A new study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows suicide and self-harm numbers among teen girls is on the rise. And we want to know why. How did we get here?
According to the study, the number of ER visits among girls between ages 10 and 14 rose from 110 visits per 100,000 in 2009 to 318 visits per 100,000 in 2015. Older teenage girls had the highest ratio with 633 visits per 100,000 in 2015. The study also pointed out that the numbers are not reflective of the problem since the study only counted ER visits and not doctor’s offices or unreported cases. That means the problem is even more grim, and the numbers were lower for boys.
Why are more and more teen girls having thoughts of suicide or engaging in self-harm like cutting? We don’t have answers, but we’d like to hear your thoughts. And just as a reminder, if you ARE a teen and you need to talk to someone, there is help out there. The Trevor Project specifically provides judgment-free counseling for LGBTQ youth, and you don’t have to call in if you’re shy. They have a chat option and a texting option too. You can find them right HERE.
We’d like to leave you with this poem by Mary Oliver, who is a lesbian, and definitely gets us. Wild Geese You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Tell me about your despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes on. Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers. Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, are heading home again. Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting — over and over announcing your place in the family of things.
-Mary Oliver, American poet
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