Suicide is on the rise and has become a public health crisis in American according to the Family Guidance Center in St. Joseph.
“In the media nationally and locally there have been a number of suicides reported,” said Kristina Hannon, Family Guidance Center Vice President. “People are concerned about what we call the contagion effect which is essentially when suicides are sensationalized or reported incorrectly in the media that people will at times mimic those suicide attempts.”
Hannon said in 2013 more than 41,000 Americans completed suicide and more than 1-million Americans attempted suicide.
She said it’s a public health crisis and that it’s important to make sure and talk openly about suicide.
“One of the biggest concerns about what we call survivors of suicide are people whose loved ones have completed suicide is the shame and loneliness that they feel,” Hannon said. “Oftentimes they don’t want to say ‘my loved one completed suicide’ or ‘my loved one attempted suicide’ if they’re in the hospital because they’re afraid of the reaction people will have towards them or towards their family member.”
She said there are warning signs people can look for.
“Some of them are subtle and of course some of them are not,” Hannon said. “Some of the more subtle clues towards people having thoughts about suicide is they may make statements that are kind of vague. They may say ‘well things would be better off if I wasn’t here’ or ‘you would be better off if I wasn’t around’. Those statements are not necessarily suicidal statements but it can give you some idea that the person may be starting to think along those lines.”
She said increased depression, isolation, withdrawing from family and friends, not partaking in normal activities, and giving away possessions can be things to look out for.
“I’m hoping people will understand suicide is not something that happens to other people,” Hannon said. “It happens to all members of society, to all classes of society, all races of society. It’s not something that happens just to a group of people that we can label as those people.”
Hannon said it’s the 10th leading cause of death in the United States.
“Unlike most other leading causes of death suicide deaths are not decreasing,” she said. “They’re increasing every single year.”
Hannon said she hopes that by drawing awareness to suicides people will become aware that suicide is a public health crisis.
“One of the things we’re doing locally at Family Guidance Center is that we’re trying to do more media outreach and we’re trying to talk openly about these things with people through the media and when people come into our office,” Hannon said. “Other organizations do the same thing. Northwest Missouri State University just launched a big campaign with a #Iwilllisten it’s kind of an anti-suicide campaign. Other colleges and organizations across the area are doing the same thing. Really trying to raise awareness of suicide as a health issue.”