Hi everyone, as stated on my previous blog entry, September is Suicide prevention month. I will be taking the time to present different topics regarding to suicide this whole month, specifically more so this week. Since most of the suicide prevention awareness occurs on the second week of September. But like I said, I will try to expand it for the rest of the month.
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one’s own death. Mental disorders—including depression, bipolar disorder, autism, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders, physical disorders such as chronic fatigue syndrome, and substance abuse—including alcoholism and the use of and withdrawal from benzodiazepines—are risk factors.
Suicides are vastly higher among males than females among all age groups in most of the world. Statistic shows, as of 2015, two-thirds of the worldwide suicides are committed. To give a clear number, that is 1,140,00 men every year. Within this male statistic, the age group 65 and over is the highest among all the ages. This is one of the reasons why I am a strong advocate for men’s mental health, because it is not subject that get discuss a lot as it should be.
It is no different within the African American community. About 10% of African American commits suicide (that’s 4 million people). With 3% being African American women and 7 % being African American men. As well, as of 2015, suicide is 6th leading cause of death among the Hispanic community. As you see minorities receives a large affect regarding suicide rates. However, there are barely any discussion of this.
If you or anyone you suspect are having suicidal thoughts, please reach out. Go see a therapist. If you don’t have insurance and/or it’s too expensive, then communicate with your family and friends. If you’re too embarrassed or think they won’t understand, there are suicide hotlines for you to call. I will have them listed below. Please do not be afraid to express yourself. Its one of the ways to keep hope alive. Let us keep hope alive by adulting one day at a time.
IF YOU NEED IMMEDIATE HELP, PLEASE USE THE FOLLOWING:
Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1-800-273-8255
Suicide Prevention Live Chat: https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/chat/
FOLLOW ME ON THE FOLLOWING PLATFORMS:
Only Michy 
I have a question. What would happen if a person went onto a suicide prevention line and said they were feeling suicidal and wanted to talk? Would they soon find an ambulance at their door to take them to ER? I suspect suicide prevention would have the ability to track the location of the caller. Maybe I am incorrect here. What do you think? I am not suicidal. That is not why I brought this up. It is just a question I have always had and never knew how to ask. Anyway, if I thought it would get me in ER I wouldn’t open my mouth.
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I completely agree with PVCANN response, but to also add, it’s best to go to the emergency room. Individuals save themselves the bill, they will get faster attention, and it’s better to access the situation face-to-face than over the phone.
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The factual info you use is similar for down here too, I worked in prevention training for a while and it is hard work, exhausting. In response to Lena’s question, here they would draw a distinction between ideation and crisis and if crisis then an ambulance would appear.
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Thanks for answering!
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Pleasure to join in
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Hi PVCANN, Lena Rae has another question for you. If you can scroll the the comments and reply to her, that would be great. 🙂
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Thank you Michy – you’d probably answer better than I, but nice to be asked.
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I just like the fact there is a conversation between people about the subject matter. So thanks for engaging!
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Great, and wonderful to read.
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Thank you Ann for answering my question.
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This is a very important topic. Thanks Michy. Blessings!
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Thanks for reading Cindy! I will posting more topics about suicide awareness this month. Please be sure to come back to read and comment. 🙂
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Will do! Blessings Michy!
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It maybe too late but if PVCANN is still around — what is ideation? I looked it up. Ideation is the beginning formation of an idea or a thought. So I take this to mean when a person beginning to think about suicide and they don’t have a plan formed about how they are going to carry it out this is ideation?
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Hi Lena, I will try to get PVCANN to answer your question, but in the mean time… suicide ideations comes in different forms. Some people want everything go away, some people would be okay with the idea of going to sleep and never waking up, some people have constant thoughts of wanting to kill themselves, and others want to die and know how they would do it but don’t act upon it. I am planning to have a blog entry about suicdidal thoughts vs. suicide ideation. Hopefully it will clarifying things more so for you and I hope my response was comprehensive enough for you.
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Thank you Michy, I hope you do write that blog too.
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I am planning to, real soon. 🙂
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🙂
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Hi Lena, that is exactly it, there are those who are in the thinking phase, mulling it over, not quite at resolution, not yet ready, no plan, but trying to work out a plan.
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Thank you for explaining this term. Counseling would help at this point to turn the person’s thinking around from darkness to hope.
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Absolutely, and the phone method has been shown to help, because it is early intervention. Mostly they really do want to talk about, and very open about it.
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