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Kristen Anderson was just 17 years old when one January night she lay across the cold train tracks not far from her home in the American state of Illinois and waited for the end.

According to one recent survey about 1 in 16 high school students said they had tried to take their own lives. Suicide is one of the leading causes of death amongst teenagers in the USA, ranking third after accidents and homicide.

Some very difficult things had happened to Kristen in the months leading up to her suicide attempt; she had been raped and stalked and was dealing with the death of her grandmother. Slowly she slid into a seemingly bottomless depression.

One night on the way home from her job as a waitress in a pizza parlour she sat by the railway tracks and on impulse made the decision to lie on the tracks and wait to be killed by the next train.

Thirty-three freight carriages passed over her at 55 miles per hour and it was only after the train came to a halt that Kristen realised she was still alive.

She has now published a book called Life, In Spite of Me.

Outlook's Lucy Ash spoke to Kristen Anderson from a studio in Chicago and asked her about her life, her depression, and recovering from her suicide attempt.

First broadcast on 18 March 2011