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Study: Suicide query won't plant the
idea
Asking teenagers about suicide won't make them more
likely to contemplate it, as some parents and school officials fear, a
study suggests. In fact, the study found that simply asking troubled
students about any suicidal impulses appears to ease their distress and
might make some of them less likely to try killing themselves.
The results confirm what many mental health experts already believe and
should alleviate fears among some parents and schools that just
mentioning suicide might plant the idea in teens' minds, said study
author Madelyn Gould, a researcher at Columbia University and New York
Psychiatric Institute.
National data suggest that each year more than 3
million youngsters ages 15 to 19 think seriously about committing
suicide. About 1.7 million try it, with more than half of the attempts
requiring medical attention; and about 1,600 succeed.
“Without asking a kid directly, it's sometimes hard to pick up,” Gould
said.
Her study involved 2,342 students at six suburban New York high schools
who answered two mental health questionnaires two days apart. Half the
students — the experimental group — also received about 20
suicide-related questions on both surveys. The questions included
whether they had considered suicide and whether they thought it would be
better if they were dead. The other half got suicide-related questions
only on the second survey.
The groups' scores on emotional distress measures were similar before
and after the first survey. And roughly 4 percent in both groups said
they had had suicidal ideas since the first survey.
Among teens with previous suicide attempts, the
experimental group had slightly fewer suicidal ideas than the comparison
group after the first survey. Among depressed teens, the experimental
group had slightly less emotional distress than the comparison group
after the first survey.
Those results bolster the idea that asking troubled teens about suicide
gives them a chance to “unburden themselves,” while not asking may
signal “that you don't care,” said Lenny Berman, executive director of
the American Association of Suicidology.
The study appears in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical
Association.
The notion that asking teens about suicide might be harmful stems from
“the centuries-long history of suicide being stigmatized” as something
to be avoided, Berman said. “It comes from people who are anxious about
even using the word.”
Hundreds of U.S. schools have used suicide screening, “but there is a
lot of resistance,” Gould said. She said some school officials are
worried about being blamed if students harm themselves after taking a
survey.
Michael Carr, spokesman for the National Association of Secondary School
Principals, said the group generally supports suicide screening in
schools, particularly if professionals are brought in to conduct the
surveys.
“Too often, the resources aren't there,” he said.
Dr. David Fassler, a Burlington, Vt., child psychiatrist, said that when
it comes to teen suicide, “we need to do a better job of identifying
these kids as early as possible.”
Signs that a teenager might be contemplating
suicide:
- Talking or writing about suicide.
- Extreme irritability.
- A major change in sleeping patterns.
- A decline in academic performance.
- Abandoning once-favored activities.
- Avoiding friends.
- Giving away favored possessions.
Lindsey Tanner
5 April 2005
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/breaking_news/11318755.htm
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