By: The Main Four Staff

Saving a life isn’t always pulling someone from a burning building. Sometimes it’s just taking time to notice someone else’s problem besides your own. With Howell High School’s sadly consistent losses over the past few years taking a toll on the entire student body, it’s time to fully address the issue.

The Main Four staff would like to reach out to Howell High School and the surrounding community, and give a student’s perspective of suicide and suicide prevention.

Depression and suicide

The first step is to understand the connection between depression and suicide.

The universal definition of depression is a medical illness that causes an ongoing feeling of sadness, and affects how a person behaves, feels, and thinks. It ranges from mild to severe cases, and has emotional, mental, and physical symptoms.

While some symptoms may be severe, such as aches and pains, headaches, digestive problems, or insomnia, the depression may present itself with a sign as small as trouble concentrating or increased irritability. Regardless of the severity of the symptoms, it is important to get help as soon as possible.

In extreme cases, a person suffering from depression will develop suicidal thoughts or tendencies. More often than not, they will show signs of these thoughts as a cry for help, and may exhibit behavior along the lines of giving away personal belongings, withdrawing from their social lives, and constantly mentioning the subject; i.e. “I wish I were dead,” “I hate my life,” “I can’t take it anymore.”

According to TeenHelp, depression affects 20% of teens before they reach adulthood. Only 33% of these teenagers receive the professional help they need.

One reached hundreds

Over the past four years, four students who attended or graduated from Howell High took their lives. These losses were a heavy blow to the student body. Friends and families were devastated, and even those who weren’t close to the students were saddened by the losses.

On September 20, students held a memorial ceremony before the home football game in honor of the most recent suicide victim. Those who attended lit lanterns and let them float over the full stadium.

The day that the news spread throughout the school, the mood in the hallways was bleaker than usual. Classrooms were quieter. Teachers were tear-stricken. A few days later, there was an all-school announcement to dispel the rumors, and very few were unaffected. Yes, the loss of one person’s life can shake an entire school.

Reaching out to someone who’s depressed

It’s easy to think that there’s nothing a student can do for another student who is sad and depressed. It’s easy to be overwhelmed, and not know how to help.

The fact is, the most help comes from a depressed teen’s close friends and family. Their closest friends are the ones who notice first when something is wrong and can offer a steady hand or a shoulder to cry on. Don’t dismiss a friend’s mood.

Don’t be afraid to ask someone if they need help. If they don’t think they do, or don’t want the help, the smallest gesture can be enough to remind them that they aren’t alone.

If someone’s symptoms are extreme enough that suicide may be a threat, it’s not an act of betrayal to get them help from a counselor or a parent or a teacher.

We give credit to Howell High School administrators for hosting assemblies that address bullying and suicide, and for recognizing Suicide Prevention Week. These events rally the student body, but it’s the individual student who needs to step up and help those in need.

Ignoring the signs can be dangerous. Nothing is too small to go unacknowledged.

The help of one could save the lives of many.

You could be the one person who makes a difference.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59yOScnUPuE&w=420&h=315]