The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) recognizes the month of September as National Suicide Prevention Month. National Suicide Prevention Week is the week after Labor Day. “Suicide prevention is important every day of the year. National Suicide Prevention Month gives us an opportunity to shine a special, encouraging light on this topic that affects… Read More »
NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, reminds us, “One call can save a life. But when a person in a mental health crisis has to find a local phone number or a ten-digit Lifeline number, precious minutes—and even the resolve to get help—can be lost.” That’s why NAMI and others are advocating for an… Read More »
Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the USA, with more than twice as many suicides as homicides. Do you think there should be a three-digit telephone code for help with suicidal thoughts, just as there’s a three-digit number (911) in the USA for emergencies? The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is a free… Read More »
Four teenagers in Oregon led a successful, first of its kind, effort in the USA to treat physical and mental health equally by lobbying for a mental health bill that was signed by Oregon’s governor in July. As a result, Oregon schools now allow students to miss classes for mental or behavioral health reasons without… Read More »
Should everyone have a right to quality mental health care? Consider these statistics: • Mental health conditions cost the economy an estimated $193 billion dollars in lost earnings each year. • Mental health conditions are the number one cause of disability and workplace absenteeism. • Suicide is at a 30-year high. Every day, an average… Read More »
In a comedic piece about euphemisms, George Carlin reminded us that what we now call Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, was called “shell shock” in World War I and “battle fatigue” in World War II and “operational exhaustion” during the Korean War. Carlin reminded us that buried under all this jargon is the pain and… Read More »
Cynthia Hubert for the Sacramento Bee: “When teenagers or younger adults take their own lives, the losses trigger society’s alarm bells. But it is older people, particularly men 65 and older, who have the highest rate of suicide of any age group.” During the past decade, statistics show, older people have consistently had the highest… Read More »