evidence of a character flaw, rather than a result of a serious psychological disorder. Such ignorance is a significant cause of the alienation process which prevents an adolescent from seeking help. In fear of being regarded as weak and helpless, some teenagers take matters into their own hands, so it seems to them at that particular moment. This fear comes from the notion of the society on suicide being sinful and equivalent to murder, when in fact it is an act triggered by an illness. Moreover, according to the American Journal of Psychiatry there is growing evidence of an association between suicidal tendencies and a low level of the neurotransmitter serotonin. A higher rate of suicide attempts has been found in depressed patients whose spinal fluid contains low levels of a breakdown product of neurotransmitter serotonin. In addition, several studies have also found higher numbers of serotonin nerve receptor type in the brains of the suicide victims (Pandey, Pandey and Dwivedi 1995). Lack of the normal amount of serotonin is a chemical imbalance, it affects the prefrontal cortex of the brain, which seems to be the area most impacted by an serotonin system dysfunction (Larkin and Marilynn 1996). Such evidence of a chemical imbalance in a brain, corroborates a statement that suicide attempts are not of a character flaw, but a chemical. Since even before the days of Hippocrates, who referred to depression as a black bile scientists have been working on finding the cure for depression and suicide. Psychotherapy and prescribed drugs are currently the dominant treatments for mentallydepressed patients. According to the research conducted by The American Journal of Psychiatry in a San Diego Study, twelve percent of victims of suicide were on a some sort of an antidepressant and seeking some sort of psychiatric counseling at the time of death (Isacsson, Rich and Bergman 1996). Thus, supporting the statement that psychotherapy, along with a...
