Tag: suicide

Asked & Answered: 5 questions from the Providence Business News about Zero Suicide

Zero Suicide seeks to make taking one’s life a “never event” in South County.

The Providence Business News used its popular “5 Questions…” column to ask Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds Director Susan Orban to explain our new Zero Suicide effort.

SAMHSA (the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) granted Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds $2 million over the next 5 years for a comprehensive effort to eliminate suicides in South County, which has the state’s highest suicide rate.

According to Orban, the focus will be on training key health care staff to identify and work with people with depression, and to offer mental health care to those who cannot afford it.

Bullied to Death: when cyberbullying becomes the last straw

Online capacity has made bullying more dangerous than ever. Even fatal.

National Patch reporter Beth Dalbey tells a tragic and horrifying story of three girls who killed themselves rather than face a constant torrent of bullying.

Dalbey writes, “Cyberbullying — that’s when mean kids target victims online — is less common but more difficult to confront, according to two federal agencies. Relentless online bullying often occurs at night, when victims already feel isolated. And many of them are not yet equipped to cope, social worker Caroline Fenkel explains. “It has to do with neuropsychology: The frontal lobes of adolescent and teen brains — where reasoning and emotions are managed — aren’t fully developed.

“Bullies tend to act with little consideration or regard for how severely their victims may react.”

Dalbey follows the stories, and last moments, of three girls. “Rosalie hanged herself. Mallory’s parents found her dead in their home. Brandy shot herself in front of her family. These girls and others decided they would rather die than endure another moment of torment.”

(Photo: 12-year-old Mallory Grossman was a cheerleader, gymnast and raised money so children with cancer could go to summer camp. Bullies started targeting her in October 2016 with the usual: dirty looks and name calling. Then they increased to Instagram, Snapchat, and text messages. She killed herself the following June.)

What’s a parent to do? 

“The CDC says when bullying happens, kids suffer, even if they just witness the horrible acts,” Dalbey points out. “Talking about bullying at home helps, experts say, and the earlier these conversations begin, the better.”

“Getting kids to engage might not be easy, but it’s important,” adds social worker Caroline Fenkel. “Parents should be clear: Bullying hurts and has long-lasting consequences, even suicide.

“This is about changing the status quo, and essentially saying that if you are going to act out and say something mean about that kid, you need to know he might struggle and may end up acting impulsively, and you have to live with that on your conscience.”

Parents also need to have frank conversations with kids when they get their first smartphones and social media accounts — something “most parents are very hands-off about,” NoBully.org’s Nicholas Carlisle notes.

“It’s important to have conversations about the amount of screen time they have, so there’s agreement on how much they interact, as well as how to get help if they feel threatened online or if they’re suffering.”

5-year study of half-million teens links cell phone use with depression

Overuse of cellphones may lead to loneliness and thoughts of suicide among teens

Caseloads at 93 university counseling centers jumped a remarkable 30% between 2009-2010 from the previous five years, with high schools reporting major increases as well. Two studies of more than a half million adolescents ages 12-18 find a major increase in depression and thoughts of suicide.

The change happens to match the rapid availability and use of cell phones and other screen time, notes a recent research paper published in Clinical Psychological Science.

The study points a finger at the growing popularity of social media.

NPR (National Public Radio) interviewed Jean Twenge, one of the adolescent study’s authors. Her research, NPR reported, “found that teens who spend five or more hours per day on their devices are 71 percent more likely to have one risk factor for suicide. And that’s regardless of the content consumed. Whether teens are watching cat videos or looking at something more serious, the amount of screen time — not the specific content — goes hand in hand with the higher instances of depression.”

“At two hours a day there was only a slightly elevated risk,” Twenge said in a second NPR story. “And then three hours a day and beyond is where you saw the more pronounced increase in those who had at least one suicide risk factor.”

Adolescents in the 2010s spent more time on electronic communication and less time on in-person interaction than any previous generation. The paper notes that humans, as a species, traditionally required close, mostly continuous face-to-face contact with others. Lack of such could lead to both loneliness and thoughts of suicide.

Reduced screen time is a key focus of HBHM’s 5-2-1-0 initiative.