Most teenagers who commit suicide show signs of mental illness that often are not detected, a psychiatrist said yesterday.
Tang Chun-pang said more than 90 per cent of teenagers who committed suicide suffered one or more mental illnesses, depression in most cases, according to accounts by their relatives.
'But most of the family members and friends only recall abnormal behaviour as signs of suicidal tendencies after [a person] had died,' Dr Tang, a senior medical officer at Kwai Chung Hospital, said.
Dr Tang said dealing with teenagers' psychological problems in the early stages was crucial in preventing youngsters from committing suicide. 'Teens rarely commit suicide merely from a one-off event, like bad academic results. They are only a spark to their mental problems in most cases,' he said.
Coroners' reports showed about 147 people under 19 committed suicide between 1998 and last year. More than 80 per cent of teenagers ended their lives by jumping from buildings, while 16 per cent hanged themselves.
Dr Tang said the number of teenage suicides was lower than other developed places because Hong Kong did not have a big drug abuse problem, which caused mental delusion.
