MENTAL HEALTH U.S. suicides hit an all-time high last year

 Today's blog is a serious one. If you know someone who is depressed, especially someone who has a gun, get them seek help. Have them call 988 and urge them to talk to you and a therapist. Last year, I wound up directing a complete stranger who contacted me via email to a police or fire station near them and he actually got help and it saved his life. He had contacted me through my book-related webpages.  I was fortunate that he listened (he said he had been drinking and had a loaded gun beside him when I emailed back and got him to call 988 and me). I was extremely relieved. Others are not so fortunate. 

MENTAL HEALTH U.S. suicides hit an all-time high last year Associated Press Aug 11, 2023  About 49,500 people took their own lives last year in the U.S., the highest number ever, according to new government data posted Thursday. Available data suggests suicides are more common in the U.S. than at any time since records were kept at the end of World War II. Read more.

Why this matters: Experts caution that suicide is complicated, and recent increases can be driven by a range of factors, including higher rates of depression and limited access to mental health services. But a main driver is the growing availability of guns, said Jill Harkavy-Friedman, senior vice president of research at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Suicide attempts involving guns end in death far more often than those with other means, and gun sales have boomed — placing firearms in more and more homes.  The largest increases were seen in older adults. Deaths rose nearly 7% in people ages 45 to 64, and more than 8% in people 65 and older. Suicides in adults ages 25 to 44 grew about 1%. The new data indicates that suicide became the second leading cause of death in that age group in 2022, up from No. 4 in 2021.