We must talk about teen suicide long before tragedy happens | Opinion

Health is the state of physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. However, we prioritize the physical norms of good health and neglect the harmonization of mental and social health.

How can this be when the Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry identifies suicide as the second-leading cause of death for young people 15-24 years of age?

On Jan. 8, my great-nephew died by suicide at the age of 15. He displayed excellent physical and social well-being while the mental-health signs were unheeded.

On a sunny Sunday morning, Cole ate breakfast and then mounted his four-wheeler to ride the public trails behind his home. One hour later, he answered his mother’s call telling her he’d return shortly, ending with,” I love you, mom.” Next, he texted friends saying he’d watch over them. Last, he called a friend.

His 23-year-old brother was the first to find Cole’s motionless body — just 1.5 miles from his home. Soon his father and mother arrived collapsing to embrace his still warm skin, sobbing in disbelief.

Cole was an honor student with many friends, played on his high school soccer and cross-country teams, and dreamed of becoming a Navy Seal. He enjoyed family time boating, going to the gym and playing with his dogs. So, why would a “healthy” teenager shoot himself through the chin with his safety helmet still firmly secured? The paradox of this heartbreaking story portrays the incomprehension of suicide.

“There is no one to blame,” said Cole in the note found in his bedroom. Some will blame access to guns while others will focus on the mental-health issues, reasoning that if not with a gun, Cole would have found another way to end his life. While there will always be differing viewpoints, let’s agree that the underlying issues and responses are multifaceted.

From 2007-2021, the suicide rate increased 62% for those between the ages of 10 and 24. One myth is that suicides are sudden acts without warning. The fact is most individuals express warning signs, either through behavioral or verbal actions.

A 2021 Youth Risk Behavioral Survey found 42% of high school students reported feeling sadness and hopelessness; 22% said that they considered suicide; and 10% had attempted it. In response, The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends universal mental-health screening for children starting at 12 years of age and between the ages of 8 and 11 when there are warning signs.

Dr. Viviana Horigian, psychiatrist, researcher, and director of Public Health Sciences Education at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, presents a cautionary message, “While it is necessary to screen, do we honestly think an adolescent will compliantly share their private thoughts with a health provider that they may see once a year? Screening is an important step to prevention, but can’t be the only approach.”

Yes, multiple strategies, beyond top-down methods, are necessary. We must:

▪ Recognize suicide as a public-health priority. No matter where you place the focus (i.e., social media, video-game violence, guns, stress at home or in school, bullying, depression and unidentified mental-health issues — or combination), it necessitates demystifying the term “healthy.” Don’t dodge the difficult dialogue.

▪ Encourage frank discussions about feelings of hopelessness, loneliness, anxiety or suicide ideation to expose both the early warning signs and what to do. We’ve learned that Cole discussed suicidal thoughts with a friend. Unfortunately, suicide conversations at school begin post-tragedy, when the gut-wrenching trauma is confronted — and then wanes until the next crisis. In celebrating Cole’s short life, his clergy leader delivered a passionate and powerful speech to a packed school auditorium of family, friends, teammates, and the larger community: “There is no boy-code or girl-code to keep secrets about an intent to end one’s life. When you hear something, see something, say something.”

▪ Prevent another suicide through collective action unfettered from ideological differences. Cole’s suicide is a cautionary reminder that this could be your child, relative, friend, teammate or neighbor, unless a far-reaching proactive prevention promise is realized now. Speak up.

September is National Suicide Prevention and Awareness Month. Let’s stop another shattered family from reading their child’s final words, “I love you all.”

Sherri Porcelain Forman is a researcher and educator of global public health in world affairs.