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Show Children May Seek Death Reeanse of Lack of A fl eet ion Reasons for Suicide Studied in lellevue By MAKJOIUK VAN l)K WA'l'KK New York. Little children are not all joyous, carefree sprites filled with life and the joy of living. For some who are hardly beyond infancy, this world has already become be-come an unbearable place. In Bellevue hospital in a children's ward are little youngsters lined from a mere six years to thirteen who have attempted suicide mid are. in the formal words of the physicians, phy-sicians, "preoccupied witli death." Child suicides seem to have had 1 but a slender hold on life. The reasons rea-sons itiven for death attempts often appear trivial to an adult. Perhaps it was a bad report card and a parent's hasty reproof afterward. Maybe just disappointment at beinn unable to attend the circus or a party. Why should such a silly little matter precipitate such tragic -'-tion, we ask. Looking behind the precipitating action, the underlying cause of child suicides has been sought by Drs. Lauretta Bender and Paul Schilder who have watched those children "preoccupied with death" at Belle-vue's Belle-vue's children's ward. You will be surprised at the an-swer an-swer they have found. For Spite or Lack of Love. Children attempt suicide because of spite. The child suicide wants to get even. Unconsciously, he may say to himself as so many children have said aloud, "You'll be sorry when I die!" And that leads to another reason for child suicide or rather the reason for spite urgent need for, and a feeling of lack of, love. Many of the children who go to Bellevue preoccupied with death are orphans. Some are unwanted children. chil-dren. Some feel that they are rejected re-jected because of physical disabilities. disabili-ties. Perhaps in their hearts these youngsters do not want to d:e. They may want only to try to kill themselves. them-selves. They dream wistfully of hearts awakened at last to love and swift hands reached out to thwart them. To children, death is not irreversible: they may hope that death will serve to set their lives right again. For the orphans, these physicians suggest that the attempted attempt-ed suicide probably represents the desire to be again w ith the parents. |