Suicide awareness, consequences and statistics

“My dad tried to call me on the day of his suicide — but I missed it”
(Metro — December 4, 2022)
“The biggest ‘what if for me will always be the phone call that I missed on the day of my dad’s death….
“As a dad myself now, with the responsibility of a family and the daily stresses of work, I can understand how it’s possible for someone to get to a point where they feel like they’re drowning and there’s no way out. But that’s why it’s so important to have a network around you that you can talk to….
“Although I’ve come to terms with my dad’s death, my biggest regret in life is not picking  up that phone call so I could tell my dad how much I love him and that we’d get him through whatever he was battling.”

“What Is the ‘Blue Whale Challenge’?
What Parents Need To Know About This Dangerous Social Media Trend”
(Parade — November 14, 2022)
In the social media age, trends go viral so quickly, it can be hard to keep up.  While this can be confusing when you see a new dance everyone’s suddenly doing that seems to come out of nowhere, the access to trends and speed at which they spread can also be incredibly dangerous–which brings us to the Blue Whale Challenge.
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Oregon’s Suicide Crisis Worsens
(National Review — March 5, 2020)
Oregon, a state that has considerably liberalized its assisted-suicide laws, has an ongoing youth and general suicide crisis on its hands.
In February the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released data showing that suicide was the leading cause of death among Oregon youth ages 10 to 24 in 2018, up from the second leading cause of death in 2017.
More on Oregon

“Suicide, at 50-year peak, pushes down US life expectancy”
(Associated Press — November 29, 2018)
The suicide rate last year was the highest it’s been in at least 50 years, according to U.S. government records.  There were more than 47,000 suicides, up from a little under 45,000 the year before.

“US life expectancy drops as opioid deaths and suicide rates rise”
(CNBCNovember 29, 2018)
Suicides overall were up by 3.7 percent in 2017.  Since 1999, the national suicide rate has increased by 33 percent.  [That figure does not include deaths from opioid overdoses.

“Suicide rates are up 33% in the U.S., yet funding lags behind that of all other top causes of death– leaving suicide research in its ‘infancy'”
(USA Today — November 28, 2018)
More than 47,000 Americans killed themselves in 2017, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday, contributing to an overall decline in U.S. life expectancy.

“Suicide rate rises steeply in US”
(BioEdge — June 9, 2018)
Suicide is now the tenth leading cause of death for Americans.  Suicide, Alzheimer’s and overdoses are the only causes of death which are increasing… [M]any who die this way did not have a diagnosed condition.
[Note:  The number of people who die from assisted suicide in states where the practice is legal are not included in these statistics since death certificates list the cause of death as the underlying medical condition.]

“More Americans Are Dying From Suicide”
(The Atlantic — June 8, 2018)
[T]he rising suicide rate in nearly all populations in the U.S. suggests that this is a public health problem facing the entire country, regardless of demographics.

“Suicide: Consequences”
Suicide and Suicide Attempts Take an Enormous Toll on Society
(Center for Disease Control and Prevention — 2017))

“Six Things You Need to Know about Physician-Assisted Suicide”
(The Public Discourse — December 19, 2017)
Is the real healthcare crisis not enough physician-assisted suicide laws?  Or is it the staggering and increasing number of people losing their battles with mental illness and committing suicide.

SAVE
Information about suicide and depression