Parents urged to be closer to teens as suicide rate reaches 170 a year

[webfact]

Parents urged to be closer to teens as suicide rate reaches 170 a year

 

 

BANGKOK, 5 March 2018 (NNT) – The Department of Mental Health has found an average 170 Thai teenagers commit suicide each year with most due to relation problems, advising parents and guardians to closely watch their children. 

Rajanukul Institute has worked with private sector organizations to host LOVE SICK, an activity promoting strong family ties and ways for parents to connect with their teenage children. The event was highlighted by a talk from institute director Dr. Maturada Suwanpho on the topic of unhappy teens. 

Dr. Maturada disclosed that according to the Department of Mental Health, 170 Thai teens on average die from suicide each year with the number one reason being romantic relationships and conflict within the family.

 

She remarked that part of the problem may be the fast pace of modern Thai life and the fact that most teens spend more time on their mobile phones than speaking with their parents, further noting that teens facing issues now more often seek guidance from friends who may lead them down a path of vice and ultimately suicide.

 

She urged parents and guardians to show their children love and warmth and to be available to them via social media, especially between school terms when they may be most vulnerable.

 

-- nnt 2018-03-05

 

The charity Samaritans is available around the clock for people who want to talk.

If you or anyone you know is in need of mental health services, please contact the Samaritans of Thailand at their 24-hour hotline 02-713-6791 (English), 02713-6793 (Thai) or Thai Mental Health Hotline at 1323 (Thai).

http://www.samaritansthai.com/news/samaritans-of-thailand-english-hotline/

[shady86]

Not a problem at all. More children from teens coming out everyday to replenish them!

[jak2002003]

14 minutes ago, shady86 said:

Not a problem at all. More children from teens coming out everyday to replenish them!

Hope if one of your children of loved ones commits suicide, them you will remember what you said here.

[Lupatria]

20 hours ago, webfact said:

Parents urged to be closer to teens

Via their smart phones?

[thaibeachlovers]

Thai society is not alone in being too late to fix that particular problem.

 

However, I'd like to know if it's mainly in one demographic or spread throughout society- rich and poor.

[thaibeachlovers]

20 hours ago, webfact said:

especially between school terms when they may be most vulnerable.

When I was at school, I spent my holidays working. Perhaps that is a good option to resurrect, if kids are offing themselves because they have too much time to be getting involved in inappropriate relationships.

[greenchair]

My 11 year old son didn't even know the meaning of the word suicide. 

 

Until they had health education, and they told him that when he becomes a teenager he will probably have suicidal thoughts. Including that the Thai textbooks have stories about children killing themselves because h /she is angry with the parents. 

Teachers are not phycologists, they should not be planting these seeds of thought to 11 year old. 

 

[Thian]

33 minutes ago, Lupatria said:

Via their smart phones?

In Thailand 4.0 they have an app to send your kids iloveyou-emoticons over LINE automatic every day.

 

The app can also send dontdrivedrunk-emoticons to the husband and for the kids they have wearahelmetformummy ones.

 

For the dog it can send the dontbarkallday and don'tpassthefence ones.

 

170 a year is about the same as the amount of deadly roadaccidents which happen DAILY in thailand.

[Moti24]

"She remarked that part of the problem may be the fast pace of modern Thai life and the fact that most teens spend more time on their mobile phones than speaking with their parents....."

 

Fast pace of modern Thai life!  Everything is "Mai Bpen Rai"!  There's only snails' pace; that's if they can stay awake long enough.

 

If the teens don't have a phone, they wouldn't be able to communicate with their parents at all.  A lot of kids live with their extended family.  Some of those that do live with their parents, don't see them from dawn to dusk.  I've seen parents drop-off their kids at school at 6am, and the poor kids are still waiting to be picked-up at 8pm.  I'd probably top myself under those circumstaces!

 

The moral of the story is, "If you can't or don't want to look-after kids, don't ****in have them!

[ostyan]

The Thai way of growing kids is usually covered by sabay, sabay and sanuk, sanuk. A normal Thai kid does whatever he wants without any boundaries. This seems to be an ancient Thai custom.