Suicide, Suicide Risk and Suicide Prevention

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Suicide, Suicide Risk and Suicide Prevention

The Problem of Suicide

Suicide is an intentional act resulting in one's own death. Suicidal behaviors include a broad range of acts, including suicidal attempts, gestures, threats and suicidal thoughts. Suicide attempts are behaviors that if left unchecked could result in death. Suicide gestures are defined as behavior that would not result in death if left unattended.

The lack of lethality does not undercut the seriousness of suicidal gestures. Lethality of a behavior does not necessarily coincide with whether or not the person intends to end his or her life. A suicidal person does not always understand what is lethal and what is not. For instance, in the case of overdoses, he or she does not always know what dosage will result in death. The only solution for first responders is to take all suicidal attempts, gestures, and threats seriously.

Each year in the United States there are approximately 30,000 suicides. We do not know the actual number of attempts or threats that are made, or number of persons who think about suicide.

Navy and Marine Corps suicide rates are lower than civilian rates when matched for gender, age and racial differences. The reasons for this have a lot to do with the specific requirements for fitness for duty and the natural social support that exists in the Services.

Given that service members undergo screenings, have regular employment and supervision, and have access to medical and treatment services, it is not surprising the military population has lower suicide rates than the civilian population. However, the problem of suicide is not easily eliminated. Suicide is still one of the top killers of Sailors and Marines. It is only when we all own our responsibility for looking out for those in need that we can stop this preventable cause of death in our communities.

The biggest reason people threaten suicide or communicate to others they have been thinking about suicide--and the great majority do so before attempting or completing suicide--is to let others know they are in pain or great psychological distress. It is their way to let it be known that they need help.

We cannot predict whether they might kill (or attempt to kill) themselves once they have the thought of suicide. However, we can be sure that if we ignore such communications, we increase the chances that someone in pain will feel even worse (unnoticed, uncared for, unheard) and have even more reason to want to end that pain by suicide.

Pain felt by someone who may be suicidal often is related to unmet needs. We all have needs to be loved, to be in control, to avoid shame. Suicidal thoughts can be brought on by an event or series of events best characterized by a loss or threatened loss (e.g., a relationship breakup, a failure, a humiliation). Yet the fact remains that we all have failed relationships and failures, so it is important to keep in mind that such simple explanations are inadequate to account for the complicated nature of human behavior-especially when someone is in a personal crisis.

Quite often, the psychological pain a suicidal person feels is intensified by an underlying mental health problem, such as depression or anxiety. Sometimes, persons in such despair try to cope with their pain by turning to alcohol or drugs to deaden the emotional pain. Of course, the consequence of this is only making their problems (and pain) worse.

But there is no typical description of someone who is suicidal. Because suicide is such a complex behavior, it requires a trained professional to understand, evaluate, and effectively treat what is likely a serious mental health problem. It is for this reason that the basic message of this suicide prevention training is to observe, identify, and refer for help.

http://www.usmc-mccs.org/perssvc/prevent/suicide.asp

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