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Guns -- To Own or Not to Own

by Dorothy Paugh

"Had my son not owned a gun, I believe he’d be alive today. Human beings are fragile and fallible, and guns do not allow for such frailties. "

In the aftermath of recent murder-suicides, pleas for more … as well as fewer … guns have made the news.  As the mother of a 25-year-old son who shot himself in April, I know this is a heated issue.  I believe that individuals need to make informed personal decisions about whether or not to own a gun.  

According to research, “for every time a gun in the home was used in a self-defense or legally justifiable shooting, there were four unintentional shootings, seven criminal assaults or homicides, and 11 attempted or completed suicides.

To put gun deaths in perspective, over 30,000 people die from intentional (excluding accidental) gunshots each year in the United States.  Roughly 19,000 of these gun deaths are suicides. Four fifths of all suicides are male and just over half use a firearm.  According to the most recent US Census Bureau data, guns are used to commit over 11,000 murders per year.  That’s about two thirds of all murders. 

Having a gun in the house more than doubles the risk of suicide for ALL who live there, according to researchers David Hemenway and Matthew Miller at the Harvard School of Public Health who wrote "Guns and Suicide in the United States" published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Suicide and murder are often impulsive acts done in a moment of extreme despair or anger.  When overwhelming emotions intersect with such effective means, death happens.   We are not likely to change human nature any time soon.   Modern therapies have not made a dent in the statistics. 

But if an opportunistically suicidal person is thwarted in their attempt, most do NOT go on to choose another means.  The urge to die that took over in that terrible moment retreats, never to return with such compelling force.  I suspect the same is true for murders that are crimes of passion.

What does work to reduce the death rate is limiting access to quick and easy methods, according to the article “The Urge to End It All” by Scott Anderson.  The reason guns are singled out on the list of possible methods is their lethality.  They are easy to get, easy to use and cause the least- survivable injuries.  Since Australia enacted strict gun laws in 1996 in the wake of a mass shooting, suicides and murders have each declined approximately 60%. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/won ... australia/ 

Had my son not owned a gun, I believe he’d be alive today.   Human beings are fragile and fallible, and guns do not allow for such frailties.

On Translating Science into Practice

 

Dr. Lanny Berman "...it is my belief that the best of research must translate into policy."

by Lanny Berman, Ph.D., ABPP

The World Health Organization states on its website that “not all suicides can be prevented, but a majority can”, and specifies a number of measures that can be taken at community and national levels to reduce risk. Prominent among these measures is “Reducing access to the means of suicide.”

Few suicidologists and specialists in public health suicide prevention would dispute the evidence that means restriction efforts save lives (Mann et al, 2005). Moreover, few would dispute the evidence that, although method substitution does occur, only a relatively small proportion of individuals intend on using one method, but thwarted from access to that method, go on to die by suicide from an alternative method. In the United States, where suicides by firearm predominate, ecological evidence overwhelmingly supports a preventative approach to remove firearms from easy access, to safely secure firearms, to engage firearm locking mechanisms, etc. (Hemmenway, 2006). Numerous examples, worldwide, have demonstrated the effectiveness of bridge barriers in preventing suicidal jumps from these structures (Beautrais, 2007). IASP, in conjunction with the WHO and with funding from Syngenta, has produced promising results from pilot studies of locked pesticide storage boxes on farms in Sri Lanka immediately accessible paracetamol pills has demonstrated reduced deaths from intentional paracetamol poisoning (Hawton et al, 2001); and the coal gas story in the UK (Kreitman, 1976) is infamous in defining that reduced access to highly lethal methods of suicide is effective.

The National Military Family Bereavement Study is Recruiting Participants

While the number of soldiers who die on active duty status continues to climb, there is little we know about helping the loved ones left behind to cope with the grief and anguish of the grief journey, particularly those coping with a military death. A congressionally directed medical research study will look at how families cope with the death of active duty soldier to identify the unique factors of a military death and how that impacts the surviving families.

You are eligible for the study if:

*Your loved one died by any circumstance of death while on active duty status since September 11, 2001, in any branch of the US Military (Active, Guard, and Reserve Components of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard).

* You are the parent (adoptive, biological, custodial)/stepparent; spouse/ex-spouse/adult partner; minor/adult child; biological/step-sibling of the active duty soldier who died.

There are multiple phases of this study that one can participate in. The first phase is an online questionnaire and the second phase includes multiple family interviews over several years with at least two members of the family. To participate in the family interviews, you must complete the online questionnaire first. A series of focus groups will take place in various parts of the country and at events where enough participants can be grouped together by loss. Finally, a saliva DNA test will be administered to any participants interested in the biological aspects of grief.

The research is funded through the Center for the Study of Traumatic Death, Department of Psychiatry, Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Maryland. Community partners include the Tragedy Assistance Program (TAPS) for Survivors and other military-related support organizations.

If you or someone you know is interested in taking part in this study, please visit the web site, www.militarysurvivorstudy.org and submit an email asking for more information. Your email will be routed to a field researcher in the area of the country where you live.

Suicide and Las Vegas: The Grit Beneath the Glitter

Most people think of Las Vegas as a fun destination, a place to kick back with friends, eat world-class cuisine, enjoy yard-long margaritas, and amazing shows, and maybe take a turn at the slot machines or the dice. That's the Las Vegas that tourists are supposed to see.

But in the 2011 book, The Sordid Secrets of Las Vegas, authors Quentin Parker, Paula Munier, and Susan Reynolds unearth an interesting and disturbing fact. The suicide rates in Las Vegas are double those in the rest of the country (pp. 140-141).

The authors suggest three possible reasons for this trend.

First, the bread and butter of Las Vegas is gambling, so the city is a natural draw for anyone who has a gambling addiction. Gambling addicts may run into some amazing streaks of luck, but sooner or later, the house always wins. Some addicted gamblers feel that suicide is better than facing financial ruin and possible exposure of an embarrassing problem.

Second, sometimes people who are already suicidal go to Las Vegas for "one last hurrah." This is the equivalent of the person who has decided to complete suicide appearing more relaxed and happy to others in the days before his or her death. The problem has been faced, and the decision has been made. Why not enjoy one last wild vacation before closing the book for good?

Third, Las Vegas is a tourist town. When the economy tanked, fewer people had the money or the inclination to visit Sin City. This meant the risk of job loss for anyone working in the tourist industry. Some people who have lost their jobs--especially in a tough economy where another job may be hard to come by--become despondent and end their lives.

Whatever the reasons for the number of suicides, Las Vegas has a long way to go in reaching out to suicidal people as well as to those who have survived the loss of a loved one to suicide.

Female Veterans at Higher Risk for Suicide than Female Civilians

The military has known for years that male service members are at risk for suicide after tours of duty in Iraq or Afghanistan. Now it is clear that female members also face a heightened suicide risk.

According to the results of a recent study published in Women's Health Magazine, female veterans between the ages of 18 and 34 are more than three times more likely to complete suicide than women in that age group who are not veterans. (Male veterans are twice as likely to commit suicide as males who are not veterans.)

Also, although the active duty military population is only 15% female, women make more than 25% of the calls to the Veterans Crisis Line.

There aren't any definitive answers as to why female veterans face such a high suicide risk, but there many hypotheses. One is that women warriors seem to have a more difficult time integrating back into civilian life than men do. In fact, a female veteran's marriage is three times more likely to end in divorce than the marriage of a male veteran.

Another factor to consider is that not only do women suffer post-traumatic stress disorder related to the urban warfare they experience, many female veterans are also the victims of sexual harassment and assault, doubling the difficult emotional load they are already carrying.

For more information about how the Department of Veterans Affairs is addressing the issue of women's health, or if you are concerned about a female veteran, visit the Women Veterans Healthcare page.   

In the News: Researchers Work on Blood Tests for Depression

According to a study published in the April 17, 2012 issue of Translational Psychiatry, researchers are close to finding a blood test that could diagnose major depression in teenagers. The tests would also differentiate between different types of depression, so that treatment could be more closely tailored to the individual's needs.

Researchers are also hopeful that a physical test for depression will help people understand that depression is a medical condition, just like diabetes or high cholesterol, and reduce some of the stigma that still surrounds any kind of mental health problem.

Read the entire story on CBSNews.com.

Is Suicide 100 % Preventable? Probably not ...

by Ronnie Walker MS, LCPC

A few weeks ago, I noticed a young survivor who wrote:  “In school, we are told that suicide is 100% preventable, but when my dad killed himself, I was told that “nothing could have prevented it in any way.”  My heart feels heavy and guilty, even though it has been five years.” 

The assertion that “suicide is 100% preventable” has entered our culture and is appearing more frequently in the media. I first heard the phrase last November on National Suicide Survivors Day, when a recognized psychiatrist declared that “suicide is 100% preventable” in a CNN interview.

I don’t know the origin of this phrase, but it has been picked up repeatedly.  Today this statement appears all over the web.  Articles start with headlines like “A leading cause of death is 100 percent preventable.”   We’ve seen the statement on the official Veterans and Navy Sites.  The Navy Safe Harbor website for example, reads:  “Suicide is 100 percent preventable.  The military has multiple programs readily available to enhance service members’ ability to effectively manage stress.” 

Several state websites now post the message.  The Statewide Prevention Council of Alaska site reads:  “Suicide is a issue that reaches every corner of Alaska and it’s 100 percent preventable.”  Universities, high schools and community papers have followed suit on their websites, repeating the message.   The phrase has been copied into college and high school essays,  grant applications for prevention funds, and facebook pages.

Suicide Rates Up, Mental Health Services Down

According to a March 4, 2012 article published on PsyWeb.com, the number of suicides in the United States is on the rise. The year 2009 saw 36,909 official suicide deaths, a 2.4% increase from 2008. During 2009, 8.3 million adults struggled with suicidal thoughts and over a million actually made a suicide attempt.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) revealed that about 13% of the 2009 suicides could be traced back to economic issues such as job loss or overwhelming debt.

Although official statistics for more recent years have not been released, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline reported a 14% increase in the number of calls it received between 2010 and 2012.

These numbers come at a hard time for Americans, since cuts to federal and state budgets have defunded many mental health centers geared towards helping lower income clients and forced others to significantly cut back on the services they offer.   

In the News: Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS)

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has been successfully used to treat Parkinson's disease and other neurological disorders. Now researchers believe it may benefit people with treatment-resistant depression as well.

A study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry in January of 2012 followed ten people with major depressive disorder and seven people with bipolar disorder who received DBS. Of the 17 patients, 12 remained in the study for 24 months.

At the two year mark, 11 of those 12 people reported that they were experiencing either no depressive symptoms or very minor depressive symptoms. Just as significantly, none of the people who achieved remission experienced a relapse or reoccurrence of symptoms.

DBS is not a miracle cure--in fact, the Food and Drug Administration in the United States has not even approved it as a treatment for depression. Even if further research confirms that it is effective, its invasive nature will probably ensure that it remains a treatment of last resort. But for people who suffer from intractable depression, a last resort is better than no resort at all.

Read More about DBS

"Brain Electrodes Fix Depression Long Term" in Nature International Weekly Journal of Science

"Deep Brain Stimulation for Major Depression: Miracle Therapy or Just Another Treatment?" in Scientific American

 

In the News: Beloved Kansas City Meteorologist Don Harman Dies by Suicide

By Debra Stang

In Kansas City, the rumors began spreading on the morning of Wednesday, November 30, 2011, when popular WDAF morning meteorologist Don Harman was not on the air. Kansas City's Fox4News team remained grimly silent until the noon broadcast when they briefly confirmed that Harman had been found dead in his home the day before at the age of 42. On Thursday, more details emerged as the studio, with the blessing of Harman's family, revealed that the cause of death was suicide.