“Silence isn’t helping, so I’m trying to be a voice,” says Justin Fitch solemnly— speaking of the tragic rise in military suicides (Zoroya, 2014, p. 6a). Fitch is a member of Active Heroes— an organization dedicated to reducing suicides in the military. He is a strong advocate for the cause because he is one who is very familiar with the burden of depression and suicidal thoughts. According to Active Heroes, 22 veterans commit suicide a day ("Active Heroes Retreat Stories," 2014,). That shocking statistic is only an introduction to the study on suicide in America. According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, 111 people in the United States commit suicide each day (American Foundation For Suicide Prevention, 2014). In the USA Today, Fitch was interviewed by Gregg Zoroya in an article titled “The Tragic Tide of Suicide: 4 an Hour”. Zoroya’s intent in the article is to raise awareness of suicide in the United States. He uses many personal experiences, not just Finch’s, to draw the attention of the public and bring urgency into the
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What research needs to be done to help prevent suicide? Where should we start? Mental illness. Mental illness is a huge factor in suicides. Kay Redfield Jamison, a professor of psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, points out that an excess of stress from life may appear to be the reason people attempt suicide; people from the outside looking in seem to think that those who take their own lives just couldn’t handle certain situations they were in (Jamison, 2014). Jamison refutes this idea and states, “certainly, stress is important and often interacts dangerously with depression. But the most important risk factor for suicide is mental illness, especially depression or bipolar disorder” (Jamison, 2014). All too often these diseases are dismissed for bad days and are told to be remedied with a better attitude. Shouldn’t we expect more then petty
What research needs to be done to help prevent suicide? Where should we start? Mental illness. Mental illness is a huge factor in suicides. Kay Redfield Jamison, a professor of psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, points out that an excess of stress from life may appear to be the reason people attempt suicide; people from the outside looking in seem to think that those who take their own lives just couldn’t handle certain situations they were in (Jamison, 2014). Jamison refutes this idea and states, “certainly, stress is important and often interacts dangerously with depression. But the most important risk factor for suicide is mental illness, especially depression or bipolar disorder” (Jamison, 2014). All too often these diseases are dismissed for bad days and are told to be remedied with a better attitude. Shouldn’t we expect more then petty