Publications - Suicide

Calls to suicide prevention lifeline rose 45% after changeover to 988 number, by Jacqueline Howard, CNN, Sep 9 2022.

“After the summer launch of the new 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline number, calls to the lifeline increased 45% compared with the same time last year, and the majority of those calls were connected to a counselor, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services. ”

Confronting Health Worker Burnout and Well-Being, by Vivek H. Murthy, M.D., M.B.A., New England Journal of Medicine, Aug 18 2022.

“Expressions of gratitude have too often been replaced by hostility, anger, and even death threats toward health workers, as health misinformation has exploded, eroding trust in science and public health experts. Yet doctors, nurses, pharmacists, social workers, respiratory therapists, hospital security officers, and staff members of health care and public health organizations continue showing up to battle the pandemic and its sequelae — long Covid, mental health strain, widening health disparities, and 2 years’ worth of deferred care for myriad conditions.  The toll on our health workers is alarming. Thousands of them have died from Covid. More than half of health workers report symptoms of burnout,1 and many are contending with insomnia, depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, or other mental health challenges.2  ”

Men’s Body-Image Issues Got Worse During the Pandemic—Even if Many Didn’t Realize It, by Heidi Mitchell, The Wall Street Journal, Aug 14 2022.

“Having a negative body image has long been considered a female problem. Countless books, videos and after-school specials have been devoted to highlighting the concern and the damage it does to girls and women.  But men are nearly as likely to suffer from negative body-image concerns—and studies suggest that the stress and anxiety of the pandemic only made things worse.  Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD)—a clinical disorder in which people become preoccupied with a perceived imperfection in their physical appearance to the point that it causes them significant emotional distress or interferes with their day-to-day functioning—was first listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in the 1980s. Population studies show that 2.4% of Americans currently suffer from BDD, though most experts believe this number is underreported and may impact up to 3% of the population. [...] Without proper treatment, the consequences for men with BDD can be severe. About 80% of these men have had suicidal ideation at some point during their lives, and about 25% have attempted suicide. Signs of BDD include spending at least one hour a day thinking about perceived defects, obsessively looking at or avoiding mirrors, compulsively comparing oneself to others, missing work or school, an increased likelihood of alcohol or drug abuse, anabolic steroid usage (among men with muscle dysmorphia), and a feeling that one looks unattractive or even hideous. ”

Make space, listen, offer hope: How to help a child at risk of suicide, by Rhitu Chatterjee and Michelle Aslam, NPR, Jul 18 2022.

“As the coronavirus pandemic has worsened the mental health of kids, more families are dealing with their children feeling anxious, depressed and thinking about and even attempting suicide. But mental health professionals say that suicide is preventable and that parents and family members can play an important role.  It's hard work that requires parents to listen to their children, acknowledge their struggles and help them find a way out of their darkness. And in the long run, it calls for creating a home environment where kids feel safe sharing their emotional lives and where families solve problems together. ”

Debunking myths about suicide helps encourage compassion and understanding, by Kristen Rogers, CNN, Jul 16 2022.

“Sometimes people who die by suicide get branded as selfish, depressed or attention-seeking.  Such myths contribute to the stigma that can prevent those who are suicidal from seeking the help they need and falsify understanding of the motivations behind suicide, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, or NAMI.  Suicide is a leading cause of death among children and adults, with nearly 800,000 people worldwide dying from suicide yearly, according to the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017, cited by the online scientific publication Our World in Data. In 2020, there were 1.2 million attempts globally, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention says. Awareness of the realities of suicide can help people view these deaths with more understanding and compassion, realize the importance of helping others get help and address their own mental health problems if they are struggling, NAMI says. ”

The new 988 mental health hotline is live. Here's what to know, by Rhitu Chatterjee, NPR, Jul 16 2022.

“People experiencing a mental health crisis have a new way to reach out for help in the U.S. Starting Saturday, they can simply call or text the numbers 9-8-8.  Modeled after 911, the new three-digit 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is designed to be a memorable and quick number that connects people who are suicidal or in any other mental health crisis to a trained mental health professional.  "If you are willing to turn to someone in your moment of crisis, 988 will be there," said Xavier Becerra, the secretary of the federal Department of Health and Human Services, at a recent press briefing. "988 won't be a busy signal, and 988 won't put you on hold. You will get help." ”

Many Black children are dying by suicide, doctors say: Understanding the why -- and how to help, by Kelly Livingston, ABC News, Jul 6 2022.

“The suicide rate among Black youth has been increasing along with the number of suicide attempts and the severity of those attempts, according to the most recent Youth Risk Behavior Survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, released in 2019.   That report, tracking suicide trends among students ages 14-18 over the previous 10 years, found that of the 8.9% who reported attempting suicide, Black youth were among the populations with the highest rates of reporting attempts, accounting for 11.8%. By contrast, white youth accounted for 7.9% of those reported attempts and Hispanic youth accounted for 8.9%.  The study found there was an even greater difference in reported attempts by race among female students: Black female students accounted for 15.2% of those reporting attempts, white female students made up 9.4% of that population, and Hispanic female students accounted for 11.9%.  A separate report from the American Academy of Pediatrics tracking suicidal behavior in youth from 1991 to 2017 found that Black youth experienced significant increases in suicide attempts over that period. And among Black kids ages 5-12, the suicide rate was found to be twice that of their white counterparts in 2017 ”

Myths about abortion and women's mental health are widespread, experts say, by Sandee LaMotte, CNN, Jul 2 2022.

“"There's so much misinformation, so many myths about abortion. Abortion will lead to substance abuse, depression, suicidal thoughts; abortion is bad for your health; every woman is going to regret it," said social psychologist Brenda Major, a distinguished professor emeritus in the department of psychological and brain sciences at the University of California, Santa Barbara.  In reality, decades of research has shown "the vast majority of women feel they made the right choice, and they don't experience regret," said Major, who led a 2008 American Psychological Association task force exploring the science on abortion and mental health. ”

AAP now recommends screening all kids 12 and up for depression and suicide risk, by Sarah Pool, MA, LPC, NCC, Motherly, Jun 13 2022.

“Depression and suicide risk in children has reached unprecedented levels. Last year, amid the pandemic, youth mental health was declared a "national emergency" by a coalition representing over 77,000 physicians and over 200 children's hospitals. Additionally, the U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy issued a 53-page advisory warning in 2021 of a growing mental health crisis among young people.   The CDC also released a 2022 report revealing a worsening mental health climate—asserting that 21% of teens experienced a major depressive episode before the pandemic, and 9% of children and adolescents experienced anxiety problems. The pandemic has only exacerbated these issues.  In response to this growing crisis, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recently issued a draft recommendation urging that pediatricians help screen for mental health issues such as major depressive disorder and anxiety. They are also now proposing that all adolescents are screened for suicide risk. ”

More states are allowing students to take mental health days off, by Giles Bruce, NPR, Jun 10 2022.

“The state allows K-12 students in public schools to have five excused absences per school year for mental health reasons, another example of the growing acknowledgment among lawmakers that emotional and physical health are intertwined. The new policy, which went into effect at the beginning of 2022, passed both chambers of the state legislature unanimously. But such novel policies are, in many ways, a half-step toward addressing the crisis of teenage mental health that has been highlighted and exacerbated by the educational interruptions caused by the pandemic. Many parts of the country are woefully short of therapists who can work with students to address mental health problems.  Seventy percent of schools that responded to a federal survey in April said more students had sought mental health services since the pandemic started. The National Center for Education Statistics' polling also showed that only 56% of schools said they effectively provide mental health services to all students in need and just 41% reported hiring new staff members to help address students' mental health needs. Nearly half the nation lives in a designated mental health worker shortage area, according to government data, and an estimated 7,550 new professionals are needed to fill that void nationwide. Even in places where mental health professionals are more plentiful, they often do not accept public insurance, making them inaccessible to many kids. ”

Transgender youth at a higher risk for suicidal thoughts, report says, by Chiara Greco, The Globe and Mail, Jun 6 2022.

“Transgender adolescents are nearly five times more likely to have suicidal thoughts than their non-transgender and heterosexual peers, according to a new study.  The research, published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, used data from Statistics Canada’s 2019 Canadian Health Survey on Children and Youth to assess the risk of suicide among transgender and sexual-minority youth in Canada. The data included responses from more than 6,800 adolescents aged 15 to 17. Of those respondents, 1,130 indicated some degree of same-gender attraction, 265 were unsure of their attraction and 50 reported transgender identities. The study found that nearly 50 per cent of transgender respondents said they had seriously thought about suicide in the past 12 months, compared to 10.4 per cent of cisgender heterosexual respondents. (Someone is cisgender when their gender identity corresponds with whatever sex they were assigned at birth.) Nearly 6.8 per cent of adolescents included in the study had attempted suicide in their lifetime. ”

Suicides among Black People May Be Vastly Undercounted, by Mike Letterman, True Viral News, Jun 6 2022.

“Ian Rockett has been researching the epidemiology of suicide for many years. One of the questions the West Virginia University investigator has pondered over many years in the field is why the rate of suicide among black people in the U.S. is recorded as a third of that of white people. The extent to which medical examiners and coroners have lacked sufficient data to accurately determine causes of death has been shown by Rockett. Black American deaths are 2.3 times more likely than white American deaths to be classified as "unexplained" at the time they occur.  In a study published in the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, researchers found that Black suicides were more likely to be classified as undetermined because coroners and medical examiners have less information to go on. They are more likely to be labeled as undetermined intent when there is less psychological documentation. This leads to suicides. This conclusion is confirmed by the language that appears in death reports. A study published in the journal Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior found that the incidence of mental health information in white suicides was higher than in other races. White narratives were more likely to have words such as depression and anxiety in them. Phrases such as "nothing" and "questionable" were common in black narratives. The study found that accounts for Black people contained less words and less lexical diversity. ”

A Rise in Suicides by Young Children Leaves Families Searching for Answers, by Andrea Petersen, The Wall Street Journal, Jun 5 2022.

“The number of children dying by suicide has risen dramatically in recent years. Parents often don’t know that their children are having suicidal thoughts, new research shows. Among females ages 10 to 14, the rate of suicide more than tripled between 2007 and 2020, from 0.5 per 100,000 to 2 per 100,000 according to data from the National Center for Health Statistics. Among males the same age, the rate jumped from 1.2 per 100,000 to 3.6 per 100,000 over the same period.  Although the numbers are tiny compared with the number of older adolescents and adults who die by suicide, it is now the second leading cause of death among children in this age group. Suicidal thoughts and attempts are much more common in younger children than previously thought, new research is finding. Among 9- and 10-year-olds and their parents who were asked if the children had suicidal thoughts or made suicide attempts during their lifetime, 14.3% reported suicidal thoughts and 1.26% reported suicide attempts, according to an analysis of data from a large study of adolescent health and brain development that is following nearly 12,000 youngsters across the U.S. The paper was published in 2021 in the journal Translational Psychiatry. New research is uncovering risk factors in younger children like family conflict and early exposure to alcohol. Depression is most commonly associated with suicidal thoughts in older teens and adults, but in younger children scientists are finding that ADHD and behavior problems are also closely linked to suicidal thoughts and behaviors. ”

Adolescent suicides increased in 5 US states during the pandemic. Why parents should be concerned, by Kristen Rogers, CNN, Apr 25 2022.

“The mental health of Americans has suffered during the Covid-19 pandemic, and new research shows the damage wasn't limited to adults.  The number of suicides among adolescents between the ages of 10 and 19 increased in five states during the pandemic, according to research looking at 14 states published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics on Monday. "Suicide-risk screenings have yielded higher positive rates" during the pandemic than beforehand, the authors said. And in 2021, the American Academy of Pediatrics declared a state of emergency concerning children's and adolescents' mental health. ”

‘A cry for help’: CDC warns of a steep decline in teen mental health, by Moriah Balingit, The Washington Post, Mar 31 2022.

“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning of an accelerating mental health crisis among adolescents, with more than 4 in 10 teens reporting that they feel “persistently sad or hopeless,” and 1 in 5 saying they have contemplated suicide, according to the results of a survey published Thursday.  “These data echo a cry for help,” said Debra Houry, a deputy director at the CDC. “The COVID-19 pandemic has created traumatic stressors that have the potential to further erode students’ mental well-being.”  The findings draw on a survey of a nationally representative sample of 7,700 teens conducted in the first six months of 2021, when they were in the midst of their first full pandemic school year. They were questioned on a range of topics, including their mental health, alcohol and drug use, and whether they had encountered violence at home or at school. They were also asked about whether they had encountered racism. ”