The suicide rate in America is so alarming that it often makes headline news. We all need to be concerned about halting this self-destructive trend. How? By using the preventive tools we have as Catholics living the faith.
A discussion of suicide needs to include both risk factors and protective factors. The risk factors include despair, stress, depression, mental illness, and others. A complete list can be found on the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s website at https://afsp.org/
These risk factors are common to all humans, so suicide can happen in any family, regardless of class, race, age or any other divisions. There is no discrimination, but certain groups are more at risk than others.
Who and How Many
When discussing suicide, it is important to note the differences in numbers between actual suicides and attempts at suicide. Among adults, women attempt suicide almost two times more often than men, but men succeed at suicide three times or more often than women.
The major reason for this difference is that men tend to use guns and other violent weapons that are more certain and lethal than the pills women generally use. You can pump a stomach and administer counter medications if there is an overdose, but you can’t repair a bullet through the brain.
By whatever means, suicide is currently the 12th leading cause of death in the United States (down from 10th just two years ago). In 2020 that translated into 45,979 deaths from 1.2M suicide attempts. That’s a lot of people in distress who need good news.
The most affected age groups were young adults and seniors. In fact, the highest rate of suicides occurred among those 85 or older. (In a previous blog, I discussed the need for palliative care to reduce the pressures inflicted on older people to die.) https://www.patheos.com/blogs/musingsfromthepew/2022/02/palliative-care-the-way-to-die/
Caring Makes a Difference
There were fears that the pandemic would cause a big increase in suicides because of financial stresses, health concerns and the isolation and separation from loved ones. Instead, the suicide rate in the US decreased by 3% in in each of the last two years.
Do we dare to conclude that this decrease, despite the increased risk factors brought on by the pandemic, was the result of a heightened alertness to each other’s mental health in a time of great strain? Was there actually a greater effort to care for each other?
The protective factors must have been put into play more than in the average year. These factors are support systems such as good health care, social networks, loving families, good coping skills and faith.
Catholics Practicing Protective Factors
Two years ago, Laura Lewis wrote an article on Catholics and suicide for Catholic Digest. In it, she explains how spirituality and religion can be major deterrents to suicide:
“Research has shown that people with religious affiliation report higher levels of social support, religious well-being, and reasons for living. Engaging in spiritual beliefs and practices offers connection, meaning, and purpose, all of which contribute to feeling more hopeful and having a more satisfying life.
“When we believe that we can cope, that people truly care about us, and that we have significant reasons to be alive, we can more easily choose life. It turns out that knowing Christ matters, which reminds us that we should share the love of Christ with everyone, especially those who may be at risk for ending their own live.” https://www.catholicdigest.com/amp/family/relationships/a-catholic-response-to-suicide/
So, “It turns out that knowing Christ matters.” What a call for evangelization! Not the kind that means becoming a missionary, but the kind that means simply exemplifying the faith with love and offering it as a lifeline to others.
Evangelization is therefore not an imposition of your faith but a way to share good news that shows you care and offers support. As Lewis concluded:
“By all means, let’s bring the love of Christ to people who are in despair. . . as Catholics who believe in the power of community, prayer, and the working of grace, we are greatly positioned to reach out to anyone who sits next to us in the pew.”
Or anyone in our circle of contacts. If we know that faith gives us strength and hope, aren’t we as Catholics, as Christians, obligated to offer it to others as well, especially if it means saving a life?
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