MR. COOPER: Hunter left a note and one thing that
has haunted me, he said, “I don’t know why I’m doing
this.” And that’s made me really think that it was the
medication. It’s almost like it’s the push over the cliff.
A lot of people have good results with anti-depressants
and I’m not against them. I’m against the misuse and
overreliance on medication.
MS. SHIN: It’s also very important to bring awareness to
the fact that mental health is a health issue. We need
health insurance to cover mental health.
DR. BENNETT: The mental health profession has fallen
short on advertising the benefits; we only talk about it
when things go bad, you need to come see one of us.
But if we were bold and talked about how it helps, I
think we might make more inroads.
MS. BRADFORD: The words “mental health” are so
stigmatized.
MS. ELMENDORF: It’s a stigma. If you have an eye prob-lem,
you go to the eye doctor. It’s your brain. Why is
that so different?
DR. BROWN: You should call it brain health. I wonder
if part of our normal physical exams, kid’s sports ex-ams,
if that should be a normal question: “Have you
had any thoughts about hurting yourself?” Why not ask
about brain health issues?
MS. ROGGEMAN: On high school campuses in New Ha-nover
County, we have wellness centers and they really
focus on integrated therapies. Kids get their immuniza-tions,
they can get their sports physicals, and there’s a
mental health professional there. They can talk with
somebody. I’m really trying to promote it as a wellness
issue; you don’t just go when you’re sick. If you are do-ing
well, then keep coming and we’ll keep you well.
DR. BROWN: To avoid some of the stigmas, we could
just look at that like a car inspection. You say, “How is
your brain working, have you had any problems with
these type of thoughts or those type of thoughts?”
MS. ELMENDORF: Another myth is, ‘They were so self-ish.’
It is not a selfish act at all. It’s a decision they make
under this false belief that everybody will be better off
without them. If there is one thing that sums up any-one
who takes their life, it’s shame and disappointment.
DR. BENNETT: Social media is proving to be a larger
and larger component to making suicide an option.
The irony is that you have the technology to reach
everybody on the planet, and yet we’ve never felt more
disconnected. That has proven to be one of the largest
variables in making somebody at risk for suicide. An-other
is perfectionism. When a person gets stuck into
they have to be perfect or near-perfect (and of course
who is) then they don’t know what to do with that. The
hopelessness kicks in and then it’s a slippery slope.
SUICIDE
STATS
In the United States
Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death. Each year
44,193 Americans die by suicide.
There are an average of 121 suicides per day.
In 2015 the highest suicide rate (19.6 per 100,000)
was among adults between 45 and 63. Adolescents
and young adults aged 15 to 24 had a rate of 12.5 per
100,000.
Men die by suicide 3.5 times more than women.
Firearms account for 49.8 percent of all suicides.
White men accounted for 7 of 10 suicides in 2015.
There are 24 attempts for every completed suicide.
Suicide costs society over $51.9 billion a year.
SOURCE: THE AMERICAN FOUNDATION FOR SUICIDE PREVENTION
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