Suicide is one of, if not the, most terrifying parts of dealing with a mental illness. It's awful to be in a state or to see others in a state of mind where they don't think their life is worth living, even if it looks like they have everything going for them. During the past 10-20 years, psychologists and those with a mental illness have had a better understanding of what causes suicide, and have suggested new ideas that would help prevent it from affecting more people.
So, with all this new data, why is the suicide rate going up?
A recent study by the National Center for Health Statistics has revealed that suicide rates have surged. In 2014, suicide rates were 24 percent higher than they were in 1999, and are at the highest they've ever been in 30 years. This rise has affected people of almost all ages, genders, and sexuality, but the highest increase was for young girls aged 10-14. American Indians had the sharpest rise, with their suicide rate rising by 89 percent. Mental health experts have admitted that they have new treatments, but that it's difficult to implement them.
This isn't just a problem with medicine and psychology. Even though people are becoming more aware of mental illnesses, there's still a stigma that affects everybody with a mental illness, especially those whose illnesses aren't understood. Our culture, and the way that we handle mental illness, caused the suicide rate to spike. There are many things that we could have done to try and prevent suicide, but instead we've done the opposite.
We could increase funding for mental healthcare, making it so that there are more options for people who need healthcare, and lower prices on medicine and therapy. Make it so that insurance companies cover medicine for mental illnesses, and cover the therapy that many people need to recover. Instead, our country is decreasing the amount of funding for mental healthcare. As of now, it's harder to find mental healthcare than any other type of care, and it's very expensive. Florida currently ranks 49th in the country when it comes to funding for mental illnesses. Because of this, people are not receiving the healthcare that they deserve, and mental illnesses and its side effects are manifesting in people who can't find the treatment they deserve.
The second problem with how we treat suicide is how doctors and hospitals handle people who have either attempted suicide or are considering it. In Florida, the Baker act means that doctors and therapists are required to detain people for up to 72 hours if they deem them a threat to themselves or other people, without the consent of the patient. In theory, this could work to keep suicidal people alive before they do anything. In actuality, the law is incredibly vague and has lead to people actually being arrested for dealing with a mental health problem. I've heard numerous horror stories from people who were Baker acted and not only had to deal with poorly run hospitals, but the impact on their education and job status. Treating suicidal people like criminals will only scare people into not speaking up, meaning that they can't get help until it's too late.
Finally, we need to stop shaming people who are mentally ill and contemplating suicide. Suicidal people are not selfish and they're often in a vulnerable place where they need love and support. More often than not we don't take mental health seriously until we see a physical manifestation of it, and even then it's solely blamed on the person with a mental illness, not the illness itself. Many mentally ill people go untreated because they don't reach out for help, knowing how society treats mental illness. There's only so many times we can go, "If only society could have helped them," before we actually start listening to mentally ill people and the psychologists with treatments that are being ignored.
The suicide rate doesn't have to go up. It shouldn't be going up. If we want to prevent suicide, we need to look at how society and our government handles mental illness, and focus on fighting for those who are currently suffering. Instead of stigmatizing those who are suicidal, perhaps we could actually listen to those suffering from all mental illnesses--not just mood disorders--and properly treat them. Otherwise, the suicide rate will continue to go up, and we'll have no one but ourselves to blame.
