Saturday, January 15, 2011

Suicide Statistics

I found this today, and thought I should show it to you guys. This is not meant to discourage anybody in any way, but to educate you in this. Here's the link that I got it from: Save - Suicide Facts

"Suicide Facts
  1. Suicide takes the lives of nearly 30,000 Americans every year.
  2. Many who attempt suicide never seek professional care.
  3. There are twice as many deaths due to suicide than HIV/AIDS.
  4. Between 1952 and 1995, suicide in young adults nearly tripled.
  5. Over half of all suicides occur in adult men, ages 25-65.
  6. In the month prior to their suicide, 75% of elderly persons had visited a physician.
  7. Suicide rates in the United States are highest in the spring.
  8. Over half of all suicides are completed with a firearm.
  9. For young people 15-24 years old, suicide is the third leading cause of death.
  10. Suicide rates among the elderly are highest for those who are divorced or widowed.
  11. 80% of people that seek treatment for depression are treated successfully.
  12. 15% of those who are clinically depressed die by suicide.
  13. There are an estimated 8 to 25 attempted suicides to 1 completion.
  14. The highest suicide rate is among men over 85 years old: 65 per 100,000 persons.
  15. 1 in 65,000 children ages 10 to 14 commit suicide each year.
  16. Substance abuse is a risk factor for suicide.
  17. The strongest risk factor for suicide is depression.
  18. By 2010, depression will be the #1 disability in the world. (World Health Organization)
  19. In 2004, 32,439 people died by suicide. (CDC)
  20. Suicide is the 11th leading cause of death in the U.S. (homicide is 15th). (CDC)
  21. Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death for 15- to 24-year-old Americans. (CDC)
  22. It is estimated that there are at least 4.5 million survivors in this country. (AAS)
  23. An average of one person dies by suicide every 16.2 minutes. (CDC, AAS)
  24. There are four male suicides for every female suicide. (CDC, AAS)
  25. Research has shown medications and therapy to be effective suicide prevention.
  26. Suicide can be prevented through education and public awareness.
  27. Last year SAVE educated 10,618 youth & parents on depression and suicide prevention.
  28. Last year SAVE received 810 requests for information from 72 countries.
  29. In 2004 it is estimated there were 811,000 suicide attempts in the US. (AA)
  30. There are three female suicide attempts for each male attempt. (CDC, AAS)
  31. According to the Violent Death Reporting System, in 2004 73% of suicides also tested positive for at least one substance (alcohol, cocaine, heroin or marijuana)."
WHAT can we learn from this? Quite frankly, a lot of it scares me. I think most of them shouldn't be true. And I think a lot of don't have to be... It is my opinion that we can fix this. The main thing you can do is to talk to us here at Help! if you have any problems with this. If you feel like you are going to kill yourself, please send us a message or leave a comment. We won't share anything with anybody or harass you, or even judge you. We just want to help. And we will try our best to make you feel better.
And beyond that, you can reach out to others with this problem and help them as well. I think we can help change this... but it all depends on you being able to speak up.

Much love,
Apollo

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