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Regional
Journalism Project
Knowledge and treatment saves
lives
By Nancy L. Torner Center Rural and Regional Studies Text version of this story Not all people with depression are suicidal, but the number one cause of suicide is depression, an illness often left untreated because of stigma and misunderstanding. Nearly 500 Minnesotans die by suicide annually, according to state human services data. Southwest Minnesota counties reported 27 adult and seven juvenile suicides in 2001. A state study from 1993 to 1997 found that three times as many Minnesotans died from suicide than from homicide. It is the second leading cause of death among the state's 10 to 34-year-olds and the eighth leading cause overall. Males comprise about 80 percent of all state suicide deaths; American Indians suffer the highest rate of any group. The Journal of the American Medical Association reports that 95 percent of all suicides occur at the peak of a depressive episode. "When a person becomes absolutely hopeless, that's when they'll think of suicide," Jari Johnson, a licensed marriage and family therapist at the Southwest Mental Health Center in Pipestone said. "If you keep a spark of hope, then usually people will hang in there." To save lives, it is critical that society recognize the warning signs of biological diseases that cause suicide and act on verbal and physical clues, according to those who deal with suicide in the region. "A person who is suicidal will generally tell one person," Johnson said. "It's very important to not dismiss that, or to tell somebody that can get some help. If you were the only one they told, you wouldn't want to do nothing." Intervention and prevention vital In keeping with a 1999 Surgeon General's report that called suicide a serious public health concern, Minnesota drafted an action plan to better prevent and respond to suicide by raising awareness, reducing stigma, providing better intervention and creating better access to mental health care.
Chippewa is one of 13 counties to receive a suicide prevention grant from the state, Jennifer Husby, positive mental health coordinator for the Chippewa Family Services said. The grant covers a broad range of services, including helping schools pay for mental health curriculum and working with the community at large. One juvenile and six adults died by suicide in the county in the last two years, Stacy Tufto, chief deputy with the Chippewa County Sheriff's Office said. The family services director was one of the adults. The tragedy highlighted several issues for the community, among them stigmas attached to getting help and the need to reach out to people in trouble. One program includes the distribution of cards that a person in crisis can hand to someone if unable to verbalize his or her distress. The so-called yellow ribbon card advises the receiver to seek help for the giver. "I would hope that people aren't scared anymore to ask the question, do you have a plan to kill yourself, are you suicidal? Usually, people don't want to ask that," Husby said. "But I think we've learned that you do ask. "Prevention is very important. I think we all have good days and bad days. A healthy person would be able to deal with a bad day, but if a person has depression, sometimes you just can't deal with it. We need to get rid of the stigma that's been out there for years so these people will go and get help." When someone has an operation, people visit and bring you flowers, Husby said. This also should be, but isn't the case when someone gets treatment for mental health issues. The lack of anonymity in small towns further deters people from seeking help, particularly those with a certain standing in the community. "The stigma is still out there so we need to try and break that down with suicide prevention so that people feel that it's accepted," Husby said. Asking someone if they think about suicide might feel awkward, but it isn't much of an intrusion to people considering it, Eugene Bonynge, CEO of Woodland Centers in Willmar said. "They don't consider it that clumsy," Bonynge said. "It's not a taboo topic." Broaching the subject won't put ideas in their head either, nor does data support some theories that peers of adolescents who die by suicide are more likely to consider suicide, he said. However, the likelihood is substantial that someone who survives one attempt will try again and possibly will at some time complete it. And medication for depression is no guarantee against suicide. People need to be aware that someone who has been down for a long time who suddenly feels better possibly believes he or she has found a solution in suicide. The best prevention is listening to someone's issues and trying to get them to seek help, Boyngne said. If they refuse, bring in outside intervention either by calling a help line or police. "One of the trademarks of depression is that even though things are going well, there is no pleasure," he said. "There are just so many variables. Basically it's a combination of some past history variables, circumstances and perturbation (an agitated depressive state)." Survivors also are a concern, Bonynge said. "It's devastating," he said. "In a way, they are somewhat ostracized. They are left in very difficult circumstances. It has huge affects on the family system." Figures incomplete Nationwide, some 30,000 people kill themselves each year, making it the 11th leading cause of death overall and the third among youngsters ages 15 to 24, according to U.S. vital statistics. The actual figure is possibly three times greater because many deaths classified as accidents lack enough evidence to prove otherwise. Each suicide affects an estimated six people, touching the lives of at least one in every 62 people nationwide. National statistics show that four males die by suicide for every female, but females are three times more likely to attempt suicide. White males are the most likely to die; black females are the least likely. The World Health Organization reports that socioeconomic changes for the better or worse can contribute to suicide rates, as can easy access to firearms. Of all the persons who died from firearm injuries in the U.S. in 1997, 54 percent died by suicide. Substance abuse, by either the individual or someone within the family, is another leading factor.
Statistics fall short of reporting all suicides, Terry Pankow, a licensed independent clinical social worker in Montevideo said. "It is so easily hidden when you're old," Pankow said. "If you're 12 years old and you drop dead, they do an autopsy. If you're 85, you've had heart trouble for 10 years and they find you in your house one morning dead, what do they write on the death certificate -- congestive heart failure. I think there's a lot of elderly folks that decide, I'm not going to take my heart pill this week and see what happens. I think there are a lot of elderly who kind of decide to quit eating. "I also think that there are a lot more deaths by suicide that get listed as accidents ñ- the one-car rollover at two o'clock in the morning, the midnight car head-on into the bridge abutment," Pankow said. People should be aware that different sexes use different methods, Pankow said. Women and children are far more likely to use methods that don't disfigure the body and which allow a longer window of opportunity when they might be saved. Men tend to use instantaneous methods. "Some people leave a note. However, we have this old fallacy that everyone who commits suicide leaves a note. It's not true," Pankow said. "Only about 30 percent do leave a note behind. It makes it so much harder for survivors if there's no note. "The other thing we are discovering more and more in our technological age is if a note is left, it's becoming more an more common for it not to become a paper and pencil note, it's a computer note. If they think it's suicide, the police are now trained to go into the computer in the home, or if it's a teenager, did they have access to a computer in school or at the library?" Attempts and threats rising "We're getting more threats of it all the time," Donna Mollema, a jail administrator in Murray County said. "Times are getting tougher. A lot are put on 24-hour hold." When sheriff's deputies respond, they often take individuals to the state hospitals in Worthington and Willmar for observation. They say the numbers who attempt or threaten suicide far exceed the numbers who die. Yellow Medicine Sheriff's deputies handled three attempts three days in a row in July, Chief Deputy Richard Blackwelder said. "People who commit suicide, they never know how it affects everybody," he said. One worrying trend seen on rare occasions in the region are people committing crimes hoping police will kill them, Blackwelder said. He also wonders how many car accidents are actually suicides. "Most officers last a year after a shooting," Renville County Sheriff Jerry Agre said. "It has an impact on everyone." Agre also wonders about car crashes. "Over the years I've seen somebody pull their car in front of a semi and hit it," Agre said. "In your own mind you think it's a suicide, but prove it." Mental Health Resources
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Last updated: February 1, 2006
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