You Are Not Alone: Marking Suicide Prevention Month
Last month’s Netflix release of the documentary The Social Dilemma was downright chilling — not least for the troubling trends in sucide rates that the film reveals. According to the documentary, child suicides rates have soared 150% in the last decade. Deaths by suicide in the United States have risen 70% in older teenage girls compared to the 2010s.
These suicide spikes are linked to social media use, which is obviously prevalent among the Zoomer generation. But overall suicide rates in the U.S. have been rising steadily since 2000 — by 35% overall — and the rate of increased doubled in the wake of the 2008 downturn. The pandemic and economic problems of 2020 is almost certainly making things worse, not better.
Suicide and opioid usage are closely intertwined too. While it’s unclear how many opioid overdoses represent people trying to kill themselves, some experts estimate that up to 30% of opioid overdose deaths are intentional.
People are prescribed opioids most often to manage chronic pain, which is frequently linked to comorbidities like depression and other mental illnesses. Nonstop pain can certainly drive a patient to suicidal ideation.
Even getting off pills like opioids and benzos can trigger suicidal thoughts. Patients and their families alike can be shocked by the intensity and duration of symptoms patients undergo during medication tapering. Symptoms can vary wildly, with one serious symptom succeeding the next. One day the patient struggles with burning skin or nerve pain. Next it’s chemical anxiety (cortisol surges), looping thoughts and agoraphobia. Other symptoms include anhedonia (loss of pleasure in living), tinnitus, heart palpitations, weakness, fatigue, and many others. It can feel terrifying, bewildering and endless. Without proper professional guidance, it’s small wonder that a patient trying to taper could feel hopeless to the point of suicide.
Medication tapering, especially from benzos and opioids, is very challenging. Professional support matters in crafting the right treatment program — but just as important is knowing you’re not alone, that millions of ordinary people just like you have struggled through this process and made it successfully to the other side. Suicide ideation thrives on isolation and a lack of hope. Peer support groups, combined with professional care, can break this isolation and show patients there’s indeed light at the end of the tunnel.
If you’re concerned about recent and troubling changes in your mental health, whether it be anxiety, depression, alcohol or substance use, we invite you to take our free online assessment tests. Based on clinical tests that are industry-standard within the healthcare community, these tests can help you know if you should take the next step in self-care.
Skyler Health has counseling and therapy for people struggling with medication tapering, chronic pain, cancer, perioperative surgery pain, anxiety and depression, and other life challenges. Some of these free groups are specific to certain people facing particularly difficult times right now: teachers braving back-to-school in the COVID era, healthcare workers, expectant and new moms struggling with postpartum depression and pain.
These live groups connect you in a secure setting with people just like yourself struggling with similar issues. Our licensed counselors moderate sessions and guide conversation to help you process your emotions together with your peers. You might decide to supplement support groups with 1:1 teletherapy sessions as well. Skyler Health counselors are available nationwide and specially trained in medication tapering needs. Get started now.
This September at Suicide Prevention Month, please remember: You are not alone. We all need to do our part to reduce suicides within our communities. If you or someone you love is struggling, please know help is available, affordable and within reach today.
