Mental health is a topic in society that doesn’t get talked about enough because the facts and concerns are unaware. Suicide is a growing problem that society needs to understand better to help those at risk. Risks can be multiple factors found in different ethnicities and regions of the world. The definition of suicide is defined as “death caused by self-directed injurious behavior with intent to die as a result of the behavior.”
There are more definitions that will help bring awareness to others or the individual self such as a suicide attempt is a “non-fatal, self-directed, potentially injurious behavior with the intent of death as a result of the behavior.” A suicide attempt may not end with an injury. The definition of suicidal ideation is “thinking about, considering, or planning suicide.” Knowing these definitions can help look for signs such as well as knowing the other common signs and behaviors of one who is struggling with suicide.
The risk factors of suicide can be broken down into categories as to why the person committed suicide or is thinking about suicide. The categories are health factors, environmental factors, historical factors, and socioeconomic changes. The first category, health factors, can be explained as dealing with depression, substance abuse, a mental illness that can range from severe to mild, or serious physical conditions that includes pain. The environmental category can include lethal means, and stressful life events such as divorce, unemployment, relationship problems, financial crisis, or death of a loved one.
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Historical risk factors may include previous suicide attempts (individual self or someone close), family history of suicide, abuse or trauma, family violence including physical or sexual abuse. Socioeconomic changes can mean globally impacted things such as how rates of suicide tend to drop as living conditions improve. Christine Moutier, MD, chief medical officer of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention states that “At the individual level, there is never a single cause of suicide.” This quote brings up all of the warning signs that need to be watched for as well.
Searching for warning signs of someone who could be potentially suicidal is tricky but becomes easier when you know what the warning signs are. The most common and obvious signs of a person who is suicidal are when the person is talking about wanting to die or kill themselves, talking about feeling empty or hopeless or having no reason to live, planning on or looking for ways to kill themselves (such as researching ways to commit suicide or stockpiling on pills) or lethal items (ropes, firearms, etc.). The next following warning signs tend to be harder to notice but can make a huge difference in one’s life.
The warning signs are talking about great guilt or shame, talking about feeling trapped or feeling that there or no solutions, feeling unbearable pain (both physical or emotional), talking about being a burden to others, using alcohol or drugs more often, acting anxious or agitated, withdrawing from family and friends, changing eating or sleeping habits, showing rage or seeking for revenge, taking risks that could lead to death (like reckless driving), talking or thinking about death often, displaying extreme mood swings, giving away important possessions, saying goodbye to friends and family, and putting affairs into order. Sometimes people reach out for help through online or social media and it is better to know what to do if someone is resorting online for help.
Each individual social media website or app has its own source to resort to when there is suspicion of an individual who is struggling with suicide. Facebook’s source of help can be found at www.facebook.com/help/5499177725121/. When you go to this website search the following terms; “suicide” or “suicide prevention”. Instagrams suicide prevention resource can be found by using the search bar using the terms “suicide” or “self-injury” and “suicide prevention”. Snapchat also has a support guidance resource found at https://support.snapchat.com.
When you go to this website search the following terms; “suicide” or “suicide prevention”. To find Twitter’s resource page for support with suicide you can go to https://support.twitter.com. Use the search bar and use the following terms; “suicide” “self-harm” or “suicide prevention”. Youtube’s safety center website can be found at https://support.google.com/youtube. Include the terms “suicide” or “self-injury” to get the help needed. There are a few things that can be done in-person to help someone who is struggling with suicide as well.
To help someone who is struggling with the thoughts of suicide there are five key terms that can make a difference. Those terms include; assessing, completing safety plans, giving resourceful information, taking steps, reassessing risk. Assessing means to repeat the plans periodically and for the person to express how they are feeling at the time. Completing a safety plan means for the person at risk to list who they can reach out to if they are in need of help and to create an environment to go to if they are overwhelmed with the thoughts of suicide.
Giving resourceful information means giving the hotline numbers, website pages they can visit, and a medical phone number that they can call at all times. Taking steps means creating steps for the individual who is struggling. Those steps can include where the individual can go, who they can reach out to for immediate help, breathing techniques. This also includes getting family members to assist. Reassessing risk means to review the safety plans each assessment until the risk of suicide has decreased to a safer level.
Suicide can be completed in multiple ways. It is important to know what the different methods are so if someone is at risk of suicide the person who is assisting can be aware of what to look out for. Suicide can be completed by suffocation, use of firearms, poisoning, sharp objects, pills, or heights. In 2017, 23,854 suicides were caused by firearms, 13,075 suicides were caused by suffocation, 6,554 suicides were caused by poisoning, and 3,690 suicides were completed by hangings, deep cut wounds, etc. Among males, the most common method of suicide is found to be the use of firearms and among females the most common method is poisoning. It is important to keep all firearms or medicine locked away and accounted for at all times. It is found that males are more likely to commit suicide while females are more likely to attempt suicide. However, anyone can be at risk for suicide and that is why it is important to know the warning signs and to know where to get medical treatment at.
To find help or treatment for someone who is struggling with suicide you can go to the local doctor or a local therapist or psychologist. There are also online resources that can give more information to where you can find immediate help. Those online websites can be found at https://findtreatment.samhsa.gov/ and https://nimh.nih.gov/findhelp as well as http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org and there is also the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline number 1-800-273-TALK (8255). This number is available for phone calls twenty-four hours a day seven days a week. People who are not aware of these resources often receive failure for help. Failure to receive help can also be due to “..a lack of accessible, affordable, effective mental health care. And the health care system hasn’t been designed with suicide risk in mind.” according to Moutier. As the rates of suicide go up, the more the governments of the world start to notice that there is a desire need to help those who are struggling with suicide.
According to the CDC reports in 2017, suicide is the fourth leading cause of death for ages thirty-five to fifty-four and is ranked the second leading cause of death for ages ten to thirty-four years old. The suicide rate is configured by one person per one hundred thousand. The CDC discovered that from 2006 to 2016, the suicide rates for white Americans rose from 11.29 to 15.7 and for black Americans, it rose from 5.52 to 6.03. Different suicide rates can be broken into groups of ethnicities.
Among other countries, they have seen their country’s suicide rates fall due to the precautions they have taken. Other countries have made suicide prevention a mission including a nationwide plan. That plan includes improving access to medical treatment for mental health, investing in interventions within the community, creating health-care for suicide prevention, and providing a prevention program that helps supervisors of schools, employment industries, and social gatherings get trained to where they can identify and help those at risk of suicide. Countries like Japan made it a requirement to release statistics of suicide every month to see if the rates have increased or decreased.
Countries including the United States have created bridge barriers to prevent people from committing suicide by jumping off the bridges. Also in the United States, gun restrictions have been brought up to help reduce the risk of suicide. In England, they switched to less toxic gas for cooking and heating. In Asia, it has become more difficult to access toxic pesticides that are used for farming. Limiting access to things that can result in death can make a difference in the suicide rates. In the United States, suicide tends to be higher in rural communities where the loss of farming and manufacturing jobs can cause economic declines which then brings on severe emotional distress. As a nation, if help (physical and mental) can reach the communities that are struggling more severely than others, suicide rates will decrease significantly.
To prevent suicide, it takes multiple factors. It takes knowing the risks and warning signs. Not only does it take those two things, but it also takes knowing what to do when someone is struggling with suicide. Suicide is a growing problem in our society and it needs to be taught more to help prevent it from increasing.
References
- World Health Organization – Suicide
- National Institute of Mental Health – Suicide Prevention
- American Psychological Association – Suicide
- Mayo Clinic – Suicide
- American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
- National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
- National Center for Biotechnology Information – Risk factors for suicide in India: A case-control study
- Types of Suicidal Behavior: Characteristics and Definitions
