Talk About Suicide

I posted recently about trying to be less wiggy about death.  I was referring to natural death, and how learning to accept its inevitability—even if it’s in one’s last hours—can lead to peace for the dying and growth for those left behind.

Now I want to talk about an, ahem, associated subject that many people find really difficult to discuss.

Suicide.

Not a natural death.

Last week, the President of the U.S. called for mental illness to be “brought out of the shadows.” Suicide is arguably the darkest shadow of mental illness.

I was distressed to see that according to the US Center for Disease Control, among teens and young adults aged 15-24 (about and for whom I write fiction) suicide is the third leading cause of death, behind accidents and homicide. Among college students and 24-34 year olds, it’s the second.

But what really makes me want to start talking fast is that in the whole developed world, suicide became the leading cause of death in 2010 for people ages 15-49.*

In the US, over 38,000 people killed themselves in 2010.

Roughly 25 times that number, or almost a million people tried to kill themselves last year.

Over 8 million people reported having suicidal thoughts, of which 2.2 million made an actual suicide plan. Teens and young adults are especially susceptible to suicidal thinking. Almost 1 in 5 reported having suicidal thoughts in past year.

It’s a BIG problem.  

There are way too many people out there who suffer such hopelessness and desperation that they believe the only way to escape the pain they’re in is to kill themselves.

Their need to hear from a concerned human that how they feel CAN change, is dire. Survivors of suicidality and the almost always accompanying depression, are grateful.

Asking for help is extraordinarily hard to begin with. If everyone is so uncomfortable with the subject that no one wants to talk about it…

 

What’s wrong with this picture?

We can’t fix it if we can’t even talk about it.

Suicide has touched my life in numerous ways. I want to help raise awareness and de-stigmatize it.

I’m not afraid to talk about it.

Okay, maybe a little.

Happily, a growing number of people truly are not.  Check out this short, excellent video:

“Suicide is Not a Dirty Word. #NoStigma” by Kevin Betts.

I’m going to talk about it in my next few posts: the facts, the myths, the signs, how teens and white males (yes, that's right) are especially vulnerable, what the non-suicidal don’t understand, and also, where to get help. Starting with…

If you or someone you know would like to talk to someone right now about feeling suicidal please call:

1-800-273-TALK
(1-800-273-8255)

or 1-800-SUICIDE
(1-800-784-2433)

The people at these hotlines have been gently, confidentially, and constructively talking to the depressed and suicidal, and saving lives, for a long time.  There are lots of good web sites out there. You can text, Skype, and chat, too.

Let's talk about it.

P.S.  Please feel free to use or reprint part or all of anything I’ve written here on suicide. Acknowledgment is appreciated.

(I do retain copyright to the other stuff.)

*Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (from Newsweek’s excellent article on suicide in May). All other statistics from the CDC.