In her book, Night Falls Fast, Understanding Suicide, Kay Redfield Jamison writes about an astounding array of brilliant and well-known people, including Meriwether Lewis, Dorothy Parker, Edna St. Vincent Milay, Graham Greene, Silvia Plath and Alfred, Lord Tennyson. The poets, authors and great American explorer each struggled with suicide or suicide attempts.
Jamison, a professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, writes a compelling account of the devastating toll suicide takes on society. Ive had the privilege of meeting Dr. Jamison. Shes intelligent, witty and articulate. She writes what she knows well as a medical professional and as an individual with a bipolar disorder, a serious mental illness. Jamison is a suicide survivor.
| preventionskills A two-day conference on suicide
prevention will be held March 29-30 at Mary Alice Fortin Health
Conference Center in Deaconess Hospital in Billings. The conference
also is offered via the Eastern Montana Telemedicine Network to
people in Miles City, Glasgow, Sidney and Glendive. For information
on fees, registration and continuing education credits, call
Jennifer Donovan at the Mental Health Center 252-5658 in Billings
or toll free at (800) 266-7198.
Copies of a statewide suicide prevention plan, developed by a Montana committee of concerned parents, professionals and other community members, will be available later this month. To request a copy of the plan for how Montana can address the problems of suicide, call Pat Brown, adolescent health coordinator at the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services in Helena, at (406) 444-4233 or e-mail to ptbrown@state.mt.us. The American Society of Suicidology provides information at www.suicidology.org. |
For every person who completes a suicide, about 100 others suffer nonfatal injuries in suicide attempts. These individuals are at high risk for further suicide attempts.
Nationwide, more than 31,000 suicides occur every year. In 1996, 5,855 suicides were people over the age of 65 and 4,358 were under the age of 25.
With 174 suicides recorded in 1995, Montana ranks as having the second highest rate of suicide in the nation. Only Nevada had a higher rate, while Alaska and New Mexico had the same rate as Montana. Wyoming ranked No. 5.
Suicide is a leading cause of death among young Montanans. Its second only to motor vehicle crashes. In a four-year period from 1996 to 1999, at least 60 Montana teenagers took their own lives. Fifteen of those deaths were youngsters under the age of 15.
In an effort to give area people skills to prevent suicide, Deaconess Psychiatric Services, Mental Health Association-Billings Chapter, Mental Health Center and National Alliance for the Mentally Ill-Billings are sponsoring a two-day conference March 29-30. Health care professionals as well as teachers, law enforcement officers, mental health care consumers, their families and other mental health advocates are invited to attend.
Sue Eastgard, a professional social worker who is president of the American Society of Suicidology, will be the featured speaker on March 29.
About 15 percent of people with serious mental illnesses will commit suicide, notes Dee Holley, director of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill-Billings.
People dont know where to turn and this conference is telling them, come to the light. Its time we moved beyond the taboo. The technique of prevention and intervention is not that hard, she said. Not saying anything is the worst thing you can do.
Holleys advice echoes that of the American Society of Suicidology, which says: If someone confides in you that he or she is thinking about suicide or shows other signs of being suicidal, dont be afraid to talk about it. Your willingness to discuss it will show the person that you dont condemn him or her for having such feelings. Ask questions about how the person feels and about the reasons for those feelings.
Its time to break the taboo. Talking about suicide may save a life.
