This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
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Depression that leads to suicide isn’t just the plight of the financially-strapped, unemployed provider of a household, or the teen who’s tormented by bullies, or the retiree who’s weary of declining energy and escalating physical pain.
Just ask the friends of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain.
Spade, 55, renown fashion designer, took her life this spring in her New York apartment. Days later, they found Bourdain, 61, a celebrity chef and host of an award-winning TV show, dead from a suicide in his hotel room in France.
These celebrity cases shine a bright spotlight on a significant rise in suicide rates. In 2016, nearly 45,000 people in the U.S. took their own life. From 1999 to 2016, the suicide rate rose 28 percent. In 2015, compared to 2008, almost twice as many children were hospitalized for attempts at or contemplation of suicide. Among girls ages 10-19, from 2010 to 2016, suicide rose by 70 percent.
To help prevent suicide among people we know and love, it’s important to know what to look and listen for. *Here are nine warning signs.
1. Diagnosis of Depression or Bi-Polar Disorder.
Chronic depression diagnosed by a professional isn’t the only cause of suicide. An emotional overreaction to a tragic loss may spawn an impulsive decision to end one’s life. But a person with a depressive pattern is more prone to consider suicide as an alternative to the recurring pain.
2. Suicidal Talk.
When someone tells you he’s thinking of harming himself or doesn’t want to live, intervene. Don’t assume he’s exaggerating how he feels. Pray with him. Don’t leave him alone. Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-8255).
3. Escalation of Guilt Feelings or Anxiety.
Listen for remarks about letting people down all the time, or a pattern of self-condemnation for past mistakes. Especially be alert if such a verbal pattern is accompanied by increased agitation, restlessness, anxiety, or insomnia.
4. Social Isolation.
Persons more vulnerable to suicide disengage from their normal spheres of relationships, cutting themselves off from typical conversations with family and friends.
5. Risky Behavior.
Driving more recklessly, picking fights, imbibing more alcohol, or starting drug use may reveal less interest in living. Suicidal people simply take more risks.
6. Obtaining a Weapon.
This is a red flag when combined with a couple other symptoms I’ve listed, particularly if the person doesn’t have a need for a gun.
7. Declining Health.
Factors that prompt suicide in older age include physical limitations (more pain and fatigue), regrets over estranged relationships, loss of a spouse, retirement from meaningful employment, or loss of one’s home or independence. Adults 45-64 have the highest suicide rate (19.6%), followed closely by those over 85 (19.4%). Those most vulnerable will exhibit one or more of the other warning signs.
8. Internet Searches.
People who plan their suicide attempts often research the internet for ways to kill themselves.
9. Giving Away Prized Possessions.
A person plotting his own demise may start giving away items that have been important to him, especially those that are most expensive.
*Warning signs taken from two sources: Sarah Klein’s 8 Signs Someone is At Risk for Suicide, and Odyssey’s 13 Signs Someone Might Be Suicidal.
