Suicide Watch

There's been a rise in suicides for the first time in decades. No one likes to talk about this taboo but it’s all too common. In the past few months, I've heard tragic stories from friends who knew of a father or mother who took their own life. Sometimes I even forget that my mother had attempted suicide when I was five. She would have died if my father and I didn't rescue her from the motel. I still remember the pills scattered all over the nightstand.

In a 2000 study done in Denmark, researchers found the following to be true: Fathers more often commit suicide than mothers but more mothers attempt suicide more than fathers.

Some people may not ever understand why people take their own lives especially when they leave behind children. In early November, thousands of Indian farmers committed suicide because of the debt they owed on growing genetically modified crops. Each of these farmers had several children they left behind. Every month in the US, 300 fathers take their own lives.
Other facts:

- 32,439 suicides in the US during 2004

-750,00 attempted suicides annually in the US

-34 people jumped off the Golden Gate to their death in 2007

-70 people attempted to jump off the Golden Gate in 2007

With the unsteady economy and high pressure situations on the rise, we need to look out for each other more.

Look around, check in with loved ones, and read the signs. Make sure that someone you love seeks help. Take the pressure off partners, give emotional support to someone who’s lost a job, comfort a friend going through a divorce, or help out a single parent abandoned by their partner. Every little bit helps.