A 13-year-old is assaulted and his arms are broken because he wants to be a cheerleader. Numerous teens commit suicide. What are these incidents called? Today, the media, special interest advocates, and others call them “bullying.” A few years ago, when kids were assaulted and had their arms broken, it was called “assault.” And when […]
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Bullying: Rarely the only cause of a young person’s suicide
The media, educational, and political craze around “bullying” focuses on the symptom, not the underlying problem, in teen suicide cases. In today’s opinion section of Cleveland’s Plain Dealer newspaper, I responded to a recent story on teen suicides in a neighboring county in a letter to the editor entitled, “Bullying: Rarely is it the only […]
Why Teen Mental Health, Not Bullying, Must Be Suicide Focus
The headline, “5 teen suicides put focus on bullying issue in Mentor,” should have read, “5 teen suicides put focus on youth mental health issues.” This Monday Plain Dealer article in Cleveland, Ohio, is the latest in a number of national news stories linking bullying with incidents of teen suicide. I first addressed this last […]