The Reality of Suicide & Our Role in its Prevention

While you may have heard of it before, did. you know World Suicide Prevention Day (WPSD) was initiated by the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) in an effort to raise awareness, reduce the stigma, and encourage well-informed action? What about that the first one was not held until on September 10th, 2003?

Nearly 20 years later and our team at Dream On Youth could think of no better way than to raise awareness by sharing a few things. Back in May, our founder Cydney Irby attended a suicide prevention class online and had the idea to share some of the major things we should consider and actions we can take.

Trigger warning (TW): suicide, suicidal ideation

First, there are 5 forms, or as we like to think of them stages, of suicide: ideation, talking, threatening, attempting, and death, which is actually the rarest form.

Wait, did you say death was the rarest form/stage? Yes, yes we did.

More people are in the ideation phase, thinking about suicide or maybe even planning it. It may be incredibly intense and frequently come across their mind or it could be fleeting. After this stage, you’ll find them talking or even joking about it. Maybe escalating the situation by threatening to do so with the explicit phrase “I want to…” or acting on it and attempting suicide with the intent to die.

And, as if we needed any more proof that this is a major public health concern, despite it’s ever-present taboo, look at the data from the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention (AFSP) website:

Screenshot of the data outlined on the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention’s website. Learn more about how to make a difference at afsp.org/make-a-difference.

Then, there’s the information Licensed Certified Social Worker (LCSW) Nancy Pierce of Mental Health Crisis Consultants presented during class such as:

• Suicide deaths outnumber homicide deaths 3:1.

• Suicide is the second leading cause of death in children in the United States.

  • American Indian and Alaska Native youth, as well as middle-aged persons in this group, have the highest rate of suicide.

  • African Americans have the lowest suicide rate except for younger children in this demographic. In fact, African American children under the age of 12 have a higher rate of suicide than their white counterparts.

• No one is immune to suicide but suicide is not inevitable. Empathy is our best foundation for intervention because few people impulsively attempt it without warning.

• For those who do attempt it or even think about it, it’s seen as a natural solution to end their pain and suffering. We don’t have to accept or agree on this, but this is a no-judge zone and we need convey that.

There’s a chance that you know someone, or you are someone, who has talked about suicide, joked about it, or even attempted it. There’s a chance that you’ve heard about it in the news, on social media, and wondered why or how we stop it. These are some of the many reasons why our team believes it’s been time for us to talk about suicide and its prevention the same way we talk about things like cancer and other diseases as a world.

But, isn’t it a choice? We thought someone may think that.

As explained in the presentation, suicide is driven by pain and happens when all other alternatives are exhausted, no other choices are seen. It’s not a crime. It’s a result of many factors coming together at a critical point in someone’s life which is where our help on their lives comes in.

So, what are the warning signs of suicide?

• Talking about wanting to die or kill themselves

• Looking for a way to kill themselves, likely looking online

• Talking about feeling hopeless and there being no reason to live

• Talking about feeling trapped or in unbearable pain

• Talking about being a burden to others or feeling alone even if they are surrounded by others

• Acting anxious or agitated/rage; behaving recklessly

• Extreme mood swings

• Sleeping too much or too little

• Withdrawing or isolating themselves

• Increasing use of alcohol or drugs, potentially withdrawal

What’s the best way to present suicide from happening?

• Be curious and willing to listen.

• Be patient and appear calm. A calm frankness helps give them permission to disclose those feelings to you.

• Use their own words and statements when they’ve talked about suicide. Say something like “so when you say I can’t go on like this any longer, what do you mean?” to help ask questions about it.

• Normalize the conversation to help them feel less alone.

• Be prepared to stay with them and send for help if indicated.

We could go even more in depth of how to guide someone during suicidal crisis, as it was in the presentation, but we don’t want to overwhelm anyone. We wanted a good starting point for us to open up the conversation in our circles, to get more people informed of what the data looks like, to debunk some myths, and to help end the stigma.