Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Friday, April 30, 2010
It is more dangerous to have been in the army than to fight in a war
The attached article speaks to an alarming and horrifying truth. Last year about 640 people were killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. 18 veterans commit suicide a month. There are 950 attempts. It would seem that it is more dangerous to have been in the army than to be in the war.
Many of these folks are people who where either in Iraq or Afghanistan. If this doesnt alarm you, doesnt scare you, doesnt at least make you question 1) our ability or willingness to reach out to those in the most desperation---desperation borne out of trying to serve this country and 2)the real costs of these wars then I dont know what will move you.
from http://armytimes.com
18 veterans commit suicide each day
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Apr 26, 2010 8:00:40 EDT
Troubling new data show there are an average of 950 suicide attempts each month by veterans who are receiving some type of treatment from the Veterans Affairs Department.
Seven percent of the attempts are successful, and 11 percent of those who don’t succeed on the first attempt try again within nine months.
The numbers, which come at a time when VA is strengthening its suicide prevention programs, show about 18 veteran suicides a day, about five by veterans who are receiving VA care.
Access to care appears to be a key factor, officials said, noting that once a veteran is inside the VA care program, screening programs are in place to identify those with problems, and special efforts are made to track those considered at high risk, such as monitoring whether they are keeping appointments.
A key part of the new data shows the suicide rate is lower for veterans aged 18 to 29 who are using VA health care services than those who are not. That leads VA officials to believe that about 250 lives have been saved each year as a result of VA treatment.
VA’s suicide hotline has been receiving about 10,000 calls a month from current and former service members. The number is 1-800-273-8255. Service members and veterans should push 1 for veterans’ services.
Dr. Janet Kemp, VA’s national suicide prevention coordinator, credits the hotline with rescuing 7,000 veterans who were in the act of suicide — in addition to referrals, counseling and other help.
Suicide attempts by Iraq and Afghanistan veterans remains a key area of concern. In fiscal 2009, which ended Sept. 30, there were 1,621 suicide attempts by men and 247 by women who served in Iraq or Afghanistan, with 94 men and four women dying.
In general, VA officials said, women attempt suicide more often, but men are more likely to succeed in the attempt, mainly because women use less lethal and less violent means while men are more likely to use firearms.
Suicide attempts among veterans appear to follow those trends, officials said.
Many of these folks are people who where either in Iraq or Afghanistan. If this doesnt alarm you, doesnt scare you, doesnt at least make you question 1) our ability or willingness to reach out to those in the most desperation---desperation borne out of trying to serve this country and 2)the real costs of these wars then I dont know what will move you.
from http://armytimes.com
18 veterans commit suicide each day
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Apr 26, 2010 8:00:40 EDT
Troubling new data show there are an average of 950 suicide attempts each month by veterans who are receiving some type of treatment from the Veterans Affairs Department.
Seven percent of the attempts are successful, and 11 percent of those who don’t succeed on the first attempt try again within nine months.
The numbers, which come at a time when VA is strengthening its suicide prevention programs, show about 18 veteran suicides a day, about five by veterans who are receiving VA care.
Access to care appears to be a key factor, officials said, noting that once a veteran is inside the VA care program, screening programs are in place to identify those with problems, and special efforts are made to track those considered at high risk, such as monitoring whether they are keeping appointments.
A key part of the new data shows the suicide rate is lower for veterans aged 18 to 29 who are using VA health care services than those who are not. That leads VA officials to believe that about 250 lives have been saved each year as a result of VA treatment.
VA’s suicide hotline has been receiving about 10,000 calls a month from current and former service members. The number is 1-800-273-8255. Service members and veterans should push 1 for veterans’ services.
Dr. Janet Kemp, VA’s national suicide prevention coordinator, credits the hotline with rescuing 7,000 veterans who were in the act of suicide — in addition to referrals, counseling and other help.
Suicide attempts by Iraq and Afghanistan veterans remains a key area of concern. In fiscal 2009, which ended Sept. 30, there were 1,621 suicide attempts by men and 247 by women who served in Iraq or Afghanistan, with 94 men and four women dying.
In general, VA officials said, women attempt suicide more often, but men are more likely to succeed in the attempt, mainly because women use less lethal and less violent means while men are more likely to use firearms.
Suicide attempts among veterans appear to follow those trends, officials said.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
On being in a hole
On being asked why he tried to commit suicide Conrad (Ordinary People- 1980) answered, "You are in a hole and you try and try to get out, then one day you turn around and look and you are the hole..."
I watched a rerun of "Ordinary People" today. The line quoted above hit me right between the eyes. In the movie, Conrad is the adolescent who has tried to commit suicide and has just gotten out of the psychiatric hospital. The story is about how his family ("ordinary people") cope with the situation. If you haven't seen it you should. In that one remark I thought Conrad explained a bookful about how life works.
All of us have hard times. Sometimes people try to compete to see who has had the hardest time or who should get the most points for suffering, but that seems a fruitless pursuit to me. I have a friend who is a refugee from the Sudan and his hard times make mine seem kind of trivial. I have another friend with severe CP, half a dozen other chronic diseases, bipolar disorder, and enough life trauma to be several movies of the week. My suffering is nothing to hers.
How much you have suffered is really beside the point here. The real question is how you deal with it. Mental health consumers talk about the difference in having a disorder and being a disorder. My wife has bipolar. She is not bipolar. We are not defined by our conditions, whatever they maybe, rather they be external or internal. I was once the family therapist to a man who was worth $400 million. As much as he tried to define himself by how rich he was, what really marked his life was how unhappy he was and how miserable his family was.
Recovery, rather it be from mental illness, substance abuse, or any other destructive habits, is about knowing that you are in a hole, and using the tools you have to climb out. It is possible when we know there is a difference between our problems, our disorder, our addiction and ourselves. If you can be in a hole it implies you can be out of the hole. Hope is knowing that you can get out and knowing that everything is not the hole.
When you lose the distance, when you lose the perspective then your emotions take control and you are left hoping for some way to decrease the pain or make it stop for a little while. Life no longer becomes about doing better. The only thing that matters is feeling better. If what you do makes life worse in the long run, so be it, as long as you feel better in the short run.
Suicide is a problem solving behavior. It is what happens when you believe you are the hole, and there is no way to feel better and all you can think about is stopping the pain. People are dangerously suicidal when they see suicide as a problem solving behavior. No one wants for it to be a solution, but for some it becomes "better than nothing."
They did a study where they asked people who jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge and had not died what they thought on the way down. The answers were basically the same, "God help me... This is stupid... I do not want to die..." At that instant they knew they were not the hole. Most of them never tried again. They took the opportunity God gave and tried to climb out.
If you believe that you are the hole....If you are your disorder, if you are your addiction-- if there is no space between you and it-- then recovery in any meaningful way is unlikely. At best life will be little more than trying to keep your mind off your misery. Know that it may be hard, it may take a long time--- you may even fall back in a time or two-- but know that there is a place and a space outside your hole. Find the tools, the support and the will to keep climbing.
Sometimes people fail because they forget the first law of holes. I don't know who came up with it, but I often think we all need to write it on our tee shirts- "The first law of holes-- When you are in one stop digging..."
I watched a rerun of "Ordinary People" today. The line quoted above hit me right between the eyes. In the movie, Conrad is the adolescent who has tried to commit suicide and has just gotten out of the psychiatric hospital. The story is about how his family ("ordinary people") cope with the situation. If you haven't seen it you should. In that one remark I thought Conrad explained a bookful about how life works.
All of us have hard times. Sometimes people try to compete to see who has had the hardest time or who should get the most points for suffering, but that seems a fruitless pursuit to me. I have a friend who is a refugee from the Sudan and his hard times make mine seem kind of trivial. I have another friend with severe CP, half a dozen other chronic diseases, bipolar disorder, and enough life trauma to be several movies of the week. My suffering is nothing to hers.
How much you have suffered is really beside the point here. The real question is how you deal with it. Mental health consumers talk about the difference in having a disorder and being a disorder. My wife has bipolar. She is not bipolar. We are not defined by our conditions, whatever they maybe, rather they be external or internal. I was once the family therapist to a man who was worth $400 million. As much as he tried to define himself by how rich he was, what really marked his life was how unhappy he was and how miserable his family was.
Recovery, rather it be from mental illness, substance abuse, or any other destructive habits, is about knowing that you are in a hole, and using the tools you have to climb out. It is possible when we know there is a difference between our problems, our disorder, our addiction and ourselves. If you can be in a hole it implies you can be out of the hole. Hope is knowing that you can get out and knowing that everything is not the hole.
When you lose the distance, when you lose the perspective then your emotions take control and you are left hoping for some way to decrease the pain or make it stop for a little while. Life no longer becomes about doing better. The only thing that matters is feeling better. If what you do makes life worse in the long run, so be it, as long as you feel better in the short run.
Suicide is a problem solving behavior. It is what happens when you believe you are the hole, and there is no way to feel better and all you can think about is stopping the pain. People are dangerously suicidal when they see suicide as a problem solving behavior. No one wants for it to be a solution, but for some it becomes "better than nothing."
They did a study where they asked people who jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge and had not died what they thought on the way down. The answers were basically the same, "God help me... This is stupid... I do not want to die..." At that instant they knew they were not the hole. Most of them never tried again. They took the opportunity God gave and tried to climb out.
If you believe that you are the hole....If you are your disorder, if you are your addiction-- if there is no space between you and it-- then recovery in any meaningful way is unlikely. At best life will be little more than trying to keep your mind off your misery. Know that it may be hard, it may take a long time--- you may even fall back in a time or two-- but know that there is a place and a space outside your hole. Find the tools, the support and the will to keep climbing.
Sometimes people fail because they forget the first law of holes. I don't know who came up with it, but I often think we all need to write it on our tee shirts- "The first law of holes-- When you are in one stop digging..."
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
What is working
"16 Minutes" has been on hiatus for a few months due to my involvement in other projects. With this post we begin again. I really appreciate the people who have followed this blog and hope you will continue to do and tell others
I begin with a question. Statistics in Tennessee indicate the suicide rate is rising. With drastic budget cuts in virtually every state ahead more and more people are going to be left out. What does suicide prevention look like in your area? What kind of programs, what kind of services are offered? In Tennessee, the Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network (TSPN) is a primary source that helps to focus the statewide area in this area. One of the things they do is QPR training (question, persuade,refer) which is a form of suicide prevention training that seeks to equip ordinary people to deal with crisis situations with their loved ones. It seeks to give people a "mental health Heimlech manuever." Linda and I are both certified trainers and our experience is that it helps.
What is done in your area? This is an essential time to increase awareness of services. This is a great time for people to share ideas and experience. No one has to die. We need to become active in support of making sure as many mental health services are pared down that things stay in place that can save lives.
If you would like to share your experience, your ideas I would be pleased to share them with others if you would send them to me.
Someone dies every sixteen minutes. No one has to. Please stand and speak now.
And again thanks for participating in this blog.
I begin with a question. Statistics in Tennessee indicate the suicide rate is rising. With drastic budget cuts in virtually every state ahead more and more people are going to be left out. What does suicide prevention look like in your area? What kind of programs, what kind of services are offered? In Tennessee, the Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network (TSPN) is a primary source that helps to focus the statewide area in this area. One of the things they do is QPR training (question, persuade,refer) which is a form of suicide prevention training that seeks to equip ordinary people to deal with crisis situations with their loved ones. It seeks to give people a "mental health Heimlech manuever." Linda and I are both certified trainers and our experience is that it helps.
What is done in your area? This is an essential time to increase awareness of services. This is a great time for people to share ideas and experience. No one has to die. We need to become active in support of making sure as many mental health services are pared down that things stay in place that can save lives.
If you would like to share your experience, your ideas I would be pleased to share them with others if you would send them to me.
Someone dies every sixteen minutes. No one has to. Please stand and speak now.
And again thanks for participating in this blog.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Something to check out
I want to take a minute to recommend what I think might be the best suicide prevention blog I know. It it http://everyminute.org. It is written by my friend Michael Corbin. You will find more up to date information there than about any place I know. Michael also does a good job presenting one of the best cases for more mental healh research of anybody I know.
Check it out. You will be glad you did.
Check it out. You will be glad you did.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
How big a problem is it really?
The following article is from SAMSHA. The numbers are absolutely startling. Please pass this information on to others you know. NO one has to die.
Date: 9/17/2009
Media Contact: SAMHSA Press
Telephone: 240-276-2130
First-of-a-Kind National Study Reveals that 8.3 Million Adults in the U.S. had Serious Thoughts of Committing Suicide in the Past Year
2.3 Million Adults Made a Suicide Plan and 1.1 Million Adults Actually Attempted Suicide in the Past Year
Nearly 8.3 million adults (age 18 and older) in the U.S. (3.7 percent) had serious thoughts of committing suicide in the past year according to the first national scientific survey of its size on this public health problem. The study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) also shows that 2.3 million adult Americans made a suicide plan in the past year and that 1.1 million adults - 0.5 percent of all adult Americans – had actually attempted suicide in the past year.
The study provides important insights into the nature and scope of suicidal thoughts and behaviors. For example, the risk of suicidal thoughts, planning and attempts varies significantly among age groups. Young adults aged 18 to 25 were far more likely to have seriously considered suicide in the past year than those aged 26 to 49 (6.7 percent versus 3.9 percent), and nearly three times more likely than those aged 50 or older (2.3 percent). These disparities in risk levels among younger and older adults also were found in suicide planning and suicide attempts.
Substance use disorders also were associated with an increase in the risk of seriously considering, planning or attempting suicide. People experiencing substance abuse disorders within the past year were more than three times as likely to have seriously considered committing suicide as those who had not experienced a substance abuse disorder (11.0 percent versus 3.0 percent). Those with past year substance abuse disorders were also 4 times more likely to have planned a suicide than those without substance abuse disorders (3.4 percent versus 0.8 percent), and nearly seven times more likely to have attempted suicide (2.0 percent versus 0.3 percent).
The study also revealed that adult females had marginally higher levels of suicidal thoughts and behaviors than males in the past year.
“This study offers a far greater understanding of just how pervasive the risk of suicide is in our nation and how many of us are potentially affected by it,” said SAMHSA Acting Administrator, Eric Broderick, D.D.S., M.P.H. “While there are places that people in crisis can turn to for help like the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-TALK, the magnitude of the public health crisis revealed by this study should motivate us as a nation to do everything possible to reach out and help the millions who are at risk — preferably well before they are in immediate danger.”
The study notes that only 62.3 percent of adults who had attempted suicide in the past year received medical attention for their suicide attempts. It also notes that 46.0 percent of those attempting suicide stayed in a hospital overnight or longer for treatment of their suicide attempts.
Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors among Adults is based on 2008 data drawn from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which obtained responses from 46,190 persons aged 18 or older. The full report is available online at http://oas.samhsa.gov/2k9/165/suicide.cfm. Copies may also be obtained free of charge at http://ncadistore.samhsa.gov/catalog/productDetails.aspx?ProductID=18198 or by calling SAMHSA’s Health Information Network at 1-877-SAMHSA-7 (1-877-726-4727). For related publications and information, visit http://www.samhsa.gov/ .
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK, coordinates the network of 140 crisis centers across the United States providing suicide prevention and crisis intervention services to individuals seeking help at any time, day or night. SAMHSA funds the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (Lifeline) through a cooperative agreement for Networking, Certifying and Training Suicide Prevention Hotlines that was awarded to Link2Health Solutions, Inc.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SAMHSA is a public health agency within the Department of Health and Human Services. The agency is responsible for improving the accountability, capacity and effectiveness of the nation's substance abuse prevention, addictions treatment, and mental health services delivery system.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 9/17/2009
Media Contact: SAMHSA Press
Telephone: 240-276-2130
First-of-a-Kind National Study Reveals that 8.3 Million Adults in the U.S. had Serious Thoughts of Committing Suicide in the Past Year
2.3 Million Adults Made a Suicide Plan and 1.1 Million Adults Actually Attempted Suicide in the Past Year
Nearly 8.3 million adults (age 18 and older) in the U.S. (3.7 percent) had serious thoughts of committing suicide in the past year according to the first national scientific survey of its size on this public health problem. The study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) also shows that 2.3 million adult Americans made a suicide plan in the past year and that 1.1 million adults - 0.5 percent of all adult Americans – had actually attempted suicide in the past year.
The study provides important insights into the nature and scope of suicidal thoughts and behaviors. For example, the risk of suicidal thoughts, planning and attempts varies significantly among age groups. Young adults aged 18 to 25 were far more likely to have seriously considered suicide in the past year than those aged 26 to 49 (6.7 percent versus 3.9 percent), and nearly three times more likely than those aged 50 or older (2.3 percent). These disparities in risk levels among younger and older adults also were found in suicide planning and suicide attempts.
Substance use disorders also were associated with an increase in the risk of seriously considering, planning or attempting suicide. People experiencing substance abuse disorders within the past year were more than three times as likely to have seriously considered committing suicide as those who had not experienced a substance abuse disorder (11.0 percent versus 3.0 percent). Those with past year substance abuse disorders were also 4 times more likely to have planned a suicide than those without substance abuse disorders (3.4 percent versus 0.8 percent), and nearly seven times more likely to have attempted suicide (2.0 percent versus 0.3 percent).
The study also revealed that adult females had marginally higher levels of suicidal thoughts and behaviors than males in the past year.
“This study offers a far greater understanding of just how pervasive the risk of suicide is in our nation and how many of us are potentially affected by it,” said SAMHSA Acting Administrator, Eric Broderick, D.D.S., M.P.H. “While there are places that people in crisis can turn to for help like the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-TALK, the magnitude of the public health crisis revealed by this study should motivate us as a nation to do everything possible to reach out and help the millions who are at risk — preferably well before they are in immediate danger.”
The study notes that only 62.3 percent of adults who had attempted suicide in the past year received medical attention for their suicide attempts. It also notes that 46.0 percent of those attempting suicide stayed in a hospital overnight or longer for treatment of their suicide attempts.
Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors among Adults is based on 2008 data drawn from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which obtained responses from 46,190 persons aged 18 or older. The full report is available online at http://oas.samhsa.gov/2k9/165/suicide.cfm. Copies may also be obtained free of charge at http://ncadistore.samhsa.gov/catalog/productDetails.aspx?ProductID=18198 or by calling SAMHSA’s Health Information Network at 1-877-SAMHSA-7 (1-877-726-4727). For related publications and information, visit http://www.samhsa.gov/ .
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK, coordinates the network of 140 crisis centers across the United States providing suicide prevention and crisis intervention services to individuals seeking help at any time, day or night. SAMHSA funds the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (Lifeline) through a cooperative agreement for Networking, Certifying and Training Suicide Prevention Hotlines that was awarded to Link2Health Solutions, Inc.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SAMHSA is a public health agency within the Department of Health and Human Services. The agency is responsible for improving the accountability, capacity and effectiveness of the nation's substance abuse prevention, addictions treatment, and mental health services delivery system.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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