Suicide, whatever it may be, is an act by which a person commits suicide. In fact, suicide is a common cause of death among America's youth today. Every day, more than 1,000 adolescents will think about suicide and eighteen will succeed in committing it. This is an ever-increasing problem that can be described as unnecessary and unjustified. Knowledge and understanding are key factors in preventing adolescent suicide. The problem usually stems from a period of depression, either a medical problem or simply a sad event in a person's life. Ultimately, teen suicide is not a rare event and it can be prevented with proper treatment. Other leading causes of teen suicide include bullying, depression, accidents, etc. Suicide is the third leading cause of death among 15- to 24-year-olds and the sixth leading cause of death among 5- to 14-year-olds, barely surpassed by car accidents and homicides (kidshealth.org). The question is: why would anyone want to die? Research shows that most teens who attempt suicide regret it at the last minute and wish they could live after all. Faced with the certainty of their own death, most reported suddenly realizing that their problems were not so serious that they couldn't be solved somehow. Their problems weren't so bad that they couldn't find a way to survive them. In the second before they almost died, they knew they wanted to live (Nelson and Galas, 1994, p. 12). Many events and warning signs lead to suicide. Suicidal thoughts and attempts are usually caused by a medical problem, depression. The person often experiences strong feelings of stress, confusion, self-doubt, the pr...... middle of paper...... avoidable however, in several ways. Greta was a firm believer in the age-old saying that sometimes the best way to overcome something is to understand it. Adults should take the possibility of teen suicide seriously, even if their community has not experienced one. Depression and suicidal thoughts among adolescents are more common than many adults realize, and there are as many as fifty to one hundred suicide attempts for every young person who commits suicide. The loving attention of today's busy parent or the help of a caring friend are important in helping a teenager because it lets them know that someone actually cares about them. Suicide is preventable, but we must act quickly. Perhaps then we can help put an end to the third leading cause of death among young people today. (.uky.edu/Agriculture/Sociology/suicide.htm).