Suicide among young people is once again at the forefront of our national consciousness with the news two weeks ago that the Washington State quarterback Tyler Hilinski was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Halfway across the country, in Perry Township, Ohio, a 15-year-old became the sixth teen in the school district there to kill themselves in the last six months, three occurring just in January. And the swimming legend Michael Phelps said recently that his ongoing bouts of depression, which began when he was a teenage phenomenon, led him to “contemplate suicide … I didn’t want to be in the sport anymore … I didn’t want to be alive anymore.”
Suicide is a growing public health crisis. The Centers for Disease Control reported recently that suicide rates for teenage girls in the United States have hit a 40-year high. The suicide rates doubled among girls and rose by more than 30% among teen boys and young men between 2007 and 2015, according to the CDC report. Today suicide is the number one killer of teenage girls worldwide and the second leading cause of death in teenagers in the U.S. (only accidents cause more deaths).
These statistics should serve both as a shock to our collective being and an urgent call for national action. We simply cannot offer heartfelt condolences and then go about our normal daily activities anymore. Just as the opioid crisis has spurred a call to action at the local, state and national levels, the suicide crisis requires an immediate and comprehensive response.
The very good news is that we know how to do away with this preventable and tragic loss of life. The first step is to change and expand the way we talk about suicide. We know that more than half of all people who die by suicide visit their primary care doctor within a month of their deaths.
For the most part, however, a discussion of suicide is not part of the average examination. Nor is depression, which is the psychiatric diagnosis most commonly associated with suicide and is projected to be the second leading component of the global disease burden by 2020. We must start asking about suicide (i.e., screening) like we monitor for blood pressure. If not, we will not find the people who are suffering in silence.
A history of suicide attempts is the number one risk factor for suicide. Therefore, asking about a person’s attempt history and other serious suicidal behaviors (e.g., “Have you taken any steps towards making a suicide attempt or preparing to kill yourself, such as collecting pills, getting a gun, giving valuables away, or writing a suicide note?”) is essential to identifying his or her level of risk. Whether you are a doctor, teacher, parent, coworker, friend, relative or anyone else — the first step is asking.
Using such a screen process works. The most evidence-based tool of its kind is being used in 45 countries on six continents with significant success. And anyone can use this life-saving tool. We have worked with every type of organization — the military; veterans; schools, colleges and universities; health care institutions; first responders; and many government agencies and have witnessed the dramatic impact on suicide rates where talking openly about suicide has been embraced and these helpful simple questions are put in everyone’s hands.
Suicide can be prevented — which sets it apart from other sources of pain and suffering in the world. We need to get to a place where everybody, everywhere asks the questions that help identify at-risk individuals and get them the help that they need. Together, we can prevent these unnecessary tragedies.
Kelly Posner is a clinical professor in the department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University and the founder and director of the Columbia Lighthouse Project.