‘A VERY DIFFICULT TIME IN PEOPLE’S LIVES’
Suicide in adolescents, young people draws community’s attention
Suicide is the second leading cause of death for people ages 10-14 and 20-34, according to 2021 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC says suicide is a leading cause of death in all people over age 10.
An unusually high number of suicides and suicide attempts recently prompted the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office to post on its Facebook page that, “Many people are facing great personal challenges, and there is help available. Let’s continue to share the resources available for those having a mental health crisis and be kind and supportive of others.”
The Sheriff’s Office said that from June 5-7, it responded to four suicides or incidents of saving people from drug overdoses. The people involved were all men ages 23 to 87.
In that 48-hour time period, the Sheriff’s Office also responded to the attempted suicide of a 23-year-old man and a 32-year-old man threatening suicide.
About a week later, on June 14, the Sheriff’s Office responded to the suicide of a 20-year-old man.
The Sheriff’s Office and local suicide prevention advocates recommend calling 988, a national crisis line that connects the caller to mental health resources.
Callers can use 988 not only for suicidal feelings, but for any mental health issue, such as depression or anxiety. The crisis line operates 24/7.
Locally, there has been increased focus on the suicide deaths of adolescents and young adults. Two Farmington High School students recently organized a well-attended forum on the subject, in conjunction with Farmington SAFE, a community group dedicated to suicide prevention.
Among the founders of Farmington SAFE (Suicide Awareness for Everyone) are Ken Massey, a former Farmington Hills mayor and current councilman, and his wife, Katherine, who lost their 26-year-old son, Graham E. Smith, to suicide in 2011.
Cye Consolino and Abby Brooke, the two Farmington High students who organized the forum, said more events are in the works. Some will focus on suicide in young people; others will deal with senior citizens and other groups. There was recently a forum on suicide among veterans.
Consolino, who will be a junior at Farmington High this fall, said a family member attempted suicide and she got involved in Farmington SAFE because she wanted to promote awareness of the help that is available.
“The response from the community is exactly what we needed. It was positive, and people were asking for more of these events,” she said.
Brooke graduated from Farmington High and is going to Michigan State University this fall to study psychology.
She said she got involved with Farmington SAFE to help end the negative stigma surrounding mental health.
“I’ve grown up with friends who strug
gled with their mental health, and I always sympathized that they felt as though they couldn’t talk to anyone about how they were feeling,” she said.
She said increases in mental health resources are a step in the right direction, but there is still more support needed for young people.
“No matter how many resources we push out, the only way to truly make progress is to help destroy the negative stigma surrounding mental health,” she said. “People are so against talking about mental health, which in turn causes those struggling with depression or suicidal thoughts to repress those emotions,” she said.
Brian Ahmedani, director of the Center for Health Policy & Health Services Research at Henry Ford Health, and chairman of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s Suicide Prevention Commission, said suicide rates have been increasing in all age groups in Michigan and nationwide for about the past 20 years.
Overall, there was a decrease in 2020 as the pandemic struck, which follows trends seen during other major world crises, such as World War II, he said.
But the high suicide rates continued among adolescents and young adults in 2020. That trend carried on in 2021.
“It’s a very difficult time in people’s lives,” he said. “There are a lot of factors all working together right now.”
Ahmedani said suicide is driven by feelings of hopelessness, burdensomeness and isolation.
More research is underway and experts don’t have all the answers, he said. But several factors are at work:
Social media
Before social media, young people who experienced bullying at school weren’t subjected to it at home.
“When you’re on social media, you’re always subject to criticism. You never get a break,” Ahmedani said.
And while social media can help people stay connected, it also creates difficulty with in-person interactions and can make people feel isolated.
Changes in society
Adolescents and young adults are under pressure from society to succeed and be independent.
But the cost of living independently is higher than it was for past generations, and jobs that provide selfreliance are tougher to get, Ahmedani said.
Pandemic
For the young, the isolation brought by the pandemic created “long periods of social development that didn’t happen,” Ahmedani said.
For example, children who were 10 when the pandemic began have lived about 20% of their lives with limited social interaction.
They now have to learn how to communicate and how to interact with others, he said. While they are trying to catch up, they can feel isolated — a risk factor for suicide — even though pandemic restrictions on gathering have ended.
Other factors
The opioid epidemic of the past 20 years and the availability of firearms are also contributing factors, Ahmedani said. Shootings are the most common method of suicide, accounting for more than 50% of suicide deaths, he said.
New thinking on prevention
Experts used to think that if someone wanted to take his or her life, there was little that anyone could do to prevent it, Ahmedani said.
That thinking has changed dramatically, he said.
“It’s really important that we’re not afraid to ask somebody if they’re OK,” he said, adding that if you’re concerned about someone, you should bluntly ask if he or she is suicidal.
Ahmedani is one of the authors of the Zero Suicide plan at Henry Ford Health, which promotes extensive screenings and intervention for those at risk of suicide.
Screening questions take place in settings from hospital emergency rooms to routine pediatric exams. Asking those questions results in access to treatments that save lives, Ahmedani said.
Help is available
In addition to 988, here are local suicide hotlines:
• Oakland County 24Hour Crisis Helpline. 800231-1127
• Michigan Crisis Line, 1-844-446-4225.
Here are some Oakland County mental health resources:
• Common Ground, www.commongroundhelps. org
• Oakland Community Health Network, www.oaklandchn.org.