Saturday, September 1, 2018

International Suicide Prevention Day

Suicide mortality rates have been steadily rising in Taiwan, and suicide has been among the top-ten causes of death for the last consecutive eight years. In response to this situation, the Taiwan Department of Health assigned the Taiwanese Society of Suicidology the task of setting up the Taiwan Suicide Prevention Center.

Since my 8th grade ESL student's textbooks have not arrived yet, I thought the A classes can learn about a very important subject. September 10th is World Suicide Prevention Day. The theme of this year’s World Suicide Prevention Day (10th September 2018) is “Working together to prevent suicide”; reminding us that suicide is a community issue and is everyone's business. No one should suffer alone and together we can fight suicide and reach out to others when they are in need.

I. Introduction

A. STRESS壓力: What is the biggest reason for stress? Rank these, 1 is the least stressful, 10 is the most stressful:

tests
English level
money
family

friends
body appearance
China and Taiwan
bullying

B. SOCIETY社會: What can we do about these problems? Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners often and share what you wrote.

	How big a problem is it?	How to help people?
Loneliness孤獨
Stress壓力
Crime 違法行爲
No jobs
Divorce 離婚
Poor health

C. SUICIDE: Do you know anyone who attempted suicide? Do you know anyone who committed suicide? Why do people want to end their life?

What would you do if a friend or family member was suicidal?

Suicide (n.) killing yourself, taking your own life
Suicidal (adj)想自殺的；有自殺傾向的

II. Vocabulary: Chinese/English (Quizlet)

commit suicide 自殺
attempt 企圖
prevent (v.) 阻止, 妨礙, 預防
mental health 精神健康狀態
raise (v.) 增加；提高；改善
awareness (n.)意識
preventable (adj.) 可防止的，可預防的，可阻止的
factor (n.) 因素；要素
downturn (n.) 衰退，漸入低迷
bully (n./v.)恃強淩弱者，以大欺小者/ 傷害；脅迫；欺負，欺淩
assist (v.) 幫助；協助；援助
assisted suicide 協助自殺，輔助自殺

III. The Reading: (Handout)

World Suicide Prevention Day (WSPD) is a day we should all put on our calendars. It highlights (強調) a huge but often ignored(忽視) problem in our society (社會). Every year thousands of people take their own lives. Around 3,000 people a day commit suicide. Another 60,000 a day attempt suicide. WSPD promotes (促進) ways to identify (確定) possible suicide cases and to prevent suicide. The day is organized (安排有序的) by the International Association for Suicide Prevention. This important group acts as a forum(論壇) for academics(學者), mental health professionals (職業的), and suicide survivors(倖存者) to work together to understand suicide better. They raise awareness that suicide is a preventable cause of hundreds of thousands of deaths around the world.

The word suicide comes from Latin, meaning to kill oneself. There are many factors that lead to someone taking their own life. These include depression(憂鬱症), shame (羞恥), physical pain, anxiety (焦慮), and relationship problems. A growing reason nowadays is financial ($) difficulties. There is a sudden increase in suicide in rich nations(countries) when there is a downturn in the economy (經濟). Another worrying trend (趨向) is the number of young people who resort to suicide because of bullying. Suicide is in fact, one of the leading causes of death among teenagers and young adults. In Japan, there are Internet suicide clubs so you can end your life with others who are equally desperate (絕望的). A hot topic(話題) today is assisted suicide – helping another person end his or her life.

Comprehension:

1. What problem is ignored by society?

2. Who organized World Suicide Prevention Day?

3. Which groups attend the forum?

4. Is suicide preventable? Explain.

5. Why do young people commit or attempt to commit suicide?

6. What is assisted suicide?

7. Why is bullying such a serious problem?

Suicide Risk Warnings:

Suicide threats, both direct (“I am going to kill myself.” “I need life to stop.”) and indirect (“I need it to stop.” “I wish I could fall asleep and never wake up.”). Threats can be spoken or written, and they are often found in online postings.

Giving away prized possessions.

Preoccupation心事重重 with death死 in conversation, writing, drawing, and social media.

Changes in behavior, appearance/hygiene, thoughts, and/or feelings. This can include someone who is usually sad who suddenly becomes very happy.

Emotional情緒的 pain, hopelessness.

Recent social withdrawal 沉默寡言；孤僻

Withdrawal is a classic symptom of depression. 沉默寡言是憂鬱症的一種典型癥狀。

What to do if you think someone is suicidal:

Remain calm, be nonjudgmental不作評價的, and listen. Try to understand the intolerable無法容忍的 emotional pain that makes suicidal thoughts.

Don't say anything that minimizes有意淡化 the person’s emotional pain (“You need to move on." or "You should get over it.”).

Ask the person directly if they are thinking about suicide (i.e., "Are you thinking of suicide?").

Focus on your concern for their well-being and don't be accusatory指控的.

Reassure使安心 the person that there is help and they will not feel like this forever.

Without putting yourself in danger, remove ways for self-harm, including any weapons the person might find.

Get help. Never agree to keep the person's suicidal thoughts a secret. Tell a teacher, parent, school counselor immediately. This person needs professional help and cannot be left alone.

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