Original Article here:

https://www.healthline.com/health-news/teen-suicide-rate-spikes-56-in-9-years#What-can-be-done?

The teen and young adult years are all about anticipation and angst; self-discovery and self-doubt.

For some, though, the toll of adolescence can leave them wondering about their place. In the COVID-19 atmosphere, some have become lonely, isolated, depressed, even desperate.

Local mental health and youth advocates are particularly distressed over those for whom these turbulent times have left them in such despair they are unable to see their place in this world.

MatForce Executive Director Merilee Fowler said she is alarmed by recent teen suicide statistics in Yavapai County. Between May and December 2020, Fowler said there were four suicide deaths of teenagers under age 18 and one who was 19 — all but one of those was in Prescott. The year before there was one suicide death of an 18-year-old and two 19-year-olds. In 2020, there were eight other suicide deaths in the 20-29 age category; the year before there were two.

“This is a significant increase,” Fowler said of deaths in the younger age range. “We need to be waving the flag and thinking about what we are doing.”

In total, Fowler said, Yavapai County saw a reduction in suicide deaths — 71 in 2020 versus 98 the year before.

Still, Fowler and her fellow teen advocates and area mental health professionals are adamant that any suicide death is one too many.

WHAT TO DO?

One of Fowler’s suggestions is “time travel.”

“When someone is thinking about ending their life, what can we talk to them to help them look forward to the future, to help them take the steps they need to go to where they want to be,” Fowler said.

Launch Pad Teen Center Founder and Executive Director Courtney Osterfelt said her agency has been opening its doors every day to teens from throughout the quad-city area during distance learning to offer teens a place to come and study, play and be surrounded by positive influences.

When they are not engaged in remote lessons, Osterfelt said teens are required to shut down their computers and turn off their phones. They are encouraged to get outdoors, even if it’s just a short break to stretch and breath, she said. They are encouraged to join in group activities to tap into their creative talents and curiosity.

“We want them engaging with humans,” Osterfelt said.

One 14-year-old boy crafted a video message where he said, “The Launch Pad is good for my brain. I can just tell. I make new friends. The adults care about me. I just feel happy.”

In these times like no other, Osterfelt said she and her staff want the center to be a force for good in teens’ lives — a place where they feel welcome, wanted and allowed to be who they are and feel what they feel without judgment.

“No matter what the age person-to-person engagement improves mental health,” Osterfelt said.

In talking with parents, Osterfelt encourages them to talk with their teens by asking open-ended questions without judging the response. Sometimes all a teen needs is this invitation: “Come sit with me.”

“We need to teach our kids the emotional literacy to ask for what they need,” Osterfelt said.

COVID-19 causing ADDITIONAL STRAIN

“We can safely say that 100% of people have worried and experienced different levels of stress, for some reason or another, because of how this pandemic has impacted our everyday life,” said West Yavapai Guidance Clinic Chief Clinical Officer who is also the head of the Yavapai County Suicide Prevention Coalition.

“Back in March of last year, everyone really thought that the population that was going to be most impacted by this pandemic was the older population given the struggle with isolation. However, on a national level, we are actually seeing the younger population (ages 11-24) being more severely impacted. This is not meant to suggest that other age groups have not seen significant stress and loss over the past year, but rather, the damage to the development of the brain, cognitively, socially and emotionally, this has been devastating to the younger ages.

In addition to an increase in substance use, the most common mental health challenges that people are struggling with are depression and anxiety, Legler said. While these can be easily managed with a little professional support and guidance, they can also spiral out of control if ignored or minimized.”

“Because anxiety and depression are a direct link to suicidal thoughts, as well as the feeling of isolation, we need to do more to support each other and connect each other to services and resources,” Legler said. “With online learning, teachers can only do so much — their superhero capes have limits, so working together as a community to support our kids is truly critical in saving lives.”

Original Article here:

https://www.dcourier.com/news/2021/jan/16/teen-suicide-spike-reminder-engage-and-stay-connec/

Teen and youth anxiety and depression are getting worse since COVID lockdowns began in March, early studies suggest, and many experts say they fear a corresponding increase in youth suicide.

At the end of June, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention surveyed Americans on their mental health. They found symptoms of anxiety and depression were up sharply across the board between March and June, compared with the same time the previous year. And young people seemed to be the hardest-hit of any group.

Almost 11 percent of all respondents to that survey said they had "seriously considered" suicide in the past 30 days. For those ages 18 to 24, the number was 1 in 4 — more than twice as high.

Data collection for several studies on teen mental health during the pandemic is currently underway. And experts worry those studies will show a spike in suicide, because young people are increasingly cut off from peers and caring adults, because their futures are uncertain and because they are spending more time at home, where they are most likely to have access to lethal weapons.

"Teenagers are in a developmental space where it is critically important that they have regular contact with their peers and are able to develop close and ongoing relationships with adults outside the home, such as their teachers, their coaches, their advisers," says Lisa Damour, an adolescent psychologist who is a columnist and host of the podcast Ask Lisa: The Psychology of Parenting. "And I worry very much about what it means for that to be disrupted by the pandemic."

The stressors of COVID come as youth suicide was already at a record high before the pandemic, with increases every year since 2007. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among people ages 10-24, after accidents, as it has been for many years, according to the most recent data available from the CDC.

Not having guns in the home, or keeping them safely locked away, is another overlooked factor in suicide risk. A new analysis of the latest CDC data, just released by the advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety, found that the rate of specifically firearm suicides increased 51% for 15-24 year olds in the decade ending in 2018. Among 10- to 14-year-olds, who have a lower rate of suicide to begin with, suicide by gun increased a staggering 214% in that time frame.

Gun suicide is astonishingly lethal: Of all suicide attempts not involving guns, 94% fail, and most of those people do not try again, Everytown reports. Of all suicide attempts that do involve guns, 90% succeed. That's one reason that gun ownership correlates with the youth suicide rate, state by state. A study last year found that for each 10 percent increase in household gun ownership in a state, the suicide rate for 10- to 19-year-olds increases by more than 25 percent.

And, the presence of guns is another community risk factor that has increased during the pandemic: From March to July 2020, Everytown reports, gun sales doubled compared with the year before.

Carrson Everett, 17, says when he himself attempted suicide, the fact that his parents kept their guns safely locked away and out of reach most likely helped save his life. He says that during the pandemic, "Teenagers are already having the effect of isolation, staying at home and everything. And now there's all these new firearms in their homes and, you know, we can't tell who's safely storing their guns and who isn't. And it's very dangerous."

Everett has started his senior year of high school in Kingsport, Tenn., on a hybrid schedule. On the days that he's home, he says he wonders what he's missing out on at school. "Everyone feels isolated, and it's been very tough for everybody."

He says these past few months have been especially hard for him because he has depression and anxiety. Plus, he says he's been bullied for years for being gay, including over video chat during distance learning.

Everett is a volunteer for Students Demand Action, an anti-gun violence group that is part of Everytown. He said he's learned that gun violence isn't just a matter of crime or mass shootings, but also suicide. "I wrote an op-ed about a kid that was my age over in Cookeville, Tennessee, that had taken his own life with a firearm because he had been outed [as gay] at school. So, you know, it's very relatable for me."

Damour, the teen psychologist, explains that not having guns in the home, or keeping them safely locked away, is important especially for adolescents because "teens are impulsive."

What parents can do

She says parents need to know that suicide is preventable. A red flag is when sadness is more than a passing mood. Caregivers need to check in regularly — which can be unexpectedly complicated when the whole family is spending so much time at home.

A common pattern, she notes, is parents trying to work during the day, and teenagers staying up late at night to have time to themselves. This isn't inherently a problem, Damour says, but "there's a difference between allowing privacy and allowing a teenager to hole up in their room for days at a time."

If a teen talks about harming themselves or wanting to disappear, a parent should ask directly, "Is that something you think you might really do or you think about doing? Or are you just letting me know that you're very upset right now?" And, she adds, hear them out without dismissing what they're saying.

She also says parents should look out for anger: "In teenagers, uniquely, depression can take the form of irritability. That depression in teenagers sometimes looks like a prickly porcupine. Everybody rubs them the wrong way. And that is easy to miss because sometimes we'll just dismiss that as being a snarky teenager."

If school is all-virtual, she says, parents should look for safe sports, work or volunteer opportunities that allow teens to have social time and contact with other caring adults.

Finally, Damour says she sees one bright spot: During the pandemic, she and other clinicians are finding that telemedicine — therapy over video chat — is working surprisingly well with adolescents.

"The teenagers that I see are often talking to me from their bedrooms, sometimes flopped over in their beds," she says. "There's something unguarded about it that's very different than having them sit in my office."

And, virtual therapy can lower barriers to access for families who might have had to travel to get accessible mental health care.

If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, reach out for help. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is open 24 hours a day at 800-273-8255.

Original Article here:

https://www.npr.org/2020/09/10/911117577/the-pandemic-has-researchers-worried-about-teen-suicide