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REFUSE to Suffer
The following statistic's from CDC - National Center for Injury Prevention and Control
The Problem
- Suicide took the lives of 30,484 Americans in 1992 (11.1 per 100, 000 population) 1
- More people die from suicide than from homicide in the United States.
- On an average day, 84 people die from suicide and an estimated 1,900 adults attempt suicide.
- Males are at least four times more likely to die from suicide than are females. However, females are more likely to attempt suicide than are males.
- In 1992, white males accounted for 73 % of all suicides. Together, white males and white females account for almost 91% of all suicides. Suicide rates are higher than the national average for some groups of Asian and Native Americans.
- Suicide rates are generally higher than the national average in the western states and lower in the eastern and Midwestern states.
- Nearly 60 % of all suicides are committed with a firearm.
- Suicide rates increase with age and are highest among- Americans aged 65 years and older.
- The ten-year period, 1980-1990, was the first decade since the 1940s that the suicide rate for older residents rose instead of declined.
- Firearms were the most common method of suicide used by both men (74%) and women (31%).
- Risk factors for suicide among older persons differ from those among the young. Older persons have a higher prevalence of alcohol abuse, depression, a greater use of highly lethal methods, and social isolation. They also make fewer attempts per completed suicide, have a higher male-to-female ratio than other groups, have often visited a health-care provider before their suicide, and have more physical illnesses.
- Persons under age 25 years accounted for 16.4% of all suicides in 1992. >From 1952-1992, the incidence of suicide among adolescents and young adults nearly tripled. From 1980-1992, the rate of suicide among persons aged 15-19 years increased by 28.3 % and among persons aged 10-14 years by 120%. For African American males aged 15-19, the rate increased 165.3 %.
- For young, people 15 to 24 years old, suicide is the third leading cause of death, behind unintentional injury and homicide. In 1992 more teenagers and young adults died from suicide than died from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, pneumonia and influenza, and chronic lung disease combined.
- Among persons aged 15-19 years, firearm-related suicides accounted for 81 % of the increase in the overall rate of suicide from 1980-1992.
- People living in a household where a firearm is kept are almost five times more likely to die by suicide than people who live in gun-free homes. (Ref.: Kellerman et al, Suicide in the home in relation to gun ownership. New England Journal of Medicine 1992;327;467-72)
- The risk for suicide among young people is greatest among young white males; however, from 1980 through 1992, suicide rates increased most rapidly among young black males. Although suicide among children is a rare event, the dramatic increase in the rate among persons aged 10-14 years underscores the urgent need for intensifying efforts-to prevent suicide among- persons in this age group.
Myth: People who talk about killing themselves rarely commit
suicide.
Fact: Most people who commit suicide have given some verbal clues
or warning of their intention.
Myth: The tendency toward suicide is inherited and passed from
generation to generation.
Fact: Although suicidal behavior does tend to run in families, it
does not appear to be transmitted genetically.
Myth: The suicidal person wants to die and feels that there is no
turning back.
Fact: Suicidal people are usually ambivalent about dying and
frequently will seek help immediately after attempting the harm
themselves.
Myth: All suicidal people are deeply depressed.
Fact: Although depression is often closely associated with suicidal
feelings, not all people who kill themselves are obviously depressed. In
fact some suicidal people appear to be happier than they've been in years
because they have decided to "resolve" all of their problems by killing
themselves. Also, people who are extremely depressed usually do not have
the energy to kill themselves.
Myth: There is no correlation between alcoholism and suicide.
Fact: Alcoholism and suicide often go hand in hand. Alcoholics are
prodded to suicidal behavior and even people who don't normally drink will
often ingest alcohol shortly before killing themselves.
Myth: Once someone attempts suicide, that person will always
entertain thoughts of suicide.
Fact: Most people who are suicidal are so for only a very brief
period once in their lives. If the person receives the proper support
and assistance, he/she will probably never be suicidal again. Only about
10 percent of the people who attempt later kill themselves.
Myth: If you ask someone about their suicidal intentions, you will
only encourage them to kill themselves.
Fact: Actually the opposite is true. Asking someone directly about
their suicidal intentions will often lower their anxiety level and act as
a deterrent to suicidal behavior by encouraging the ventilation of pent-up
emotions through a frank discussion of his problems.
Myth: Suicide is quite common among the lower class.
Fact: Suicide crosses all socioeconomic distinctions and no one
class is more susceptible to it than another.
Myth: Suicidal people rarely seek medical attention.
Fact: Research has consistently shown that about 75 percent of
suicidal people will visit a physician within the month before they kill
themselves.