Suicide rates soar in the United States
I read an article on healthnews.com that indicated that 8.3 million adults contemplate suicide. From a person that lost someone very close to me due to suicide, these rates were alarming.
With the crippling economy, loss of jobs and failure to thrive, it is not uncommon to see that suicide rates are soaring. What can we say to someone that is losing their house, job, car and everything they worked hard for mainly due to the fact that the economy is struggling?
Substance abuse is clearly another key to the downward slope to suicidal thoughts. Substance abuse appears to be the cure all to all of life's woes. According to the article, a person is four times more likely to contemplate suicide while using drugs. This is alarming.
I recently had a co-worker talk to me about her thoughts about suicide. The woman is retiring at the end of this year and she doesn't have a safe haven. Her employment is slowly coming to an end and her home life (with a boyfriend) is turbulent. She has no where to go to feel safe and have that happy place.
I talked her into treatment. She went to see a psychiatrist and is talking with a psychologist five times a week and is clearly trying to start fresh. This is truly no laughing matter and if you ever approached by someone who is contemplating suicide, get involved even if you don't know that person too well. This co-worker was someone I talked to about 3 times prior to this conversation. It was crystal clear to me that she was searching for help.
My advise with this share, get involved! The statistics are too high and when someone feels out of sorts with no where to run and hide, they may just be looking for guidance.
Here are some links for information and help sites for prevention of suicide.
Suicide Prevention Lifeline- 1-800-273-TALK
http://www.suicidepreventionhelp.com/
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Thanks for this great article, Melissa. And good for you for helping your co-worker so. You may have helped her save her own life!
I would say that it's very accurate that over eight people contemplate suicide. I would assume that is every year? I think far more contemplate suicide at one time or another in their lives.
There have been many high profile suicides this year - a lot of people involved in financial scams, who made hundreds of millions by stealing from others have taken their own lives rather than face courts and prisons. It's difficult to feel the same way for these people than we do the suicides of their victims. But that's another story! Suicide, in any context, is never a good thing.
Thank you for the links - I hope that anyone contemplating taking their own lives will read this and click on those links.