Investigation reveals elder suicide risk
Suicide is a growing public health issue and an analysis by Hearst Connecticut Media of deaths by gunshots reveals a disturbing pattern — the highest rates of suicide with a gun are among men aged 75 and older. This points to an urgent need for interventions and understanding of vulnerable elders and heightened training in the mental health and medical communities.
The extensive Hearst Connecticut investigation, published this week, analyzed the number of state residents who died of gunshot wounds over a decade. The number of people killed by guns declined slightly from 216 in 2010 to 188 in 2019, the review of data from the state medical examiner’s office showed. Some of that decline undoubtedly can be attributed to stricter gun legislation enacted after the Dec. 14, 2012, Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy in which six educators and 20 first-graders were shot to death by a lone gunman.
Over that decade, a total of 2,056 people in Connecticut died from gunshots and more than half — 58 percent — were self-inflicted, the statistics showed, with suicide more prevalent as people aged. For example, among state residents who died by gunfire in the last decade, suicide accounted for 90 percent of those in their 60s and 70s, and 95 percent of those in the 80s.
The reasons for suicide are often complex, but a concern is that the pandemic is exacerbating isolation, depression and sickness. Mental health and medical professionals must be attuned to the risks with this population, now so more than ever, and prepared to have frank discussions with individuals and their families. Depression is not a natural part of aging; it can be helped with medication.
Suicidal tendencies can be difficult to detect, however. Experts say often there are no outward signs and families are left unaware.
But this is where, if there’s concern about one’s mental state, that the means for suicide must be removed from easy access.
The risk is three times greater for someone who owns a gun, and older people are more likely to kill themselves with a gun than are younger people.
Using a gun to take one’s life is often an impulsive act, experts say, and so it is crucial not to have a lethal weapon within reach.
Connecticut has a legal means to do this. The state was the first to enact an extreme risk protection order, after the 1998 shooting at state lottery headquarters in Rocky Hill. Police can apply for an order, on a family’s behalf, and a judge will conduct a hearing which may lead to an order to remove guns from the home for up to a year.
This mechanism can be tighter, however. Presently, the guns are returned automatically after the year and another order must be pursued. Proactively, a hearing should be conducted before the guns are given back to determine whether the situation has changed.
Suicide is wrenching for those left behind. Its prevalence for those who die by gunshot in their later years must be addressed.
The risk is three times greater for someone who owns a gun, and older people are more likely to kill themselves with a gun than are younger people.