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• Shining a Light on Suicide Awareness

  

  Suicide is a major mental health concern that devastates lives and causes unimaginable pain. Its impact devastates individuals, families, and communities. Suicide rates have been rising globally, yet it is a complex and multifaceted issue. Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, honored each September, holds significant importance in bringing attention to this public health concern.  The current state of suicide  According to the World Health Organization, more than 700,000 people die by suicide every year, making it the second leading cause of death among young people ages 15 to 29 years old. According to the most recent numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there has been a 37% increase in suicide rates over the past two decades in the United States. And certain populations are at a higher risk—according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the annual prevalence of serious thoughts of suicide are evident in 45% of LGBTQ youth. Individuals in the LGBTQ community, as well as veterans and members of Indigenous communities face unique challenges that contribute to their increased vulnerability to suicide. Some key facts on suicide ...

• National Youth Violence Prevention Week focuses on awareness and prevention

  

  Since 1970, the U.S. has had 1,316 school shootings—18% of which occurred after the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy in 2012. In almost every case, the shooter exhibited warning signs beforehand. And in four out of five cases, at least one other person knew about the plan but did nothing to stop it.   The Students Against Violence Everywhere (SAVE) Promise Club, a student-led initiative of Sandy Hook Promise, works year-round to enact change by educating and empowering youth, engaging communities through prevention efforts, and empowering hope through positive peer influences.     One of those programs is National Youth Violence Prevention Week (NYVPW), an annual effort that brings students, parents, educators, business leaders, and more together to raise awareness about youth violence and get communities involved in making schools and neighborhoods safer.   Observed April 25 to 29 this year, NYVPW encourages businesses, government, media outlets, schools, and community organizations, along with parents, teachers, and youth, to get involved and take a stand against violence.   A free Youth Leader Action Kit provides inspiration and ideas for a week of activities that inspire others to educate and ...

• Understand and prevent suicide

  

  Suicide is a major mental health concern that devastates lives and causes unimaginable pain. In fact, in 2020, suicide was the 12th leading cause of death in the U.S., with nearly 46,000 people dying this way. What can we as mental health professionals do to help conquer this issue?  We need to understand better the clinical reasons behind the decision to commit suicide. Suicide doesn’t have a clear etiology, and many factors influence whether a person will become suicidal, including their neurobiology, personal and family history, stressful events they may have experienced, and sociocultural environment. However, suicide can be viewed as “a behavior motivated by the desire to escape from unbearable psychological pain.” Psychological factors, including personality and emotions, also contribute. Interestingly, decision-making impairment seems to be an increasingly important influence.  It's critical that we promote within our own organizations and communities the fact that suicide is preventable. Years ago, researchers found that almost half of people who commit suicide visit a primary care doctor within 1 month of death but don’t admit to or consult with the doctor about any ...

• Get involved: National Youth Violence Prevention Week

  

  April 12–16 is National Youth Violence Prevention Week, a time to raise awareness of effective strategies to prevent or reduce youth violence. Founded by Students Against Violence Everywhere (SAVE), a part of Sandy Hook Promise, the focus of this week is to decrease the potential for school violence by promoting meaningful student involvement, providing education on topics of bullying and violence, and offering opportunities to make our communities safer for all.  Learn more about how you can get involved:  Encourage the positives by recognizing those in your community who work to create inclusivity and foster a safe, positive, and friendly school or community. SAVE offers tons of ideas on how students and adults can use this week to encourage empathy, connection, and outreach.  Download “A Comprehensive Technical Package for the Prevention of Youth Violence and Associated Risk Behaviors” from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website and learn strategies your community can put into place to prevent youth violence.  Understand how prevalent youth violence is in your community. One out of every five high school students reported being bullied at school in the last year, and homicide is the third leading cause of death for individuals ages 10–24 years. Youth violence is a serious problem that requires everyone to ...

• Concussion, TBI, and Suicide Risk: Separating the Research from the Media Hype

  Last month, major news outlets reported that a new study had linked concussions to a higher suicide risk among adolescents—but did the media get the story right? In April, headlines such as “Concussions make young people more likely to attempt suicide” (U.S. News and World Report) and “Once-concussed teenagers found to be at higher risk for bullying, suicide” (Education Week) began to appear. Each source referenced a study by Dr. Gabriela Ilie, a post-doctoral fellow at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. Ilie’s study, which was published on April 15 in the science journal Plos One, looked at data from 4,685 surveys administered to adolescents in grades 7 through 12 as part of a 2011 drug use and health survey in Ontario. In the weeks since, however, there has been some criticism, not of the study itself but of the way it was covered by the media. In her April 22 article “The press release that fell and hit its head,” Brenda Goodman, a health writer for the Association of Healthcare Journalists, followed up with Ilie about the study. One of Goodman’s ...

• Researchers identify genetic mutation linked to suicide risk

  Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have discovered a chemical alteration in a single human gene that is linked to the risk of a suicide attempt. According to study leader Zachary Kaminsky, PhD, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the JHU School of Medicine, the results of this study could be a first step in developing a simple blood test that will help doctors predict suicide risk. Described in The American Journal of Psychiatry, the study suggests that chemical changes in a gene involved in the function of the brain’s response to stress hormones plays a significant role in suicide risk. These changes can turn a normal reaction to everyday stress into suicidal thoughts and behaviors. “Suicide is a major preventable public health problem, but we have been stymied in our prevention efforts because we have no consistent way to predict those who are at increased risk of killing themselves,” explains Kaminsky in a press release from Hopkins Medicine. “With a test like ours, we may be able to stem suicide rates by identifying those people and intervening early ...