Publications - Suicide

Mental Health Screening Tools, by Theresa Nguyen, Mental Health America, May 2019.

“Taking a mental health screening is one of the quickest and easiest ways to determine whether you are experiencing symptoms of a mental health condition. Mental health conditions, such as depression or anxiety, are real, common and treatable. And recovery is possible. ”

Suicidal thoughts, attempts sending more U.S. kids to emergency rooms, by Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, Apr 10 2019.

“The number of kids and teens visiting U.S. emergency rooms after considering or attempting suicide has almost doubled in recent years, according to a new study, suggesting these young patients may not be getting the mental health care they need. ”

Showing compassion, accepting cultures: Preventing suicide in the Latino community, by Dr. Edith Bracho-Sanchez, CNN, Mar 26 2019.

“Latina teens in the United States have had higher rates of suicide attempts than Caucasian teens and Latino boys for the past 20 years, according to the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey  ”

VA Struggles To Unlock The Reasons Behind High Suicide Rates Among Older Veterans, by Steve Walsh, NPR, Mar 11 2019.

“The VA National Suicide Data Report for 2005 to 2016, which came out in September 2018, highlights an alarming rise in suicides among veterans age 18 to 34 — 45 per 100,000 veterans. Younger veterans have the highest rate of suicide among veterans, but those 55 and older still represent the largest number of suicides. Moreover, the suicide rate for older veterans is higher than that of non-veterans. For veterans age 55 to 74 years old, the rate of suicide is 26 per 100,000, while nationally, the suicide rate in the same age group is 17.4 per 100,000. The rate ticks up even higher for veterans over 85 years old. ”

Suicide games can spread online for months before parents know, by Lisa Rapaport , Reuters, Mar 8 2019.

“Researchers traced the path of one suicide game, the “blue whale challenge,” as awareness of it spread across social media and mainstream news outlets from 2013 to 2017. By the time the first U.S. news article about this suicide game appeared, the game had been circulating in English language social media posts for four months and in other languages for nine months, the study found. Nobody knows for sure whether this particular suicide game really existed or caused teens to harm themselves, or if it was an elaborate hoax. But as reports of these suicide games continue to go viral - including the latest one known as the “Momo challenge” - researchers say that it’s crucial for parents to know what their children and teens are exposed to in their digital lives. ”

One in four pre-teen suicides may be LGBT youth, by Lisa Rapaport , Reuters, Feb 21 2019.

“Youth 12 to 14 years old who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) are much more likely to die by suicide than their heterosexual peers, a disparity that persists but becomes less pronounced by early adulthood, a U.S. study suggests. While 24 percent of the suicide deaths in the 12 to 14 age group were among LGBT youth in 2013-2015, this dropped to 8 percent of suicides among young adults 25 to 29 years old, researchers report in the Journal of Adolescent Health. ”

Friendly texts tied to fewer suicide attempts in the military, by Lisa Rapaport , Reuters, Feb 20 2019.

“Military service members who are at risk for suicide may be less likely to attempt to harm themselves when they receive supportive text messages, a U.S. study suggests. Soldiers in the study had all received behavioral health services for considering or attempting suicide in the past, and all were on active duty, in the Reserve or in the National Guard. They all received standard treatments like medication or psychotherapy as needed; half of the 650 participants were also randomly assigned to received occasional texts with messages like “hope you’re having a good day.” Over the course of a year, people who received these texts were 44 percent less likely to experience suicidal thoughts and 48 percent less likely to attempt suicide than those who didn’t get the messages. ”

LGBT Navajos Discover Unexpected Champions: Their Grandparents, by Laurel Morales, NPR, Jan 26 2019.

“Nationwide, the share of gay, lesbian and bisexual teens who attempt suicide is high — 23 percent. For Navajo LGBTQ youth, the rate is 70 percent, according to the Navajo Nation's Diné Policy Institute. [...] It's not unusual that Navajo grandparents are accepting of being LGBT while parents are not. Historians say federally run boarding schools and other assimilation tactics taught a generation of Navajos that same-sex relationships are wrong. ”

Parents often don't know when teens have suicidal thoughts, by Lisa Rapaport , Reuters, Jan 14 2019.

“Three in four parents are unaware when their teens have recurrent thoughts about suicide, and a big part of the problem may be that adolescents often deny feeling this way, a U.S. study suggests. Researchers interviewed 5,137 adolescents, ages 11 to 17, along with one parent or stepparent. Most teens in the study didn’t report suicidal thoughts. But when they did, half of their parents were unaware these teens had thoughts of killing themselves and 76 percent of parents didn’t know when teens regularly thought about death, researchers report in Pediatrics. ”

ER visits for physical ailments tied to self-harm risk, by Lisa Rapaport , Reuters, Dec 20 2018.

“Teens and young adults who visit emergency rooms for injuries or physical illnesses may be more likely to harm themselves afterward, a U.S. study suggests. Emergency room (ER) visits for mental health disorders or substance misuse have long been linked to an increased risk for self-harm and suicidal thoughts and behaviors among teens and young adults. The current study focused on teens and young adults, ages 15 to 29, who visited an ER for more common reasons: physical illnesses and injuries. It found that these individuals were much more likely to harm themselves after being treated for a wide range of conditions including epilepsy, back pain, headaches and dental problems. ”

Doctors struggle to help older gun owners, by Carolyn Crist, Reuters, Dec 14 2018.

“Doctors who work with seniors are grappling with ways to prevent gun-related suicides and accidents, often among gun-owning older patients with dementia or depression, according to a recent review article. People older than 65 have the highest rates of gun ownership, depression and suicide in the U.S., and while they’re less likely to be victims of violent crimes, they are more likely to become victims of their own guns, the authors write in the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association. ”

Eczema patients at 36% higher risk of suicide attempts, study says, by Susan Scutti, CNN, Dec 12 2018.

“Eczema is a common skin condition that can pack a profound psychological punch: People with eczema are more likely to have suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts than others without the condition, according to new research published Wednesday in the journal JAMA Dermatology...The researchers found that patients with eczema were 44% more likely to have suicidal thoughts and 36% more likely to attempt suicide compared to people without the skin condition. ”

Even with insurance, getting mental health treatment is a struggle in Mass., study says, by Liz Kowalczyk, Boston Globe, Dec 11 2018.

“Massachusetts residents who need health care are colliding with a hard reality: Having medical insurance doesn’t guarantee you can get treatment, particularly for psychiatric problems. More than half of adults who sought mental health or addiction treatment in recent months had difficulty getting that care, according to a survey of 2,201 residents by the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation in Boston...The obstacle wasn’t a lack of insurance; the vast majority of patients were insured. Rather, the problem was that providers either did not accept their insurance or their practices were closed to new patients. ”

Infections May Raise The Risk Of Mental Illness In Children, by Rhitu Chatterjee, NPR, Dec 5 2018.

“Researchers have traced a connection between some infections and mental illnesses like schizophrenia, depression and bipolar disorder. New research from Denmark bolsters that connection. The study, published Thursday in JAMA Psychiatry, shows that a wide variety of infections, even common ones like bronchitis, are linked to a higher risk of many mental illnesses in children and adolescents...For all mental illnesses — excluding depression and bipolar disorder — the team found that being hospitalized for an infection was associated with a 84 percent higher risk of subsequently being diagnosed with a mental health disorder at a hospital and a 42 percent increased risk of being prescribed a medication for mental illness. ”

Suicide, at 50-year peak, pushes down US life expectancy, by Mike Stobbe, AP, Nov 29 2018.

“Suicides and drug overdoses pushed up U.S. deaths last year, and drove a continuing decline in how long Americans are expected to live. Overall, there were more than 2.8 million U.S. deaths in 2017, or nearly 70,000 more than the previous year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. It was the most deaths in a single year since the government began counting more than a century ago. ”