The first time I ever heard of suicide was the day I came home from Jefferson Davis Middle School in West Palm Beach, Fla., and saw an ambulance in our driveway.
A friend of our family named Linda had been staying with us. She was an attractive young woman, always fun to be around with a big laugh. So when my mom told me that Linda tried to kill herself by taking a handful of pills, I didn’t understand how she – much less anyone else – could feel that way.
Fortunately, Linda survived thanks to skillful paramedics. However, the anxiety and depression that marked her suicide attempt eventually led to addiction, which resulted in an automobile accident that tragically took her life several years later.
That was more than 40 years ago. Since then, I have been far closer to suicide than I ever imagined. A popular boy I knew in high school died by his own hand in the 10th grade. A family member took her own life in her mid-20s. A good man I worked with shot himself in his 70s. And other people I’ve known have come far too close to not making it back from a suicide attempt.
While I had never even heard of it then, suicide has become a national epidemic today. In 2017, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention:
* An average of 129 Americans died by suicide daily, while 1.4 million attempted to kill themselves.
* 47,173 Americans died by suicide, a 30 percent increase since 2000, making it the 10th-leading cause of death in the United States.
* Men died by their own hands 3½ times more often than women, while
the suicide rate for U.S. military veterans was 1½ times higher than for non-veterans.
* 90 percent of those who died by suicide had a diagnosable mental health condition at the time of their death.
That last statistic should be sobering for all of us because it shows that suicide can be preventable with proper treatment. Unfortunately, far too many Americans do not have access to adequate, affordable health care today, so instead they medicate themselves with alcohol and drugs, creating even bigger problems.
What hurts my heart the most is a new CDC report showing the suicide rate among children ages 10-14 nearly tripled from 2007-17, while the suicide rate among older teenagers increased by 76 percent. In a horrific statistic, violent deaths – suicide and homicide – continue to be the leading cause of death for ages 10-24. And the United States is the only industrialized country where suicide rates are still going up.
Lisa Horowitz, a pediatric psychologist at the National Institute of Mental Health, told The Washington Post the increase in violent deaths should bring a “call to action.”
“Just looking at these numbers, it’s hard not to find them completely disturbing,” she said in an understatement.
We all want to know the answer to the question, “Why?” but it’s not that simple. Alex Crosby, a chief medical officer at the CDC, told CBS News it’s impossible to nail down any single factor that might be causing the increase in violent deaths among young people.
“It is important to recognize that suicide is not caused by one single factor but instead a range of factors that include mental health conditions, but also include important situational factors that many of us will experience in a lifetime – including social, physical, emotional or financial issues,” Colleen Carr, director
of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention, told Medscape Medical News. Spiritual issues are also a factor.
I don’t have all the answers, but I’m smart enough to try to find people who do. If just a thought has entered your mind, please call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255.
We only have one life to live; live it as well as you can.
David Brown is publisher of the Cherokee Scout. You can reach him by phone, 837-5122; fax, 837-5832; email, dbrown@cherokeescout.com; or message him on Twitter @daviddBstroh.
DAVID BROWN: Suicides need call to action
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