Worries about black suicides get new stressors

— Jasmin Pierre was

CHICAGO 18 when she tried to end her life, overdosing on whatever pills she could find. Diag- nosed with depression and anxiety, she survived two more attempts at suicide, which felt like the only way to stop her pain.

Years of therapy brought progress, but the 31-year-old Black woman’s journey is now complicated by a combina- tion of stressors hitting simultaneously: isolation during

the pandemic, a shortage of mental health care providers and racial trauma inflicted by repeated police killings of Black people.

“Black people who already go through mental health issues, we’re even more triggered,” said Pierre, who lives in New Orleans. “I don’t think my mental health issues have ever, ever been this bad before.”

Health experts have warned of a looming men- tal health crisis linked to the coronavirus outbreak, and the federal government rolled out a broad anti-suicide campaign. But doctors and researchers say the issues reverberate deeper among

Black people, who’ve seen rising youth suicide attempts and suffered disproportion- ately during the pandemic.

Mental health advocates are calling for more specialized federal attention on Black suicides, including research funding. Counselors focusing on Black trauma are offer- ing free help. And Black churches are finding new ways to address suicide as social distancing has eroded how people connect.

“There has been a lot of complex grief and loss related to death, related to loss of jobs and loss of income,” said Sean Joe, an expert on

Black suicides at Washington University in St. Louis. “There’s a lot of hurt and pain in America going on right now, and you only are getting a sense of depth in

the months ahead.” Suicides overall have increased. Roughly 48,000 people in the U.S. died by suicide in 2018, with the rate increasing 35% since 1999, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Preven- tion. Suicide is the 10th lead- ing cause of death among all ages. For ages 10 to 19, it’s second after accidents.

The rates of suicides and suicide attempts for Black adults have trailed white and Native American adults. But newer research shows an alarming rise in Black young people trying to take their own lives.

Suicide attempts rose 73% between 1991 and 2017 among Black high school students while suicidal thoughts and plans for suicide fell for all teens, according to a study published in November in the journal Pediatrics. The findings, including trou- bling suicide trends among

Black children, prompted the Congressional Black Caucus to issue a report in Decem- ber deeming the situation a crisis.

Experts say the reasons are a complex mix requir- ing more study.

Suicide risk factors include a diagnosis like depression or trauma or having a par-

ent who committed suicide. Many factors are amplified for Black families, who often face higher poverty rates, disproportionate exposure to violence and less access to medical care.

The pandemic has height- ened the disparities.

Black people are dying from COVID-19 at higher rates, leaving them to grieve more in isolation with restric

tions on funerals and gatherings. Added to the mix is a national reckoning with racism after George Floyd’s killing.

“Dealing with racism and stereotypes and all the inequity that we have to face, it’s bandaged up,” said Arielle Sheftall, an author of the

Pediatrics study. “It feels like the bandage is ripped off and everybody is look

ing at it and staring at it, and we are bleeding profusely.”

Part of the problem is the study of suicide remains largely white, with little race research. There’s also been a misconception of suicide as only a “white problem.”

Michigan psychologist Alton Kirk was among the first to study Black suicides in the 1970s, outlined in his 2009 book, “Black Suicide:

The Tragic Reality of America’s Deadliest Secret.”

“When I first started, a lot of Black people were in denial about suicide,” he said. “We had suffered enough. We survived slavery and segregation and all this other stuff. They almost saw it as being a weakness.”