Rising Suicide in American Youth and the Cry for Hope

Suicide among American youth has again seen a rise in recent years. Today’s Generation Z of teens and tweens living in America are more at the risk of taking their lives than the previous decades. Statistics cited in Stateline earlier this month show the fast pace of suicide among Generation Z, with 1,148 in January and February of this year, which is about the same as in 2024. What continues to drive so many young people to self-destruction in a country that is the dreamland of million, if not billions, of people living elsewhere?

In modern societies in the developed west, suicide has been attributed mostly to depression – a psychological crisis that chokes the victim’s will to live and drives him to embrace death. Relying on science, psychiatry has tried to treat such affliction of mind with drugs, i.e. anti-depressants. Their use has lately become controversial since a number of anti-depressants have been linked to an increased risk of suicide. In other words, the treatment meant to prevent death has become a suspected killer.

Possible risk factors continue to be explored by science, ranging from the discovery of a new brain chemical – SGK1 – whose high levels can invite suicide thoughts to one recent study finding correlation between an increase in pollen allergies and suicide, particularly in America’s metropolitan areas. In an age of social media and artificial intelligence (AI), online chatbots have also come under scrutiny for encouraging youngsters to end their lives.

Beyond the scientific and worldly perspectives, however, the increasing detachment from faith and spirituality has also been blamed for the rising incidence of suicide, particularly in the youth, in secular societies. In his article published in The American Spectator (October 17), researcher and essayist John Mac Ghlionn looked at the spiritual roots of America’s suicide crisis. Pointing at the plethora of technology but famine of spirituality in which the youth of today’s America grew up, Ghlionn opined that the anxiety and despair of our youth are the fruit of cultivating carnal seeds that grow toward pleasure and away from peace. In his words, it is “a crisis of the soul”:

In places like Georgia, North Carolina, and Texas, the rise has been staggering. The maps show the trend. But they don’t capture the quiet despair behind it — the loneliness, the loss of hope, the loss of meaning. This isn’t just a crisis of screens or social media, but a crisis of the soul.

While psychiatry underscores symptomatic treatment with drugs and holistic healers teach positive lifestyle choices to make life better and worth living, Ghlionn’s approach is to cultivate hope and show by example that life is worth living no matter how tough and hopeless it may appear. His message is meaningful and worthy of serious consideration. Despair grows in the spots vacated by the departure of faith. If we really want to save life, we need to have and demonstrate faith in it.