Suicide And Suicide Prevention Research

“I wish I knew they were going to commit suicide!” or “I didn’t even know they were thinking about it!” are just examples of what people say when one of their loved ones or acquaintances commit suicide. Why is suicide known to be a leading cause of death in the United States? Suicide is known to be “the act of taking one’s own life on purpose” and they die as a result of their actions (NIH, 2016). According to the CDC, suicide is the leading cause of death in United States to which in 2013 alone there was a total of 41,149 people who killed themselves and over 494,169 cases of self-inflicted injuries that were treated in the U.S. emergency departments. Nobody really thinks about this problem until it somehow affects their lives or they see …show more content…
They train their staff according to five components in which trainees gradually build their level of comfort and knowledge on suicide and suicide intervention. ASIST participants learn “to understand attitudes about suicide, provide guidance and suicide first aid to a person at risk, identify the key elements of an effective suicide safety plan and the actions required to implement it, appreciate the value of improving community suicide prevention resources, and recognize important aspects of suicide prevention, including life-promotion and self-care” (Living Works, 2014). Evaluation of this program provided adequate evidence showing the positive effects of this program. Data was collected by monitored calls in which the suicidal individuals showed improvement in behaviors which showed them to be feeling less suicidal, less depressed, less overwhelmed, feeling of having a sense of support (Gould et al., 2013). Another prevention program that provides education, support as well as steps to improve one’s self-worth which ultimately leads to reduction in suicide behaviors is CAST which stands for “Coping and Support Training”. The goals the CAST program are improved moods, improved school smarts and decrease risky behaviors. Individuals are to attend twelve fifty-five minute sessions which are …show more content…
We are losing many lives to this issue every day. The only way in which we can reduce the number of people who commit suicide is to educate people on the signs, risk factors and protective factors of suicide as well as prevention programs and support groups. Knowing this information, individuals will be able to recognize someone in need of help and guide them towards a better choice and lead them to one of these prevention programs or support