Suicidal behavior among teens and children is on the rise. It
in 2016, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Another study looked at hospital visits by kids and found that
thoughts of suicide or attempts nearly tripled between 2008 and
2015. "We were a little surprised that it was
nationwide" That's Dr. Gregory Plemmons, one of the authors of
the study. His team looked at 31 children's hospitals nationwide
and found an uptick in suicidal behavior during the months
school was in session. October was the highest month for
suicides. What would you say would be some of the factors
that caused this uptick? Many of the kids that we have taken care
of have encountered bullying, cyberbullying issues with social
media, experienced trauma. "The incident seems to be rising
greater among females. Girls are more likely to attempt and guys
were more likely to complete a suicide." Plemmons says girls on
average are entering puberty at a much younger age than they
were 20 years ago, and puberty in itself is a risk factor for
suicide and depression. Another contributing factor? Social
media. Girls are much more likely to use social media,
where cyberbullying and pressure to be perfect can affect their
mental health. "The act to try and harm oneself as a very
impulsive spur of the moment act. ... on average, sometimes
people say, five to 10 minutes. I think it's important to get
the message out to teenagers, reducing the stigma as much as
you can around asking for help." "This is what some of the
students said after." One person who does exactly that is Melissa
Molitor, who educates students about the warning signs of
suicide and depression. She is the program director at Elyssa's
Mission. The organization was named after 16-year-old Elyssa,
Melissa's friend who died by suicide her sophomore year.
"Elyssa was a bright and beautiful girl. She had these
amazing blue eyes and she could make anyone laugh. She was
someone who walked into a room and just immediately lit it up."
Molitor didn't see the warning signs when Elyssa exhibited
them. Now, Molitor teaches kids what to look for. "How you do
that is a three step acronym called ACT. So Acknowledge the
warning signs that you're seeing, let your friends know
that you Care about them and Tell a trusted adult" "In many
cases, friends will make their friends promise not to tell an
adult what they shared with them about depression or suicide. And
so our program really emphasizes the fact that students need to
share those secrets. And it could be saving your friend's
life." The American Psychological Association lists
suicide warning signs that include: talking about suicide,
having trouble eating or sleeping and a preoccupation
with death and dying. What would you say is a warning sign that
most people don't consider? "What's so hard is that a lot of
people are silent sufferers, and they wear a mask on their face.
And sometimes they're your happiest friend, your most
outgoing friend, the one who you think has it all together when
really they are the ones struggling the most. So what you
want to look for is just some of those changes, do they stop
hanging out on the weekends like they normally do?" Elyssa's
Mission began in 2006. So far the organization has talked to
300,000 children in Illinois. Along with suicide prevention
education and grief counseling, the group also provides a
questionnaire that screens students for risk factors. "It
asks two specific questions about suicide have you
thought seriously about killing yourself and have you
attempted in the last year. And what we've seen is about 13
percent of students need to be followed up with after taking
that screener." For a friend who maybe seeing their other friend
going through suffering, what should they do about it? "I
would tell that friend that they should do something right now.
But one thing they need to remember is to not leave their
friend alone if they're worried about them hurting themselves.
If that friend is thinking about taking their life that they need
to stay with them. That they never want to leave that person
alone. So they can get an adult to come to them or you can walk
with your friend down to an adult. Both Plemmons and Molitor
said we should stop calling it 'committing' suicide because of
the negative connotation of the word. "So when we say someone
'committed' suicide, we think of the word 'commit' as commit a
crime, commit murder, commit adultery, you know, all things
that are negative." Instead, we should use phrases like "died
by suicide." Both experts say that because of contagion, or
the copycat effect, it's important for news reports to
avoid going into detail about how a person took his or her
life. Lastly, it's important to talk about depression and
suicide and let people know they shouldn't feel ashamed about
mental health issues. What would you say are the biggest myths.
"The biggest myth is that if you talk about it, it'll put the
idea in their head. ...actually the opposite is true that if you
talk to someone about suicide, if you ask them if they're
thinking about taking their life it'll let them know that you
care and it'll open up that dialogue that you can get them
the help that they need and that they deserve and that they
probably want." And if you need to talk to someone the National
Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available at 1-800-273-8255. Or
text "HOME" to the Crisis Text Line at 741741.