Tim Tai '26
Edited by Caridee Chau '25
A few days ago, the suicide of 14-year-old Sewell Setzer reached international headlines. A
lawsuit was filed against Character.AI as it has not only engaged in sexual conversations with
depressed Setzer but also discussed his suicidal thoughts. To many, this tragedy occurred at the
hands of the miscalculated and indecorous management of the AI company on the protection of
youth. But that is rather a superficial interpretation; instead, the incident unveils another culprit
behind youth suicide — emotional instability.
Since the beginning of the 21st century, suicide rates among teens have drastically risen
from 6.8 per 100,000 to 10.7 per 100,000. In fact, in 2022, suicide became the leading factor of
death for teenagers ranging from ages 10-14 despite the increasing efforts in combating this
worldwide crisis. In the United States, Congress has passed the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act
(2004), which provided funding to develop youth suicide prevention programs in memory of
Smith’s death; the Every Student Succeeds Act (2015), providing provisions for the development of
mental health support in schools; and the Mental Health Awareness and Improvement Act (2016),
targeting early intervention strategies in mental health awareness programs. Yet, these increased
suicide prevention efforts are not reflected in the increasing trend of youth suicide in the United
States. Why then are these efforts failing to shift the statistical data toward a decrease in youth
suicide?
Clearly, the underlying root causes of youth suicide have not been properly addressed. Many
efforts implemented in place are simply mitigation efforts and are ineffective. In a meta-analysis
through retrospective questionnaire design studies and research conducted across several time
points published by the National Institute of Health, the researchers found a moderate association
between unstable emotions and suicide. Furthermore, in a qualitative research study in 2019 in
Kermanshah Province, Iran, 18 participants who had attempted suicide were interviewed, and
researchers discovered each of these participants had experienced emotional turbulence in one of
the following categories: emotional failure, emotional trauma, and loss of emotional resilience.
Indeed, there is a relationship between emotional instability and suicide rates beyond correlation.
The problem falls to how we currently address emotional instability among youths. In
school hallways and online, many phone numbers are available for youths seeking help, and posters
are there encouraging youths to talk with trusted adults if they notice emotional instability that
evolved into suicidal thoughts. Though these efforts seek to alleviate such crises, they cannot
prevent youths from raising suicidal thoughts. Youths will only request help once they have
identified a state of emotional instability within themselves, and often, many youths are petrified to
reach out for help. Especially with the addition of social media and other technological innovations
into our everyday lives, those experiencing emotional instability are more vulnerable to certain
narratives online that may direct them to suicide, aggravating the status quo of suicide among
youths. Early interventions instead become imperative to preventing the development of unstable
emotions within adolescent minds. Schools, governments, and parents should collaborate to initiate
early checks on youths' emotional stability to halt suicidal inclinations and lay the groundwork for
external support based on emotional stability.
Frankly, telling someone explicitly “not to commit suicide” or that they “have a long life
ahead of them” does not alleviate nor cease this exacerbating crisis if we continue to ignore the
deeply rooted emotional instability in many of our youths. It feels pathetic that we cannot address
the basic needs of the youth when we keep claiming them to be the future of our planet. What gives
us the right to discuss a future when the people of 'our future’ are taking their own lives? Now more
than ever, we need to wake up.
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