Informative Speech

An Informative Speech: Suicide: Some Causes, Some Hope

Here is a speech I wrote, though never delivered, to illustrate what a brief informative speech might look like and to provide a speech that students in public speaking could analyze. The questions for analysis and discussion at the end of the speech might prove a useful starting point in rhetorical analysis. I wrote this for my Essentials of Human Communication: The Basic Course, 11/e because I couldn't find a good example of an informative speech that addresses a topic important to college students. 

Suicide: Some Causes, Some Hope

 In January of 2022, a Florida deputy—a former US Martine who was named deputy of the year in 2020 committed suicide. He was 24 years old. A few days later, his wife, also a Florida deputy, took her own life. She was 23. Their deaths left their 1-month old son an orphan (https://nypost.com/2022/01/06/florida-police-couple-who-committed-suicide-won-deputy-awards/). A few weeks later, Academy Award winner Regina King’s son, Ian, took his own life; he was 26. Days later actor Michael Madsen’s son Hudson committed suicide; he too was 26. And still in January, former Miss USA, lawyer, and TV reporter took her own life; she was 30.

          Unfortunately, these cases are not as rare or unusual as you might think. These are simply the more dramatic and the ones that get front page coverage in newspapers and are highlighted on TV news shows and on the Internet. The statistics on the prevalence of suicide will likely shock you. According to the 2020 USA General Statistics https://save.org/about-suicide/suicide-facts/, suicide is the 12th leading cause of death in the United States and the 3^rd leading cause of death for Americans 15-24 years of age. It’s the 2^nd leading cause of death for that same age group throughout the world. In 2020, almost 46,000 Americans committed suicide.  Everyday 125 Americans commit suicide—that’s one death every 11.5 minutes.

          Here I’d like to discuss just a few of the many causes of suicide and then suggest what can be done to prevent this unnecessary loss of life. Let’s start off with the leading cause: depression.

          Untreated depression, the leading cause of suicide, is responsible for some 90 percent of people who commit suicide. Depression is a psychological disorder that causes you to feel persistently sad for a long time. It is not a temporary mood swing that we all experience from time to time; it’s persistent and stays with us no matter what we do. Depression can be brought on by a variety of things: the death of a loved one, the loss of a job, a failure in school, an illness—especially a diagnosis of a terminal illness.

          Many people who experience depression say they can’t imagine a happy future for themselves or even remember a happy past. All seems lost and hopeless and although they may not want to die, they can’t see any other way out of their pain (https://save.org/about-suicide/mental-illness-and-suicide/depression/).

          Depression affects almost 1 out of every four Americans eighteen years and old every single year. So, if a class of 30 like this one, that means that approximately 7 of us will experience severe depression at some time during the year. What’s equally frightening is that only half of Americans receive treatment for their depression.

          While depression is the major cause, it is not the only one. A second major cause of suicide is bullying. According to the Center for Disease Control and the Department of Education (https://www.stopbullying.gov/resources/facts), bullying includes three major elements: (1) unwarranted aggressive behavior; (2) power imbalance whether real or perceived; and (3) repetition of these aggressive behaviors.

          According to Admissionsly (https://www.pacer.org/bullying/info/stats.asp) approximately 1 in 4 college students say they have been bullied at least two times in the past month.

          Bullying can occur anywhere IRL—in the workplace, in schools (especially in common areas like the cafeteria, hallways, and locker rooms), and even in religious institutions. It also occurs—perhaps even more widely—online. Cyberbullying—on social media sites like Facebook, for example—bullying may take the form of making people feel ashamed or inadequate or have their relationships threatened.  As you might guess, the most prevalent form of cyberbullying is name-calling, spreading false rumors, and sending explicit photos (www.bullyingstatistics.org/content/cyber-bullying-statistics.html). This cyberbullying, by the way, was one of the main causes of the suicide of the former Miss USA. Over 50 percent of adolescents and teenagers have been bullied online and, sadly enough, over 50 percent have themselves engaged in bullying.

          Bullying is especially prevalent against gender non-conforming youth and not surprisingly LGTBQ youth have an even higher suicide rate that cisgender youth. LGTBQ (https://www.stopbullying.gov/bullying/lgbtq) youth are 3 times more likely to attempt suicide than straight kids and when family rejects them (because of their affectional orientation) that figure jumps to 8 times more likely to commit suicide.

          In addition to depression and bullying, another major cause is loneliness and social isolation. Unlike being alone—which can often be enjoyable and is voluntary, loneliness is involuntary leads people to feel unwanted, unappreciated, rejected, and unloved (https://www.verywellmind.com/loneliness-causes-effects-and-treatments-2795749). Social contact is an essential human need, not only when we’re experiencing difficulties and need to share our problems but also when we’re experiencing good times that we want to share. When this social contact is denied, we can easily become depressed. We may easily come to feel like failures with nothing to live for.

          In one survey, 46 percent of Americans felt lonely in 2018; in 2019 it jumped to 52 percent. Twenty-one percent claimed they had no close friends. Not surprisingly, the COVID pandemic has contributed to increased loneliness; 36 percent of Americans said they felt lonelier during the pandemic. Generation Z, those born between 1997 and 2012 are the loneliest of all groups—some 65 percent said they sometimes or always felt lonely (https://socialpronow.com/loneliness-statistics/ - 1). In a review of 22 studies on suicide, and reported in the 2020 issue of the journal of Affective Disorders, 17 of these studies suggested that loneliness was a significant factor in predicting attempted suicide (https://www.nationalelfservice.net/mental-health/suicide/loneliness-and-suicide-whats-the-link-and-what-role-does-depression-play/).

          Depression, bullying, and loneliness are certainly not the only causes of suicide. There are many others but these three should give us some idea of why so many people commit suicide. Knowing the causes will not eliminate suicide but it may help us to understand at least some of the factors that lead to suicide and perhaps ultimately what may be done to prevent it.

          If you or someone you know is at risk, please do something. Calling the US National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 is a good first step. Another good step is to go online; fortunately, the Internet is replete with suggestions for dealing with suicidal thoughts and they offer a useful starting place for reversing such self-destructive feelings. A good website to start with is SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources.

          Among the suggestions are these:

1.     Talk with a trusted friend or relative.

2.     Contact a health professional and explain your feelings.

3.     Engage in activities that you enjoy and that bring you pleasure. Focus on all the things that are important to you and are worth living for.

4.     Focus on getting through today and not so much about the long-distance future.

5.     Avoid activities and drugs that may increase your feelings of depression or loneliness.

          It sure would be nice to think that those two deputies, the sons of Regina King and Michael Madsen and the former Miss USA—along with the many, many others whose stories never get into the media--could have been helped if we (and they) understood more about the causes of suicide and, even more important, that help was available.