I'm sadden to say that my daughter's best friend's father committed suicide on Sunday night. We are all in shock and still don't know the "why". My daughter is a teenager and is having a hard time understanding how a parent could do this to their child and so am I.
I don't know if he felt so hopeless or depressed that he thought this was his only solution. I'm surprised to read that suicide is the eleventh most common cause of death in the United States. I wish we would have recognized some of the signs so we could have helped in some way. With the holidays around the corner and the current state of our economy, I'm sure depression and suicide will be on the rise.
How do we help those around us who are having thoughts of suicide or are depressed? And most importantly what do you say to your children when something like this strikes so close to home?