While suicide is often thought of as a rare if regrettable occurrence, statistics have shown in the past few years that the issue is actually one of the leading causes of death within the United States, and is the second most prominent killer of people aged fifteen to twenty four. An editorial recently published by a prominent psychology specialist discusses the need for helping at-risk people and their families understand that assistance is available, even in the most seemingly dire of circumstances. Through promoting suicide hot lines and creating greater awareness of therapy, the specialist argues, suicide may retreat from the front lines of mental and emotional difficulties in the years to come.

When suicide is connected with youths, it is often thought of in regards to teenagers and young adults, for whom the issue is among the top five leading causes of death in the United States. Younger children, especially those under ten, are typically not associated with suicide, yet attempts and successful acts are on record. A recently published in-depth look at suicide in this young age group explains that while parents may not think their children are capable of having thoughts and feelings leading to suicide, depression and other psychological issues can be a major factor in a child’s everyday experience, and taking care to look out for warning signs can potentially be life-saving.

Though hospitals are able to treat clients who have engaged in suicide or self-harm attempts with specific and effective treatment and care, such clients are often released from hospitals with little to no guidance on how to proceed towards a more mentally healthy road, including therapy referrals. The mental health group SANE is calling for better training and understanding of mental health resources among general practice physicians and emergency response staff, noting that these measures will likely help save scores of lives. Too often, says the group, clients who are treated in the hospital after a suicide attempt are not directed to a therapist or other mental health worker, despite the fact that a previous episode of suicidal behavior is one of the strongest indicators of high risk.

The group conducted a survey of mental health clients who had been hospitalized for a suicide attempt, and found that around thirty percent had not been referred to any sort of mental health program or treatment avenue, and about sixty percent did not receive any information about psychotherapy-based services. The survey, which involved nearly three hundred clients, also found that about eighty percent of participants did not have a crisis plan to work with should they feel similar suicidal feelings in the future.

In response to the survey and outcry, some in the general medical community have noted that motivating clients to return to see a general practice physician for care can be difficult, and that such services are “overwhelmed” by their case loads. Deferring follow-up treatment to outpatient clinics and community centers, along with making strong efforts to support and promote such options, have been suggested as viable routes for effective change.

Receiving psychotherapy, counseling, or other services following an attempt at suicide is widely held to be a positive if not vital part of the recovery process, yet a study based at Columbia University has found that less than half of adolescents with a recent suicidal episode had received such treatment within the past year. The study highlighted issues of inequality amongst demographic categories, noting that racial minorities tended to receive less treatment. The research also found that such disparities were less prominent in the use of school-based treatments, and concludes that offering expanded services in the academic environment may produce meaningful improvements in access to care.

Sleep has been identified as a major component of mental health many times, but some people neglect their basic needs for regular sleep nevertheless. One of the most at-risk groups for a harmful deficiency in sleep is adolescents, who are advised by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine to receive at least nine hours of sleep each night. In a survey that formed the basis for evidence in a study carried out at Colombia University, adolescents reported getting just under eight hours each night, though some reported receiving less than five hours.

The study found that decreased rates of nightly sleep directly corresponded with increased rates-–nearly double those of respondents who received optimal sleeping times–of mental health difficulties such as depression, as well as thoughts about suicide. In particular, those who received extremely low rates of sleep were considerably more likely to experience suicidal episodes. Collecting data on parental-set bedtimes for adolescents in grades seven through twelve throughout the United States, the study showed that those who complied with bedtimes set at 10pm or earlier were far more likely to receive an adequate amount of sleep each night, and subsequently experience lower rates of depression and associated mental health concerns.

While therapy and other forms of treatment have been shown to be effective for working through such concerns, the study suggests that simply through encouraging adolescents-–whose bodies and minds are often subject to stressful schedules, uncomfortable social situations, and physically demanding routines–to get more sleep each night, many mental health tragedies may be averted. The study’s authors note that further research should be performed to address shortcomings in self-reported data among participants as well as a lack of data on school schedules.

Though the United States Armed Forces have been experiencing considerable difficulty with rates of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and cases of suicide in recent years, some areas of the nation may be especially prone to these concerns. Recently, a study in Wisconsin found that while soldiers comprised just eight percent of the state population, they were responsible for twenty one percent of the state’s annual cases of suicide. Developing therapy and depression prevention programs in Wisconsin and around the country are likely to be met with a greater sense of importance as more troops are sent overseas into combat.

Adolescents and young adults often face difficulties in living up to the expectations of their parents and older peers, but in some societies, this pressure is significantly increased. In India’s quickly developing economy, pressure to do well in school is becoming the source of great social concern, as a growing number of students succumb to mental health issues surrounding stress and disappointment, and commit suicide. The climbing rates may inspire both academic and state officials to develop better programs for supporting troubled students and teaching families about positive encouragement.

Requirements for accrediting and licensure for the mental health professions is considerably strict in many parts of the world, but Australia is a country in which therapy and counseling are self-regulated industries. The lack of a central agency or set of standards to ensure quality of treatment has come under fire by many in the community, and the push for serious reforms has become stronger still today as a coroner’s report details the involvement of a self-help course in the eventual suicide of a woman in Sydney.

The incident, which occurred four years ago, was suspected by many as having a direct relationship to a course entitled “The Turning Point,” in which the victim participated over a four-day period prior to her death. The course was operated by a computer science professional with no formal licensing or qualifications in the field of mental health, and the company’s director was the possessor of a degree in business administration. Investigators in the case pointed to the use of childhood regressive therapy in the course, which is believed to have led to the victim’s erratic and childlike behavior expressed in the days and hours before her death. The victim placed a call to the company the night before committing suicide, and supporters of tighter industry regulation argue that without proper training or experience, the company did not recognize the move as a call for help, and failed to assist the victim in locating care.

As efforts to incorporate greater controls over the mental health industries in Australia continues, other areas with relaxed views on regulation may approach their laws with a fresh perspective after exploring the details of the case.

With rates of suicide, the development of post-traumatic stress disorder, and violent incidents involving mental health such as the recent shooting at Fort Hood, the military has been scrambling to address what is clearly becoming a major health concern among its personnel. Creating plans for early identification and prevention of mental health concerns has been cited as a predominant goal for the military, and establishing meaningful pathways to support for veterans and their families after active duty is also a priority. But little, if anything, has been proposed for addressing the suicides that do take place, nor caring for the families that survive suicide victims. Though it may not receive much attention from the press or from lawmakers, the government’s treatment of military personnel who kill themselves, as well as their treatment of surviving families, has come under fire recently as grieving parents wonder why they aren’t served with a presidential letter.

For well over a hundred years, those who perish in service to the United States are given certain honors upon their deaths, one of which is a presidential letter sent to the surviving family. While this tradition is still carried out today, families of military suicide victims report that they are not given such letters, an omission that many suspect may reflect the government’s disrespect for suicide and for mental health issues at large. Some observers note that the military’s attempt to erase the stigmas surrounding mental health concerns are not aided by the practice of exempting these surviving families from full presidential honors, and may well discourage soldiers and other servicemen and women from seeking help.

As details about the treatment of these families continue to surface and capture the public’s attention, advocates hope that the government will rise above the limitations of its current policies to express its support for all of those who fall while serving the country.

There are many measures by which the state of general mental health in the US can be understood. One of the most powerful, perhaps, is the rate of calls to suicide crisis centers, which have dramatically increased over the past year, reaching nearly sixty thousand calls per month. An estimated twenty to thirty percent of these calls, reports SAMHSA, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, are directly linked to the consequences of the current economic crisis. With approximately eight people taking their lives each day in the country, calls for a greater attention to mental health in proposed medical bills and other planned legislation are becoming markedly louder.

There are scores of reasons why a given individual might think about or consider suicide, and many of them are deeply personal. But sometimes, the cause of such thoughts and overwhelming feelings may have a lot to do with the local environment, an issue which mental health professionals, public health workers, and governments are especially concerned about addressing. Recently, an extensive survey was carried out in parts of China which described a strong link between various uses and storage methods of common pesticides and incidences of suicidal thoughts. The survey was conducted following rising concerns over national suicide rates and outcry over the use of organophosphates, pesticides which have been banned in most Western countries but which are still employed in many parts of the world.

The survey examined the mental health and suicidal ideas primarily in farmers and their families living in rural areas. With large amounts of the organophosphate pesticides used to grow various crops, those living in such areas are easily able to absorb low dosages through the lungs and skin. Farmers and others who live in rural environments are exposed to the pesticides through the consumption of contaminated crops, and may also receive unhealthy dosages by storing the pesticides in unsafe ways or in excessive amounts. Over time, this exposure may lead to mental health issues, a side effect which has resulted in the discontinuation of organophosphates in the west.

Until the completion of this survey, however, a direct link between chronic exposure to the pesticides and suicidal thoughts had not been established, making the research an important step in the quest to phase out the use of organophosphates worldwide. It is hoped that less harmful pesticides and safer storage methods will be introduced to the Chinese countryside to help lower rates suicide and improve quality of life.

The prevalence of online interactions and communications means that many young people are experiencing a greater portion of their social lives over the internet, a trend which researchers from the University of Victoria posit may be of use to suicide and violence prevention efforts. The researchers have developed a keyword-parsing model which identifies phrases and words associated with risky behaviors, and offers those social networking bloggers identified the option to respond to the question of how they’re doing. A response that they’re not doing well and need help leads them to a site containing appropriate information and resourceful links, in an effort to prevent harmful actions.

Commonly-held ideas about the superiority of mental health and personal well-being in many European countries are often backed up by statistics about the average workweek in such countries, and among the nations with the most coveted working conditions, France is typically vetted as the best. With shorter, thirty five hour weeks, ample time for lunch breaks, and generous vacation packages, French jobs are often considered to be especially luxurious and beneficial for the avoidance of stress and other taxes on mental health. A recent series of suicide incidents, both attempted and successful, at a major French organization, however, has brought the national working conditions into question, under a particularly bright media spotlight.

France Telecom, a major employer, has recently been hit with thirty eight suicides–-twenty four of which have been successful–within the past twenty months. A remarkably high number of attempts and successful suicides, the figures have created an outrage amongst the public as well as throughout the company itself, where workers complain that a new modernization and globalization scheme has created excessive stress and disappointment among employees. Some of those who ended their lives and their careers-–or attempted to do so–at the company left notes or otherwise described unacceptable management and excessive criticism. Throughout the country, in fact, a push towards integrating traditional French business values and practices with those of the United States and other leading economies has suggested that workers are enjoying their famously relaxed conditions less.

As occupational and mental health experts alike study the case of France Telecom in an effort to understand the recent incidents, the suggestion that rapid globalization and the introduction of high-stress, poorly managed environments may lead to untenable mental health conditions is not likely to be ignored.

Suicide is a tragic even that many mental health professionals have taken as central to their careers and fields of study. Hoping to decrease the rates of suicide throughout the population and to develop and distribute effective and meaningful care for those in pain, professionals who work with suicide as a subject of study are typically on the lookout for factors that play a role in thoughts and feelings about suicide, attempts, and successful terminations. One study concentrating on suicide recently performed at the University of Lund in Sweden examined how age and past behaviors relating to suicide impact successful attempts. With a broad participant group collected from hospital records from over thirteen years, the researchers set to work to question how multiple suicide attempts, along with their severity, might interact with age in the determination of likelihood that a given subject would commit suicide.

The study found that in general, the likelihood of suicide decreased with age, however both sexes were correlated with certain behaviors that indicated an increased risk as they became older. Specifically, women who had participated in a large number of suicide attempts were significantly more likely to successfully commit suicide as they aged, and men who were associated with severe attempts were indicated for a greater occurrence of completed suicide. The risk factors of repetition and severity were not seen in equal measures between men and women.

The study is bound to help mental health professionals identify situations in which clients are at a higher degree of risk for suicide, and may prompt more accurate and effective monitoring measures in mental health facilities and other venues for specialized care. By furthering the cause of suicide prevention, the researchers have added to the growing set of skills that mental health professionals can use to help people live well, even after a suicidal episode.

A large percentage of those who commit suicide each year do so while experiencing the effects of alcohol dependence, a mental health and behavioral concern which can engender great feelings of powerlessness and have a negative impact on many areas of life. Recently, a study conducted by the Prevention Research Center and Texas A & M University has sought to investigate any links between the density of bars and other alcohol “outlets” and suicide rates. While there was some correlation between these factors, researchers found that rural areas had higher rates of alcohol-related suicide. The study may prove useful in efforts to combat alcohol dependence and suicide.

Those with concerns over the risks of suicide and suicidal thoughts and behaviors among young people who are given anti-depressant medications may be alarmed at recent news that the EMEA, or European Medicines Agency, has given its stamp of approval to prescriptions of Prozac for children eight years of age and older. The approval comes after the the British government asked Prozac’s manufacturer, Eli Lilly, to apply for the approval from the EMEA. Despite acknowledgment that some children will benefit from the move, opponents worry that long waiting lists for psychotherapy and a tendency to over-prescribe medications may result in negative consequences.

Though suicide can be devastating to friends and loved ones when it occurs, a brief look at statistics shows that around thirty two thousand people commit suicide in the United States each year –a number that, while reflecting tragic events, seems fairly small next to the country’s large population. Yet a recently published government survey shows that up to eight million Americans seriously consider suicide each year, a figure that reflects a growing need to offer help hotlines and more readily available mental health care to those in distress. The survey was based on responses from more than forty six thousand people, and found that young people are significantly more likely to consider suicide than those entering their senior years, information which may further help the establishment of greater national suicide prevention services.

Issues concerning rapidly rising rates of the development and consequences of PTSD, or post traumatic stress disorder, among active duty soldiers and those returning home have received ample attention in the news recently. With statistics that point to larger numbers of soldier suicide than in-combat casualties in some instances, the need for developing greater measures to prevent mental health decline and address the issues as they arise in military personnel is clear. In response, the military has been pouring a great deal of funding and effort into various attempts at approaching the issue, but at least one agency, the Veterans Administration in Boston, has found great initial difficulties due to an apparent lack of interest or willing participation among soldiers.

While it is to be expected that a certain percentage of people will not have any wish to participate in initial trials and programs, the considerably low rates –one program has secured thirteen participants out of a needed 135– suggest that there is strong prejudice against the initiatives. Some point to the stigma of mental health concerns within the military as likely being responsible for the low response rates. Others suggest that the very symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder and other issues support the idea that nothing can help, making participation seem pointless.

The precise reasons for the lack of interest are bound to become clearer as the administration and other agencies continue their efforts to secure a greater understanding of the issues veterans face both during wartime and upon their return home. In the meantime, it is hoped that more soldiers will make the choice to become a part of the solution for currently deployed troops and those of the future.

Nearly everyone can recall an experience –or a handful of them– with nightmares, memories of crawling into their parents’ bed or strolling down the hall for a refreshing glass of water after a particularly harrowing dream being one of the elements that serves to unite childhoods across the country and around the world. Nightmares don’t subside for plenty of people, however, and some experience more disturbing dreams than others. For some people, particularly those who are suffering from concerns in their personal, social, and professional lives, nightmares can be debilitating. Recently, this issue has made it to the forefront of the mental health industry for its implication in the risk of suicide.

Though other symptoms such as depression are more commonly associated with suicide, the prevalence of nightmares in suicidal thoughts and behaviors has been a growing subject of interest for mental health professionals. While most people experience occasional bad dreams, chronic sufferers of nightmares may be internalizing their pain or engaging in other thoughts or activities that don’t serve their overall well-being. A recent study led by a psychology doctoral candidate at Florida State University has investigated the link between nightmares and suicide, and has found that the unpleasant and terrifying dreams are significantly and independently associated with suicidal symptoms.

The research calls for greater development of therapies involving the acquisition of quality, relaxing sleep, and points out that clients can overcome nightmares and other issues associated with rest to achieve a better quality of life while awake. The study, which is likely to spawn new inquiries into the links between sleep, mood, and behavior, was presented at the Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.

Though Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, has been associated with warfare and military personnel for many decades, recent years have shown that United States soldiers return from active duty overseas with worryingly high rates of the mental health concern as well as other symptoms. Rising rates of soldier suicide, which were reported at just under 130 between the beginning of the year and July (a higher number of fatalities than were reported during actual combat), along with other complications have led the military to begin soliciting ideas for mental health programs and diagnostic devices to aid in the early detection and, hopefully, prevention of the disorder.