Did you know Arizona is ranked third in the nation for teen suicide?  We are first in the nation when it comes to teen suicide by firearms! Recently there has been an upswing in news stories regarding bullying, intolerance and cruelty linked to teen suicides. The statistics are shocking…….. Our kids are important and we need to do what we can to stop the trend.

Undiagnosed depression is the number one cause of suicide, yet few people know what the symtoms are and even fewer seek treatment.  Each year nearly 26,400 teens in Arizona attempt suicide…….and that number reflects only the attempts that end up in an emergency rooms and/or require treatment by a professional! Many times the family is able to do something to treat the effects of the attempt (induce vomiting, CPR, etc.) without anyone outside the home ever being notified.

Education and awareness is crucial and O.P.T.I.O.N.S. (Offering Parents and Teens Information on Needless Suicide) is a free depression education and suicide prevention program offered to Arizona high schools by Mental Health America of Arizona. The successful educational program has been operating in the Phoenix area for several years and it is now available in Southern Arizona. When evaluated, 85%  of the students said the program provided helpful information on clinical depression and were able to identify at least 5 of the symptoms, and 90% felt that schools need a program like this.

Mental Health America of Arizona (MHAAZ) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization providing leadership to address the full range of mental health, illness and wellness issues in Arizona. We are dedicated to improving care, treatment and recovery for people with all types of mental illness through support services, education and advocacy.

For more information or to schedule presentations in your child’s school, please contact Susan Moreno at:  smoreno@mhaarizona.org

Recent articles on teen depression and suicide:

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/childrens-health/articles/2010/10/04/adhd-depression-and-suicide-how-parents-can-keep-children-safe.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-harold-koplewicz/gay-teen-suicide_b_760093.html

Talking about mental illness in one’s family has always been difficult.  The issues surrounding mental illness continue to be emotional and sometimes controversial.  Is that why Governor Brewer has abondoned her once passionate advocacy for people with mental illness?

According to recent press releases, Brewer’s involvement in state politics started with her activism pushing better treatment and care for our state’s seriously mentally ill population.  Her son is diagnosed with a serious mental illness and has spent time in-patient at the Arizona State Mental Hospital.  As a Mom with a son who had a serious mental illness, I certainly can understand her motivation to try and make a difference.  Stigma continues to be pervasive and some still believe it’s the Mother’s fault when a mental illness presents itself.  Character flaws, laziness, and violent behavior automatically get labeled as mental illnesses when medical science knows that these illnesses are actual biological brain disorders that are treatable.  With proper medical treatment and support people have and do live in recovery.

Given all the positive news about the potential for recovery, why in the world has Govenor Brewer decided to not only distance herself from the issues, but supported drastic slashes to budgets that assist people with mental illness?  I understand that we need to cut our spending, but why cut spending for our state’s most vulnerable?  In the long run, as Gov. Brewer knows, we will end up spending more for emergency room visits, hospitalizations and incarcerations for ignored people living with a treatable mental illness.  With all the publicity and nation wide visability she has created over the last several months, it seems a shame to me that she hasn’t used the opportunity to advance anti-stigma and the value of  proper treatment to some of our states most vulnerable…….including her son.  Is the illegal immigraton bandwagon the only issue she can focus on now?

I was reminded recently about what can happen to a person’s support system when he/she  is dealing with a mental health crisis.  When a loved one ends up in the hospital due to a heart attack or stroke or some other sort of physical catastrophe, friends and family circle around the affected family offering to pray and often times bringing over food and groceries to help with the daily stresses caused by the trauma.  The patient is often showered with attention, cards and flowers.

But when a person suffers from a psychotic break in the earlier stages of serious mental illness and needs to be hospitalized or even when a person who has been living successfully in mental health recovery and experiences a set back, the support system vanishes and the person can be left to climb out of the hole on their own.  No cards and flowers are sent.  No help with day to day chores  is offered.  Rarely are there concerned phone calls asking how the family is holding up.

Why is that?  Is it because mental illness is so frightening to some people that they don’t want to discuss it?  Is it because they still think mental illness and/or a mental health crisis is not as devastating as a chronic physical illness or physical health crisis?

When my son was diagnosed with schizophrenia, many of my “friends” seem to disappear.  While my daughter and I were dealing with the most intense period of our lives, many seemed to look the other way.  As a parent I experienced unbearable grief and pain.  Gone was the brilliant young man who had plans of attending Harvard.  Left in his place was a person that had delusional thoughts that kept him incapable of caring for himself.  His first hospitalization was a rude awakening for all of us.  Psychiatric care at the hospital was not effective and when he was discharged after a few weeks the only advise I got was to “buy him some earphones so he could listen to music and drown out the voices.”  He was literally drooling from being over-medicated and started experiencing tremors that continually ebbed and flowed over the next years.

Fortunately, after several weeks a medication “cocktail” was created to give him some balance and give us some optimism that he would get better.

He did get better and although he never went to Harvard, he began a new life as a forever changed young man.  His old friends never came back around……perhaps they were too scared, and all of my support system was there again for me.  Unfortunately my son died by suicide five years later.  My friends and family were there for us then and continue to lovingly support us today.

The moral of this blog?  When someone with a psychiatric illness needs to be  hospitalized, they need your care and support the same as they would if they had pneumonia or were injured in an accident.  Trauma is trauma, whether it be mental or physical and loving care and support are essential in the healing process.