Suicidal children need our help By Dr Tanya Byron

There is nothing more heart-rending than looking into the eyes of a child who wants to be dead. Like Claire, these children have a blank stare, a lack of connection, a deep sense of emptiness that makes them impossible to reach emotionally.

During my career as a clinical psychologist in child and adolescent mental health I have met many Claires: children living with feelings of abject despair, isolation and hopelessness, who are such a danger to themselves that they must be treated in adolescent units after being sectioned under the Mental Health Act.

Once all harmful objects – their shoelaces, belts and anything else they could use to hurt themselves – are taken from them, these children are put on a special observation level; at all times they have to be arm’s length away from two members of staff, whether they are on the toilet, eating, even sleeping.

As shocking as all this sounds – and however much we as a society do not want to believe that children could be suicidal – it happens. Every 30 minutes a youngster aged between 10 and 19 in the UK attempts suicide, with at least one doing so successfully each day. These young people are often suffering from depression and anxiety and have given up on life. The causes of their wish to die range from abuse and neglect to bullying, family stress and disharmony to loss and bereavement. They are not seeking attention; they feel trapped in their negative, stressful lives, have no one to talk to and see no way out – except death.

Why do children, who should be celebrating life with a spring in their step and joy in their hearts, want to die? There is no simple answer, but it is clear that the accumulation of stress factors will tip a child into suicidal thoughts, particularly if, because of genetic inheritance or social and familial circumstances, they are predisposed to emotional and psychological difficulties.

There is no doubt that children are under increasing stress. They have access to information and images that they may not always be able to process and understand; there are also the social pressures they feel as they are bombarded with expectations and images of unattainable lives. Films and music contain depictions and descriptions of suicide and death that can be seductive to a vulnerable child. There are even websites that children can access where they will be coached and supported in the planning and execution of their death.

This is no world for children. Indeed, increasing numbers of them are telling us that they do not want to be a part of this world. ChildLine receives many calls from children who are suicidal – some are sleepy and incoherent, having taken pills before the call. Between 2003 and 2004 there was a 14 per cent increase in the number of calls from children talking about suicidal thoughts and plans, with another 14 per cent increase in calls during 2004 – 05.

ChildLine wants to raise public awareness about this issue: with up to 4,000 children attempting to speak to a counselor every day but only 2,300 getting through, there is every chance that a call that cannot be answered due to lack of available resources is a call from a child planning their death (it costs ChildLine £3 to answer a child’s call and £38 to counsel them just once).

If we do not see the desperate and tragic behaviour of our young as a marker of how we have lost some fundamental morals and values, what on earth will open our eyes?

The Times, March 21, 2006

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* heart-rending – душераздирающий; горестный, тяжелый.

* abject – жалкий, презренный; низкий, униженный, несчастный, находящийся в унизительном положении.

* bullying – буллинг (физический и / или психологический террор в отношении ребенка со стороны группы одноклассников или аналогичное явление среди военнослужащих (дедовщина); используется также как синоним термина моббинг ).

* bereavement – тяжелая утрата.