Suicide Statistics

Did you know:

• Suicide is the SECOND leading cause of death for ages 10-24. (2013 CDC WISQARS)
• Suicide is the SECOND leading cause of death for college-age youth and ages 12-18. (2013 CDC WISQARS)
• More teenagers and young adults die from suicide than from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, pneumonia, influenza, and chronic lung disease, COMBINED.
• Each day in our nation there are an average of over 5,400 attempts by young people grades 7-12.
• Four out of Five teens who attempt suicide have given clear warning signs
• The Youth Risk Behavioral Surveillance System (YRBS) is a survey, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that includes national, state, and local school-based representative samples of 9th through 12th grade students. The purpose is to monitor priority health risk behaviors that contribute to the leading causes of death, disability, and social problems among youth in the United States. 

I never knew any of this.  Why do all these other cases make the news and become viral?  There are millions of dollars spent researching cures and vaccines.  Where is the help for people that are suffering mentally and not physically.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not against the money funding the research behind these other programs I just believe more attention needs to be brought to the statistics regarding suicide.  Not just teenage suicide, even though that's what impacted our family.  There should be benefits available through your insurance that don't make it nearly impossible for middle income people to seek treatment for mental illnesses.  Why is this something that is covered at 50% by the majority of commercial insurance plans?  Or the number of visits you are allowed is limited.  Does the mental illness go away after you've had your 12 visits?  No, you might just be beginning to make progress.  

I know the answer to some of this.  Because people aren't open about it.  They are afraid to talk about it because people might think differently about them.  The only time I've not been completely honest about how Kaleb died was when I was having a conversation with a child that was a stranger that was eating at the same Hibachi grill as us.  It was her birthday and she had asked about our kids, and if the youngest lived with us.  That didn't seem like the time or place to discuss suicide on a 12 year old girls birthday.  But maybe in hindsight it was the time to talk about it.  By avoiding that, it took away the opportunity to educate 3 people about the dangers of teenage suicide. 

I've read up on the media's protocol on reporting suicides.  Because you rarely hear about them on the news and the reasoning behind that is they don't want to trigger additional suicides by sensationalizing the story.  They have careful verbage they use when reporting the story.  And they only report that it was a suicide if they absolutely have to in order to complete the story.  What if everyone quit reporting about gang violence?  If it was never spoke about on the news.  Would people begin to have a false sense of security?  Because we all know if it's not on the news or social media it didn't happen.  People don't hear about suicides so they don't think it's a big issue.  Families cover up the cause of death out of embarrassment or shame.  I only have a small number of friends on social media.  And I know some people aren't able to read my blogs as it hurts to much, or it's to emotional for them.  I'm fine with that.  But if you do it only takes 1 person to make a change.  I regularly share my blogs, and statistics and links to suicide prevention programs.  I ask that you share some of these links.  Even if you don't know anyone personally (or don't think you do) there might be someone out there who needs help and doesn't know how to get it.  Just knowing that it came across their feed at a time of need might be the sign they need to reach out for help.  I didn't know someone I loved was struggling with suicidal thoughts until it was to late and I lived with him.