Editor’s Note: September is National Suicide Prevention Month, and Wednesday was World Prevention Day. This is the first part in a three-part series looking at youth suicide. Children who are considering suicide rarely reveal their thinking to parents or other adults. They’re unlikely to tell their pastor, teacher, school counselor or other authority figures. But it’s very likely that they give hints or even more explicit warnings to their friends, according to psychologist Dr. Richard Ruhrold, Bowen Center senior vice president, clinical services. It’s unusual for youths to take their life or attempt to do so without first putting out some warning signs to their peer group, he said, “So one of the keys to suicide prevention of youth is kids being willing to do something that’s very improper: Tell.” He said it’s not uncommon for him to encounter suicidal youth. “I think it would be unfair to say ‘frequently,’ but regularly. It’s hard to be in this business for any length of time without encountering suicidal youth on a regular basis, because it’s become increasingly common,” he said. The suicide rate among youth nationwide is estimated to have increased 400 percent since 1950, Ruhrold said, “which is a pretty alarming number if you think about it.” In an April report, The Indiana Youth Institute states that “suicide has been the second-leading cause of death for young Hoosiers between the ages of 15 and 24 since 2009.” In a national survey that included 43 states, Indiana had the nation’s highest rate of students who have contemplated suicide (19 percent) and the country’s second-highest rate of high school students who have attempted suicide (11 percent), according to the report. Ruhrold said there is ample speculation as to why the youth suicide rate has climbed so dramatically. “There are a lot of smart people out there who have given it a lot of thought. That’s a nationwide number. Why are more kids more likely to take their own lives in 2014 than 1950? I think people agree that some of the factors that contributed is that that increase in suicide also parallels the recent problems with substance abuse,” he said. “You can’t talk about suicide, including youth suicide, without talking about the substance abuse problem because there’s a strong relationship between kids – and adults for that matter – using and experimenting with drugs and alcohol and being more likely to engage in suicidal behavior or tragically complete a suicide.” Bowen Center Corporate Training Coordinator Huntter Randall said substance use and misuse in 1950 was a stigma. “Now it is almost expected, it’s almost a badge of honor sometimes to use things, so we have a huge variety of things available that cause a person’s mind to go places that when you’re under your own power, you wouldn’t let happen. You wouldn’t allow yourself to go there. And we (as a society) have become very creative in how we can find things that alter one’s way of thinking,” Randall said. Ruhrold added that drugs and alcohol lower someone’s inhibitions against self-harming behavior. Randall continued, “Then look at the comparison Richard made between substance abuse and misuse and feeling less inhibited at making an attempt to harm yourself. And compare that to the numbers that we know are true in our counties with meth production and the use of meth and the use of spice or synthetic marijuanas or other things that simply did not exist in 1950.” Other major factors that have been discussed including changes in family systems, Ruhrold said. “That’s more controversial,” he said. “I think that there’s a pretty broad agreement that the relationship between suicide and substance abuse is pretty strong.” Another thing heard “pretty universally” when it comes to youth suicide is that “adolescence continues to become increasingly difficult,” Ruhrold said. “It’s always been a challenging time because it’s always a transition for people and change is hard, but I think you’re hard pressed to find anyone who works with teachers and youth, and has done so for any length of time, who will say that adolescence has gotten any easier. There’s a lot of pressure on kids socially and academically, and it’s not getting any easier.” With the IYI report, people have been asking why Indiana ranks so high in youth suicide attempts and rates. “The numbers there are pretty startling,” Ruhrold said. The IYI report also states that “while girls are more likely to consider or attempt suicide, boys are more likely to die from suicide. Of the reported suicides in the 15-24 age group in Indiana, 82 percent of the deaths were males and 18 percent were females.” Ruhrold said, “The reason is very simple: Boys prefer more violent means of hurting themselves. Girls usually choose poisoning by overdoses or cutting themselves. As dangerous as those behaviors are, they’re not reliable methods for taking your own life. Whereas boys prefer the use of guns and hanging, both of which are very reliable ways. And guns are by far the most common.” Randall said some of that may be societal. Girls may be more concerned with their appearance than boys. “It’s also well known that men are much more aggressive and most acts of serious violence in our culture are performed by men. We don’t hear about women engaging in mass shootings, for instance. So suicide is along the same continuum. It’s a violent act. So males are prone to violence whether it’s toward another person or toward themselves,” Ruhrold said. The good news is, despite those statistics, most people don’t commit violent acts toward others or themselves, he said. It’s a minority but “too big of a minority” to miss.
