| Author | Subject: Insurance companies Mission |
| Chris | Posted At 08:58:48 07/11/2001
Children As Young As Six Attempt Suicide in UK By Paul Majendie LONDON (Reuters) - Children as young as six are attempting suicide in Britain after suffering sex abuse, school bullying and exam stress, the counseling service ChildLine said on Wednesday. Its helpline receives up to 1,500 calls a year from suicidal children -- and some even ring while they are trying to kill themselves. ``Some of these children have such painful lives filled with abuse that we can only wonder they found the courage to survive at all,'' ChildLine Chairwoman Esther Rantzen said. ``Young death is always painful. Suicide is the most painful of all because it is preventable,'' she said, reflecting on a growing problem that confronts counselors around the world from Japan to the United States. ChildLine said the youngsters most often try to kill themselves by overdosing on pills or slashing their wrists. Telephone counselors try to keep the child on the line while an ambulance is called. According to a ChildLine report released on Wednesday, girls call more frequently than boys -- and their ability to talk freely about their problems could be saving their lives. Boys tend to hide their problems and try to cope alone. Most of the callers to the helpline were aged 13 to 18, although the youngest were aged just six. Nearly half of the calls were from families without two parents. The report warned that up to half of youngsters who attempt suicide will try again. The greatest risk of a repeat is within a few months of the first attempt. HARROWING Health Minister Jacqui Smith, commenting on the report, said: ''It is harrowing that some children feel so desperate that they take their own lives and we must do all that we can to prevent this from happening.'' She said the government was now working with ChildLine to develop a national suicide prevention strategy ``to address the needs of vulnerable young people.'' The report's selection of case histories showed that the reasons for suicide attempts among the young varied widely. Fourteen-year-old Sarah took 20 of her mother's sleeping tablets after a family row about studying for exams. Sixteen-year-old Tariq overdosed on paracetamol after his father died of a brain hemorrhage and his mother found a new boyfriend. Craig, unemployed for two years, called to say that he was going to hang himself the next day -- his 19th birthday. At the age of 13, Nikki swallowed a bottle of painkillers. She had been raped a year earlier by her father but had been too scared to tell anyone. She told ChildLine she didn't want an ambulance, she just wanted to talk to someone while she was dying. |
| db55 |
Re: Insurance companies Mission (Currently 0 replies)
Posted At 15:46:31 07/11/2001 This article is extremely frightening but what does it have to do with the title of "Insurance Companies Mission." Just curious. |
| John |
Re: Insurance companies Mission (Currently 0 replies)
Posted At 17:29:18 07/11/2001 What the hell is this anyway? Stick to the topics. |
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