Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Bogelbaum here. Today's episode discusses suicide
Speaker 1: and suicide prevention in the United States. If those aren't
Speaker 1: topics that you're up for hearing about, go ahead and
Speaker 1: skip this one, and hey, take care of yourself, okay.
Speaker 1: Here in the United States, discussion around mental health, self harm,
Speaker 1: and death hasn't always been a discussion as much as
Speaker 1: a whisper or a glance away, but experts say it's
Speaker 1: well past time to recognize that suicide in America is
Speaker 1: both serious and solvable. For the article this episode is
Speaker 1: based on How Stuff Works. Spoke with Jennifer Paine, the
Speaker 1: director of the Women's Mood Disorders Center and an associate
Speaker 1: professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine
Speaker 1: in Baltimore. She said, I think we need to be
Speaker 1: having a national conversation. How stuff Works. Also spoke by
Speaker 1: email with Deb Stone, a behavioral scientist in the Center
Speaker 1: for Disease Control and Prevention or c d c S
Speaker 1: Division of Violence Prevention and the lead author on a
Speaker 1: sobering study on suicide. She said, suicide prevention requires a
Speaker 1: comprehensive approach that addresses risk and protective factors at multiple levels,
Speaker 1: including societal, community relationship, and individual levels. There's a role
Speaker 1: for everyone in the community. The CDC's latest findings illuminate
Speaker 1: the scope of the issue. Among the facts, the American
Speaker 1: suicide rate increased thirty three between and twenty nineteen. More
Speaker 1: than forty seven thousand, five hundred Americans died by suicide
Speaker 1: in twenty nineteen, which is about one death every eleven minutes.
Speaker 1: Another one point four million Americans attempted suicide. It's the
Speaker 1: tenth leading cause of death in the United States and
Speaker 1: the second leading cause of death for people ages ten
Speaker 1: to thirty four. Mental health officials are quick to ask
Speaker 1: the media to avoid using sensationalistic wording like skyrocketing or
Speaker 1: epidemic to characterize the rise in suicides. Still, suicide is
Speaker 1: a clear, serious, growing public health issue, and facing that
Speaker 1: might be the first step in combating it. But facing
Speaker 1: it means acknowledging something else too. Though researchers found that
Speaker 1: more than half of those who die by suicide don't
Speaker 1: have a diagnosed mental health condition, mental illness remains a
Speaker 1: huge factor in this cause of death. It's not the
Speaker 1: only factor, but it's an important one that needs to
Speaker 1: be addressed. Pain from Johns, Hopkins said, I think there's
Speaker 1: a stigma associated with psychiatric illness that really needs to
Speaker 1: go away. It's one of the most common illnesses that
Speaker 1: people have. People are reluctant to get treatment and seek
Speaker 1: out care partially because of that stigma. If we got
Speaker 1: rid of the stigma associated with psychiatric illness, then I
Speaker 1: think that would result in people getting better mental health
Speaker 1: treatment and hopefully a lowering of the suicide rate. In addition,
Speaker 1: and the CDC points to a variety of other possible
Speaker 1: factors in the rising rates of suicide, including relationship problems
Speaker 1: or loss of a loved one, substance misuse, physical health problems,
Speaker 1: money woes, and employment stress. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
Speaker 1: lists warning signs that may signal a person might be
Speaker 1: contemplating suicide. They include talking about wanting to die or
Speaker 1: kill themselves, looking for a way to kill themselves like
Speaker 1: searching online or buying a gun, talking about feeling hopeless
Speaker 1: or having no reason to live, talking about feeling trapped
Speaker 1: or being in unbearable pain, talking about being a burden
Speaker 1: to others. Increasing the use of alcohol or drugs, acting
Speaker 1: anxious or agitated, behaving recklessly, sleeping too little or too much,
Speaker 1: withdrawing or isolating themselves, showing rage or talking about seeking revenge,
Speaker 1: and extreme mood swings. If you know someone exhibiting any
Speaker 1: of those signs, experts say it's best to approach the
Speaker 1: situation head on. Stone from the CDC said, one of
Speaker 1: the simplest ways to determine this is to ask directly,
Speaker 1: are you thinking about suicide? Asking the question won't put
Speaker 1: the thought on someone's head who wasn't previously thinking about suicide,
Speaker 1: and it can be a relief for the person to
Speaker 1: open up about their struggles. Pain said, what you don't
Speaker 1: want to do is play that don't ask, don't tell game.
Speaker 1: You're not going to regret getting someone the appropriate care.
Speaker 1: I think that if you really care about someone and
Speaker 1: you're really concerned, then you do everything that you can
Speaker 1: to get them to treatment, including insisting on it. On
Speaker 1: a macro level. Slowing the rate of suicides falls largely
Speaker 1: on the public health agencies, but they can't turn the tidle.
Speaker 1: Loon In Stone and fellow scientists with the CDC released
Speaker 1: a document called Preventing suicide a technical package of policy,
Speaker 1: programs and practices. In it, they explain other sectors vital
Speaker 1: to implementing this package include, but are not limited to, education, government, local, state,
Speaker 1: and federal social services, health services, business, labor, justice, housing, media,
Speaker 1: and organizations that comprise the civil society sector, such as
Speaker 1: faith based organizations, youth serving organizations, foundations, and other non
Speaker 1: governmental organizations. Collectively, these sectors can make a difference in
Speaker 1: preventing suicide by impacting the various contexts and underlying risks
Speaker 1: the contribute to suicide. The CDC Understones Technical Package has
Speaker 1: instituted a seven steps strategy to help the different sectors
Speaker 1: build programs to prevent suicide, including strengthening economic supports, strengthening
Speaker 1: access and delivery of suicide care, creating protective environments, promoting connectedness, teaching,
Speaker 1: coping and problem solving skills, identifying and supporting people at risk,
Speaker 1: and lessening harms and preventing future risk. In the end,
Speaker 1: solving such a complex public health issue will demand a
Speaker 1: lot of work from a lot of people, and all
Speaker 1: of them will have to be stubborn, unwilling to simply
Speaker 1: glance away. If you are someone you know is having
Speaker 1: thoughts about suicide in the United States. You can call
Speaker 1: the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at eight hundred to seven
Speaker 1: three talk that's eight hundred to seven three eight to five,
Speaker 1: or you can google for resources in your area. Today's
Speaker 1: episode is based on the article the US needs to
Speaker 1: have an Ongoing Conversation about suicide on how stuffworks dot com,
Speaker 1: written by John Donovan. Brain Stuff is production of by
Speaker 1: Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff works dot com,
Speaker 1: and it is produced by Tyler Plain. Four. More podcasts
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