September is suicide prevention month. It’s an important time not only for addressing this trend, but also to address the stigma leading to the trend and its possible causes.
According to recently obtained statistics, each day sees nearly 100 people committing suicide. This number is shocking itself, but what is even more shocking is that this number only includes those who succeed. This means several other people attempt suicide every day, and either they fail or cannot complete the process. In addition, there are also many who consider committing suicide, but never try the act.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), suicide is the 10 most common cause of death in the United States; and for your information, murder or homicide is labeled as the 16th leading cause of death in the country by the CDC.
According to Dr. Mark Pollack, who adorns the position of the president at the Anxiety & Depression Association of America, several studies conducted to date have demonstrated that people with depression and anxiety disorders are at higher risk of having suicidal thoughts or making suicide attempts.
Dr. Pollack added that diagnosing and then treating depression and anxiety disorders effectively, particularly when they occur together, are vital pathways to intervening and decreasing suicide crises.
Here, it must be mentioned that American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s South Carolina chapter suggest that individuals with mental health problems and psychological disorders such as depression are often stigmatized unfairly. Thus, experts are now trying to make people understand that depression cannot be tagged as a character flaw; it’s actually a response in our brain.
According to experts, all of us can get overwhelmed at some point in our lives and struggle to cope with the situation, which makes it extremely important for each one of us to be aware of the warning signs.
Links between suicide attempts and mental health issues have also been established by experts in Asian countries such as Taiwan.
According to a study conducted by the Taiwan Suicide Prevention Center, the country is currently home to nearly 1.245 million people with mental health problems. Out of them, 13.2% have already attempted suicide. The study also revealed that 10.5% of people with mental health issues considered committing suicide in the past one month; the percentage is as high as 20.4% for the past one year.
