Behavioral Health Articles

Depression and Suicide Prevention

by Jeanette Dippo

Research findings point to disproportionately high rates of depression and suicidal behavior among groups such as youth, physicians, and the elderly, and also among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) adolescents and young adults. An estimated 19 million Americans suffer from depression. Approximately 15 percent of our population at large will suffer from depression at some time during their lifespan. Over 60 percent of all people who die by suicide suffer from major depression.

Thus, there is an urgent need to work to prevent suicide through early recognition and treatment of depression. The opportunity for this to happen is more likely in a society of acceptance. A societal change is needed toward this acceptance and decreasing the negative attitudes that surround suicide and mental illnesses such as depression. Stigma and discrimination not only make it difficult for people in groups with high rates of depression to keep a job, get health insurance, and adequate treatment, and even find a home, it makes it harder for survivors of suicide, too.

Thrust into the survivor role by our physician daughter’s untimely death on March 20, 2006, at age 33, I know all too well that suicide presents a unique set of circumstances during grief. It is not uncommon for some people you’ve known for years to avoid you because they don’t know what to say and fear saying the wrong thing that will make you even sadder. Trust me -- you can’t be any sadder than when you hear the words your child has died, especially when it is by suicide. Best–intentioned family and friends just want to see you happy again as soon as possible and expect you to get back to “normal” when yours is a new normal and you will never be exactly the same as you were before the gut-wrenching loss.

As a survivor of suicide, you soon learn that there are other people who have “been there” who can be a great comfort. They know what the unimaginable feels like and understand what you are going through all too well. We discovered early in our grieving process how fortunate we were to have some people in our lives that came forward to let us know we were not alone and to offer reassurance that surviving suicide loss is possible. There were also people who came forward and provided information about resources for healing, including local support groups and places to go for mental health services. American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) provided us with educational and support opportunities like the National Survivors of Suicide Day and reading materials addressing issues especially relevant to suicide. They even have a survivor e-network and ways to honor and remember your loved one.

Currently, the AFSP is launching a new outreach program designed to help others like us who have recently lost loved ones to suicide. Volunteers from AFSP chapters across the country who have been survivors of suicide loss for at least two years will be trained and available to personally visit newly-bereaved survivors. Their role mainly will be to listen. They also will share resources within the community and, as appropriate, their own experiences of things that have helped them.

While the AFSP Survivor Outreach Program is not a mental health or counseling service, the survivor volunteers are trained to provide information on these other services available in the community. Their work is a step toward addressing the stigma that suicide survivors may confront in their bereavement process.

On May 3, AFSP Outreach Program training will be held at the Hampton Inn in Clay, NY. It will equip trained survivors to be available for visits that will be made only upon request from the newly bereaved. The visits will be held in a mutually agreeable, comfortable, quiet setting. Additional follow-up phone calls over a period of weeks or months also may be a source of reassurance to the newly bereaved. To learn more about the program, contact Debra Graham at MACDAG0153@aol.com (315-695-2201) or visit www.afsp.org. Click on surviving suicide loss and then Survivor Outreach Program.

Jeanette Dippo, R.N., B.S., M.S. is Adjunct Instructor of Health at SUNY Cortland and a community volunteer.