Why child suicide is on the rise
Apple News In Conversation
Apple News
4.6 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 4 June 2022
⏱️ 31 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In April 2021, twelve-year-old Trevor Matthews took his own life. Andrew Solomon, a writer and clinical medical psychology professor, knew Matthews as the friend and former classmate of Solomon’s son, George. For the New Yorker, Solomon writes about the alarmingly high rate of youth suicide, why it's on the rise, and why it’s so difficult to prevent. Apple News In Conversation host Shumita Basu spoke with Solomon about this issue.
This episode is about suicide — and includes references to sexual abuse. If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-talk (8255) or text talk to 741741.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi there, a warning before we get started. Today's episode is about suicide and includes |
| 0:06.2 | references to sexual abuse. If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273 talk. |
| 0:18.0 | This is in conversation from Apple News. |
| 0:25.0 | I'm Shimita Basu. |
| 0:28.0 | Today, why it's so hard to assess suicide risk in children |
| 0:32.0 | and what parents should know. |
| 0:34.0 | On April 14th of 2021, |
| 0:37.0 | on April 14th of 2021, Andrew Solomon attended a funeral with his 12-year-old son George. |
| 0:48.0 | I had thought that he might be upset by the idea of attending a funeral, but he was actually glad to have been asked and I think it gave him some |
| 0:55.3 | feeling of completion or closure to have been asked. The funeral was for a boy named Trevor Matthews, who George had gone to school with. |
| 1:05.0 | And this was a very beautiful funeral. |
| 1:07.7 | It was very high church. |
| 1:09.0 | There was spectacular music. |
| 1:11.0 | And we listened to these evocations of Trevor and all the things he had |
| 1:14.4 | accomplished and all of the good that he'd done in the world and just felt how |
| 1:18.6 | much frustrated and broken love there was in the room for somebody who was now gone. |
| 1:24.1 | Trevor died by suicide. |
| 1:26.4 | He jumped off the roof of his family's apartment building in New York City |
| 1:30.1 | just a few months after his 12th birthday. |
| 1:32.6 | At the end of the funeral service, |
| 1:35.3 | Andrew's son George and a few of his classmates |
| 1:38.2 | were some of the last to file out. |
... |
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