[…] from his command and forced to medically retire from the career he loved. Shame, guilt and depression overcame him. It crushed him. I stopped him from two suicide attempts — something I never thought my strong husband would even contemplate, let alone try. He Kept Talking Me Out of Getting Him Help Both times […]
[…] increases the risk of death in the first year after release. Individuals were overall 24% more likely to die in the first year after release, including from suicide (78% more likely) and homicide (54% more likely). They were also 127% more likely to die of an opioid overdose in the first two weeks after […]
[…] severe mental illness. Other arrangements should be made to keep you safe if you must take a break in your medication regimen. A few weeks after my suicide attempt, I had to undergo a sleep study, with yet another set of instructions to not take any medication before it. I called the office and […]
[…] Ripple of Hope from My Hometown Something shifted when I stumbled upon a news story about high school kids opening up the mental health conversation and fighting suicide. The link I just happened to click on led me straight back to my hometown of Danville, Pa. The daughter of a friend of mine, Lauryn […]
[…] psychological distress, which has proven to interfere with academic and social functioning. In 2020, one in six high school students in the state reported that they considered suicide in the past year. These numbers are alarming for many reasons, including the fact that far too many students and school staff don’t have access to […]
[…] has been 25 years and my sister has never gotten clean. My Mental Health Journey The family curse took its toll on me as well. I attempted suicide several times, and eventually, when I hit my teen years, I was institutionalized from the severe trauma I’d internalized. Sadly, treatment also exposed me to others’ […]
[…] responsible for the “balanced” perspective that marks much of her work). Meg’s first story about mental illness in the MSJ was a reminiscence in 1986 about the suicide of her sister, Nancy, eight years before. The second was in 1998, after her brother, Danny, also died from suicide. Reluctant at first, she wrote the […]
[…] wake of the destruction, one pressing concern was the mental health of the survivors, particularly that of the children. Two months after the tragedy, three deaths from suicide were attributed to posttraumatic stress and depression related to the tornado. Forty people reported suicidal thoughts. Calls to the local crisis hotline quadrupled. One veteran who lives […]
In a culture where family reputation is all, and expression of emotional pain is taboo, mental illness is seen as a personal failing.
[…] in a noose from a tree in their yard—not knowing or recalling that someone who drives by every day had a son or daughter who died by suicide. Let alone the symbolism of racial and ethnic lynching that nooses represent. These kinds of costumes and attraction perpetuate the stigma that traditionally surrounds mental illness. […]
NAMI HelpLine is available M-F, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m. ET. Call 800-950-6264,
text “NAMI” to 62640, or email. In a crisis, call or text 988 (24/7).
