World Suicide Prevention Day- 9.10.2012

This week marks the 38th Annual National Suicide Prevention Week, and tomorrow (September 10th) is the 10th Annual World Suicide Prevention Day.  I will reflect more at some point this week on why this day/week is so unbelievably important to me.  For now, though, please click this link to educate yourself on this unexplainably important reality, and take some time this week to pray for all those around the globe that have been affected in any way by suicide.  In my opinion, of all communities, the Church should be leading the way in addressing mental health, chemical dependency and suicide... and yet the Church has been almost completely silent.  This absolutely breaks my heart.

Here are some sobering facts from the International Association of Suicide Prevention:

• Data from the WHO indicate that approximately one million people worldwide die by suicide each year. This corresponds to one death by suicide every 40 seconds.

• The number of lives lost each year through suicide exceeds the number of deaths due to homicide and war combined. Suicide attempts and suicidal ideation are far more common; for example, the number of suicide attempts may be up to 20 times the number of deaths by suicide.

• It is estimated that about 5% of persons attempt suicide at least once in their life and that the lifetime prevalence of suicidal ideation in the general population is between 10 and 14%.

• Suicide is one of the leading causes of death among the young.

• Suicide statistics may not always be accurate. Many suicides are hidden among other causes of death, such as single car, single driver road traffic accidents, unwitnessed drownings and other undetermined deaths.

• Suicide is estimated to be under-reported for multiple reasons including stigma, religious concerns and social attitudes.

• The psychological and social impact of suicide on the family and community is enormous.

• The economic costs associated with self-inflicted death or injuries are estimated to be in the billions of US dollars a year.

• Suicide affects everyone, but some groups are at higher risk than others.

• A history of previous suicide attempt(s) or self-harm is the strongest predictor of future death by suicide, corresponding to a 30-40 times higher suicide rate than the general population.

• People with a psychiatric disorder and/or substance-related disorder.

• Those who experience stressful life events.

• Despite the wide experience of the above-cited risk factors in populations, the fact that completed suicide is a relatively rare event indicates that there are a range of protective factors that act to mitigate the effects of exposure to risk factors.

• Suicide is a multi-determined phenomenon that occurs against a background of complex interacting biological, social, psychological and environmental risk and protective factors. Despite the complexity of this phenomenon, suicide can be prevented.

More to come throughout the week...