It’s hard…

We are reminded nightly, with each mass shooting, with every horrendous headline, that America is in a mental health crisis.

We think depression is something other people have, like teenage girls who are heavy users of social media.

But we’re all vulnerable*

But wait, you may be saying, suicide rates are dropping everywhere around the world.

Well, not everywhere around the world…

“One high-income country is a particular exception to the downward trend: the US. Though rates in the country declined throughout the 1990s, at the turn of the century they began to rise again. Between 2000 and 2018, the suicide rate jumped 35 percent. Suicide is the second-highest cause of death among young Americans aged 10–14 and 20–35 years old. You might be shouting: The answer is guns! And you’d be mostly right.” (NextDraft)

In America, over 48,000 people took their own lives in 2021, and the rate is growing, especially recently, in non-Hispanic white middle-aged men.

In fact, the suicide rate for men is 4 times higher than for women.

Don’t be afraid to have this talk, to show concern, to ask if they’re thinking about suicide.

A life is at risk and sometimes talking – actively caring – can help.