Let's have some frank conversation today about preventing
suicide. This is what families need to know.
I'm going to share some facts with you first that might surprise you. They can be a little
bit alarming. But then let's talk about some of the practical things that we can do
as families to hopefully prevent some of the preventable tragedies that have been
plaguing our world. Let's start you out with some key facts that are provided by the world health
organization. If you forget that, just ask, "Who?" Yeah W.H.O --World Health Organization
who have compiled statistics for suicide and other major health concerns across the world.
The World Health Organization reports that over 800,000 people every year die from suicide.
Wrap your head around that for a minute. That's just under a million people
every year. And for every person who dies from suicide there are many, many more who make a
suicide attempt or who have suicidal thoughts or ideation. The numbers explode from there. And the
biggest predictive factor of someone dying from suicide is that they have had a previous attempt.
So, that makes the people at risk a huge number. The world health organization also reports that
suicide is the third leading cause of death for 15 to 19-year olds. It's also the third leading cause
of death worldwide when you group all of the diseases together as number one and accidental
death as number 2. But for young people 15 to 19, the diseases aren't as big of a factor in terms of
a cause of death and suicide takes the number 3 spot. Almost 80% of suicides globally occur
in economies or countries that are lower to middle income. That tells us where to focus some of our
intentions. Now, let's get into the psychology. The most predominant emotional component of
suicidal thoughts or behavior is hopelessness. Watching out for hopelessness can give us some of
the early warning signs that might come up in our families or among people that we know and love.
So, we want to watch out for that. And at the same time, I think we work actively on
cultivating a culture of hope within our families and our communities. This is best done through
positivity. One of the biggest reasons that we launched this channel Live On Purpose TV
is to instill that culture. If you have not yet subscribed to this channel, would you please do
so? Take a moment to click on that subscribe button and let's share it with other people as
well to create a culture of hope and positivity. That can be one of the most powerful preventative
factors that we could possibly do. Communication is probably one of the most important preventative
actions that we can take especially with our loved ones to open up those lines of communication.
Let them know. Send a strong message that they can talk with you about this. And it's important
for us to have the courage to have the hard conversations and to initiate those. If you see
that one of your loved ones or someone that you know is struggling with feelings of hopelessness
or depression or desperation, if they've experienced some kind of a loss, if you
know that they have a previous suicidal attempt. These are all risk factors that should trigger
our willingness to intervene. And here's what you can do: Simply ask the hard question.
"Have you been thinking about ending your own life?" Okay? You can ask that. I would suggest
that you don't alter the wording to be "Have you been thinking about hurting yourself?" Because
that's not what they're thinking of doing. Someone who wants to end their life is doing so to end the
pain. They're not trying to hurt themselves. They're trying to make things better. Now,
you probably don't agree that that would make things better but this is part of the thinking
that leads to suicidal behavior. So, instead of asking "Are you thinking of hurting yourself?"
Simply ask, "Have you had thoughts of suicide?" Or "Are you thinking about ending your own life?"
It's okay to ask and don't worry about putting the idea in their head.
They probably have already thought about it. And those who haven't will appreciate that you asked
and they will confirm that, "No, they haven't thought of that." But the ones who do need to have
the question. And a lot of times people in that position are not really willing to or even know
how to reach out for help. I had a conversation recently on my podcast with Lark Galley,
she wrote a book called Learning To Breathe Again. After experiencing the suicide of her father
and not too long after that, her son. Wow! What a heavy load that is. Lark was so generous in
sharing with me her thoughts about what we can do in terms of prevention. And I've collected
a number of conversations that I put together with her and some other amazing resources people who
are willing to talk about this at Live On Purpose Central. And I'll tell you more about that as we
get to the end of this video. There are resources available to you and I am so grateful for people
like Lark Dean Galley who is willing to share her experience. Along those lines, communication,
let's watch our language. This is something a lot of people aren't even aware of. You'll
notice throughout the course of this video and any others that I've done on the topic of suicide,
I never use the word COMMITTED. Now, it's traditional and probably a destructive tradition
to use that word. It creates an unnecessary burden for those who are dealing with, a loved one
who has died by suicide. So, you'll notice that I used terms like "died by suicide" or "ended their
own life" or "took their own life". These are more acceptable terms that we can use
that don't have the same stigmas that are attached to the word "committed". We need to get away from
some of the taboos about suicide and about talking about it. It's a prominent enough problem that we
need to look at our language and use language that is sensitive to those who are affected.
Not only does this help us to interact with those who have lost someone tragically to suicide.
But it also opens up the conversation with those who are having thoughts. And
it lessens the stigma or the taboo around having suicidal thoughts. It is so common.
Maybe at times universal. Let's open up the conversation
and be able to talk about anything. Now, let's get really practical. Some suicidal behavior occurs
on an impulse after some kind of a loss. So, someone loses a relationship or a job
or something that's very important to them. That can sometimes trigger suicidal behavior.
It's usually not the only precipitating cause. But to get very practical about this, we can prevent
a number of suicides simply by eliminating or removing the means. Some suicides occur
by firearms. What are we doing to secure our firearms? People, let's just be smart about that.
Secure those firearms. Especially if there are young people in the home and especially if there's
anyone around who has precipitating risk factors. I know of a family that I worked with last year
where the person who is struggling with the suicidal thoughts and intentions
was the person who owned all of the firearms. And they had to have some hard conversations in that
family about, "Hey, until you're feeling more stable, until everybody is safe, we're going to
remove those from the home." They relocated them to a different location and engaged some extended
family to help with securing that particular means of suicide. Think of what other means
might be readily available that you could secure --poisons or toxins.
Some of the things that could harm someone significantly or be used in a suicide attempt.
There are a number of suicides that could be prevented if we were just a little more careful.
Thank you for watching clear to the end of this video. It shows how much you care about
this important problem. Would you please share this video with someone who needs to have this
information? And if you or someone that you know is in trouble currently, please use your
local resources. You can always dial 9-1-1 or call your local suicide helpline. There are
many resources available to you. I want you to know you're not alone and we've got your back.