Some welcome gains in suicide prevention
Published: Sunday, Mar. 18, 2007
Nashua Telegraph
Dropping rates of suicide for young people ages 19 to 24 in New Hampshire are worth cheering.
A Telegraph article on Tuesday said that the number of suicides in that age group had fallen over five years from 22 to 12. And in more good news, no resident New Hampshire teenager in 2006 took his or her own life, according to state officials.
In previous years, according to health officials who track those numbers, eight to 10 teens took their own lives annually. What a depressing state of affairs that was.
More good news: The state Medical Examiner Tom Andrew notes that the state's suicide rate for people 24 and younger went from being 30 percent over the U.S. average in 1991 to being 10 percent under that in 2004.
However, here's a note of elaboration on the statistics. Deaths due to a drug overdose are often classified as accidental because intent is difficult to come by, unless there's proof left behind of the deliberate taking of one's life. So there could be a few suicides that go undetected under such circumstances.
Stripping away the stigma about mental health problems is given as one factor in lowering the suicide rate. So is improving access to help and focusing public attention on the incidence of suicide.
According to Elaine Frank, co-chair of the State Suicide Prevention Council, for every suicide, 25 others are attempted.
That's a sobering number.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness was given accolades for its work on suicide prevention, as it should have. It was also praised for its
24/7 hotline (800-273-TALK), which offers distressed individuals who may be candidates for suicide a way to talk over their troubles and be directed to sources of assistance.
How ironic, though, that all this good news came in the same week that the March 9 death of Brad Delp, the popular guitarist and lead singer for the band Boston, was attributed to suicide. His fiancee said the 55-year-old had suffered from depression. Who would have guessed he was so tormented?
Suicide was once only whispered about, but these days the subject is more openly discussed. The shame of suicide is dissipating and being replaced with public discussion about prevention.
The national alliance says we should all be aware of the warning signs of suicide. They include talking about suicide, even in a joking way, mood changes, depression and increased use of alcohol and drugs.
Mental illness is can be at the root of many suicides. Disorders of other bodily organs usually get treated and the suffering victim given much support. But diseases or disorders of the brain that affect behavior, especially if chronic, historically have become a badge of dishonor, with those suffering from mental illness often being shunned or left to their own devices.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness is working hard to bring these problems to public understanding in order to secure better care.
The alliance and the State Prevention Council, as well as the state Department of Health and Human Services, shared the spotlight at the news conference on Monday when the improved statistics on suicide prevention were announced.
There's more work to do, especially among the elderly. who sometimes take their own lives out of sense of hopelessness in their future.
But the drop in the suicide rate in New Hampshire for young people so far is a welcome development.
May the rates for all ages decrease this year and in the years to come.
*KEY POINTS*
BACKGROUND: State officials at a news conference on Monday announced that suicide rates among young people in New Hampshire have substantially dropped over the last five years.
CONCLUSION: That's welcome news and reflects the work done by the National Alliance on Mental Illness and state agencies to curb suicides by increasing public awareness of the problem and offering more help for prevention.
