ntidepressants, significantly reduces the chances of a depressed patient committing suicide. Another factor, along with psychotherapy and antidepressants, which could help reduce the rate of suicides, is the social aspect. Such institutions as schools, where teenagers spend most of their adolescence, need to be more aware and alert of depressive and suicidal symptoms. Teachers and school psychologists need to attend to the needs of students, for adolescents are highly competitive and discriminatory against each other. In order to prevent depression, and thus the suicide attempts, parents need to involve themselves in the lives of their adolescent child. In result, the teenager will be more frank and free to suggested guidance through the rough episodes. In conclusion, to someone who is profoundly depressed, suicide seems to be an easier escape from the unbearable pain that placed the individual in such depressive state. Moreover, the contemporary society regards depression and suicide as character defect, rather than a cerebral chemical imbalance. Thus to a developing adolescent, who might also be genetically predisposed to depression, who has not yet learned the proper skills of coping with stresses of life and surviving the misfortunes of it, reaching out for help could become more difficult than committing suicide. Therefore, in order to prevent such an escape, parents, along with teachers, and responsible adult individuals need to educate and be more aware of depression and its consequences....
