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Teen Suicide: The Third Leading Cause Of Death

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Each year thousands of children and young adults are dying, not from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, strokes, pneumonia, influenza, chronic lung disease, or car accidents, but by their own hands; they commit suicide. To start off, what is suicide? According to the dictionary, it is: a: “the act or an instance of taking one’s own life voluntarily and intentionally especially by a person of years of discretion and of sound of mind” or b: “ruin of one’s own interests” (Merriam Webster.com). Suicide is the third leading cause of death for ages fifteen to twenty-four and the sixth leading cause of death for ages five to fourteen (“Teen Suicide”). The number of teen suicides is instantaneously increasing each year. It is skyrocketing

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