There is a leading cause of death in America with numbers on the rise every minute. It is not cancer and it is not heart disease. Believe it or not, it is suicide. Suicide is a serious public health concern with devastating lasting effects that not only touches the one attempting suicide, but their family, friends, coworkers, community, and anyone involved. Suicide has no racial or gender biases, it does not matter how rich or poor someone is, it lays claim on its victims with no pity or afterthought. With the numbers that continue to grow, what is even more alarming is that there is a connection, this connection is with mental illness. Mental illness, it seems, is found in almost all cases of successful attempts at suicide (Mental Health
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With all the many reasons, most people who die by suicide have a mental or emotional disorder (Erickson and Abel). The most common underlying disorder being depression (Silverman). Over 90 percent of people who die by suicide have been diagnosed with some type of mental illness (Isometsä). The most common disorders that lead to suicide are depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety, and eating disorders (Isometsä). Understanding mental illness and the disorders that go along with it is the key to understanding suicidal thinking, and is necessary for making headway with treatment and …show more content…
However, when the media reports these suicides appropriately and not just for ratings, studies show that suicide pollution can be decreased (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention). More than a decade has went by since the Surgeon General David Satcher penetrated the silence surrounding suicide in the United States by issuing “The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent Suicide.” Issued in 1999, this document set forth the standards for suicide prevention (Ferrari). When suicide is met with shame and misunderstanding it does nothing but further the stigma, but when measures are took to understand it, the walls of stigma slowly start to
With all the many reasons, most people who die by suicide have a mental or emotional disorder (Erickson and Abel). The most common underlying disorder being depression (Silverman). Over 90 percent of people who die by suicide have been diagnosed with some type of mental illness (Isometsä). The most common disorders that lead to suicide are depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety, and eating disorders (Isometsä). Understanding mental illness and the disorders that go along with it is the key to understanding suicidal thinking, and is necessary for making headway with treatment and …show more content…
However, when the media reports these suicides appropriately and not just for ratings, studies show that suicide pollution can be decreased (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention). More than a decade has went by since the Surgeon General David Satcher penetrated the silence surrounding suicide in the United States by issuing “The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent Suicide.” Issued in 1999, this document set forth the standards for suicide prevention (Ferrari). When suicide is met with shame and misunderstanding it does nothing but further the stigma, but when measures are took to understand it, the walls of stigma slowly start to