Depression and Suicide Facts #10

-My Experiences-

Since today is the last day, I want to take a step back from pure facts and share some my experiences where depression and suicide have come up.  I have had four major situations where they have come up, today I want to share three of them.  Names and other major identifiers have been removed.

The Friend:  My first experience with depression came up when I was roughly 14/15.  Was on a camping trip with friends when I noticed one friend was sitting by his lonesome while the rest of us were setting up camp.  I went up, sat down beside him, and began to talk with him.  It came quickly, he talked about how it seemed no one liked him, and he didn't have the will to go on.  At the time, the full force of this didn't hit me, but I knew it was bad.  I responded by talking with him, showing support, and in the ways that he had made a difference for those around him.  After a half-hour (roughly) he perked up and felt better.  We went off and everything was well.  He became a strong leader and good person.  While I did a good thing, I still hate myself for the event.  Now, why would I say that?  Easy, because I didn't follow through.  I should have told one of the adults that was with us, but I didn't.  While it didn't affect me then, it affects me more now, because I now realize that if anything did happen, I would feel at fault.

The Listener:  During my senior year, a fellow student in my dorm community committed suicide.  I did not know the individual, my roommate did.  While I felt little connection to the individual, there were many people around me that did.  For the most part, all I could do was sit and listen, and often times, for those grieving, that is the best thing to do.  Once instance that sticks out to me, was something my roommate said.  He mentioned how he had just seen the individual a day prior and that he simply said hello and kept going.  He wished that if he knew more, he would have stopped and talked with him more often.  Obviously, not much I could have done, but it taught me a few things.  It taught me the importance of listening, it also taught me why it is important to check in on everyone, because you might never know.

The Co-Worker:  Just about a year ago I had a previous co-worker commit suicide.  This was a shock to all of us that knew him.  Many of us had talked, hanged out, played games, just had fun conversations with each other.  He was a good individual that made an impact on those he worked with.  While he did pass on, I did go back and thought of any signs there might have been.  For the most part, no, the only slight one I knew off was that he had emptied his Facebook of all friends and "likes."  The incident rocked us that knew him and made us keep him on our mind.  For some of us, it was the loss of a friend, to others, it was the loss of a close friend, someone who was almost like family.  This experience really showed how one can never know he is at risk.

Thank you for listening these past 10 days, I hope you have learned something and will be ever aware of your surroundings.  It'll be back to a new topic tomorrow.

No one is alone, be the light you want to see in the world

Depression and Suicide Facts #9

-Awareness-

There are several "events" throughout the year that promotes Depression and Suicide Awareness

National Anxiety and Depression Awareness Week:  May 5-11 2013
You can go hear to obtain materials to help put on your own event:
http://www.freedomfromfear.org/NationalAnxietyandDepressionAwarenessWeek.en.html

National Suicide Prevention Week:  September 8-14 2013
This week goes in hand with World Suicide Awareness Day (10 September)
http://www.suicidology.org/about-aas/nspw

Semi-Colon Project
This is a newer project, originally focused on one day (April 16th) but has continued to grow where the day does not matter.

A semi-colon is used to show where a sentence could have ended, but didn't.  Individuals draw a semi-colon onto themselves to show that they, or in support of others who face depression, have thought about suicide, or in memory of someone who committed suicide.

No one is alone, be the light you want to see in the world

Depression and Suicide Facts #8

-Myths-

As with everything, many myths have come up involving depression and suicide, I would like to address some of them

Depression:

1. It is an extreme form of sadness or greif
2. It only affects old people, losers, and women (check out yesterday's post to review the numbers)
3. All one needs is an antidepresent to get over it (remember the number of methods there are to treat)
4. AIDs, Cancer, and Diabetes occur more often (actually, all those combined do not add up to the total cases of depression)

Suicide:

1. Peaks during the holidays (they are actually lowest in December, and highest in the Spring)
2. Teens are at a greater risk (while this is a myth, this age does determine a lot of situations that may influence depression later)
3. Minorities are leaders in committing suicide (whites tend to have the lead here, except when compared to American Indians and Alaskan natives)

Both:

1. Creativity is not linked to either (actually, most of the world's most creative suffer from depression)
2. Depression is always the cause of suicide (not quite, and 1 of 3 are caused from alcoholism)
3. Poor countries have higher rates (Nope, richer countries have the higher rates)
4. "copy cat" events don't happen (If one is witness, friend of one who commits suicide, they may become at risk for depression and then possibly suicide

These are just a small view into the world of depression and suicide myths, there are more, but these are some of the most common.

No one is alone, be the light you want to see in the world

Depression and Suicide Facts #7

-Faces of Depression-

Today I want to take a short look at some well known names who suffer from depression.

Abraham Lincoln (16th President)-Researchers say that Lincoln's depression comes from the loss of his mother at an early age, as well as several other childhood losses.


Buzz Aldrin (2nd man on the moon)-He faced several rough years after the moon landing, including the ending of a 21 year long marriage, a quick marriage and quick divorce, and several other factors led to his acute depression and alcoholism.


Harrison Ford (Actor:  Indiana Jones, Han Solo, and many others)-He says that this partially comes from his holding in anger from when he was beat up as a younger child/teen.


This is obviously just a small sampling of individuals who had/do suffer from depression.  In each of these cases the individuals went on to do great things, not letting their depression hold them back.

No one is alone, be the light you want to see in the world

Depression and Suicide Facts #6

-Who-

Today I would like to give you a little break down who if often diagnosed with depression or commits/attempts suicide.  In short, anyone, at anytime may be at risk.

Now for the facts:

First bout of depression typically occurs during one's '30s
4.3% of the World's Population suffers from Depression (that's 299,853,552 people!)
17% of the US population will have a case of depression before their death
3.5% of males in the United States
8-10% of females in the United States

3.4% of those suffering from depression commit suicide
60% of those who commit suicide were suffering from depression

Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the world; 800,000-1,000,000 yearly
10-20 Million attempts each year

Tomorrow we will look at some well known people who have/do suffer from Depression

No one is alone, be the light you want to see in the world

Depression and Suicide Facts #5

-Help-

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline:  1-800-273-TALK (8255)

It is important to understand that an individual that is depressed or suicidal might not be able to get help on their own, in that situation it is important that his/her friends, family, co-workers, etc step up to help.

If you are feeling depressed/suicidal:  If you feel that you cannot control yourself or may lose control, do your best to never be alone.  If you can, share your feelings with family or friends, someone who you trust.  Even if you cannot share your feelings, spend time with them, never set yourself to be alone.  Go to a public location (coffee shop, mall, somewhere with lots of people where you will not be alone)

If someone you know is feeling depressed/suicidal:  Talk to them.  The first and best thing you can do is to talk to them.  Help them to think positive, remember, they are going to dwell on negatives, be careful.

If it appears that the situation is serious, take the individual/yourself to the nearest hospital/emergency room or call 911.  Do NOT leave the individual alone.  If you are the one at risk, find someone to stay with you until help arrives.  Remove weapons, sharp objects, drugs from the nearby area.

Hospitalizations may be necessary until the individual is able to relax.  One may need to go to a psychiatric hospital for further assistance.

The suggestions above all come from medical professionals.  Below are further resources that one may use:
-College Counseling Centers
-If in Virginia Beach, VA:  757-627-LIFE (5433)
-If in Norfolk, VA:  757-622-1126
-National Suicide Prevention Lifeline:  1-800-273-TALK (8255)

Remember, get help, if for yourself, your family member, or your friend.

No one is alone, be the light you want to see in the world

Depression and Suicide Facts #4

-Treatment-

Note:  The best way you can get help is to get the individual to seek medical assistance, and to let someone else know that way they may keep an eye on the individual and ensure they get assistance.

Antidepressant-The most common form of treatment given is an antidepressant.  Typically antidepressants take 2-3 weeks to kick in, thus making it important to respond quickly to individuals showing symptoms.  

Psychotherapy-This process focuses on minimalizing negative feelings and increase ones attitude towards self-worth.  There are many techniques used in this process to include open dialogue and behavior modification

Counseling-This method focuses on creating an open dialogue for the depressed individual to express their feelings and open up in a stress free environment.

Hospitalization-This situation is typically restricted to if it appears the individual may harm him/herself or others.

These are some of the basic "treatments" offered to assist an individual.  Tomorrow we will look at ways you can help someone that is depressed or has reached the point of considering suicide.

No one is alone, be the light you want to see in the world