Suicide In Suzanne Young's The Program

The Program by Suzanne Young, features two teenangers in love, Sloane and James, struggling to survive in a society where suicide is considered an epidemic. Sloane has already lost her brother to suicide and her parents are constantly checking to see if Sloane shows any signs of depression to send her to the Program, a place where people not only rid their depression, but also their memories, along with their identity. Students are closely monitored everyday at school and many suspected of depression are brought by handlers to the Program. To Sloane, this means showing absolutely no signs of emotion, except around her best friends Miller and James. Unable to handle the stress and pressure, Sloane finds herself slipping up and ending up there

Although in the novel, the methods that the schools chose to use to try to decrease the number of suicides in the country were exaggerated and dramatized, they reflect today’s society in which schools are doing more to spot out teens with mental illnesses and put a stop to this rapid fire of suicides. Immediately, Sloane, the main character, notices that “...[they] are on the third floor so the pane is sealed shut --just in case anyone gets the urge to jump,” (Young 1). Readers can see that the novel ironically portrays the school as taking things too far as to “trapping” the students to lower the suicide rates in terms of statistics, but not genuinely paying attention to the students’ sicknesses. This shows how schools nowadays should do the exact opposite and invest in solutions that are truly nurturing and caring for their students, like annual screenings or class discussions do. In addition, it is key that schools recognize symptoms of suicidal teens by allowing students to express their feelings before it it is too late, as it is shown in the novel. Sloane reflects on her late brother’s suicide in the river, saying, “The dark circles under them were navy blue. I hadn’t seen it coming. I hadn’t recognized the signs,” (Young 75). Sloane’s brother, for the most part, was always happy and her best friend, but Sloane only realized

The one factor that anxiety or bipolar disorder or any illness not appearing to impact one outwardly have in common are the fact that all of these mental illnesses are quickly dismissed or portrayed as a frivolous excuse to miss school or any other important events. Seeing that an innumerable amount of people in this world shame mental illnesses, studies were developed in which people with mental illnesses were seen to be overwhelmed with this compelling fear of being humiliated: thus, they were unable to get the proper medical attention they required (Friedman). On top of the daily stigma that haunts people with mental illnesses, without healthcare, their state of mind regresses and their illness gets worse. A different standpoint of the stigmatizing is the stereotyping and false misunderstanding that all people with mental illnesses are crazy, violent, or childlike. The long-held belief of this causes “social isolation [which is] associated with poor mental and physical health outcomes and even early mortality – ‘the lethality of loneliness,’” (Friedman). Research shows this negative atmosphere of disapproval of having a mental illness can directly lead to death. The impact of a small look or judgement can change everything from the perspective of person with an illness. Unintentionally, parents, as well,