age, the rate of increase was 114%, making suicide the fourth leading cause of death for this age group (U.S. The rate of suicide among children 10 to 14 years of age increased 100% between 1980-1996.
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