New U.S. Prevention Guide Addresses Suicide May 8, 2001
News Summary
With suicide now the eighth-leading cause of death in the United States, the U.S. Surgeon General has published the first national suicide-prevention guide, the Associated Press reported May 2.The guide recommends implementing additional suicide-prevention programs in schools, colleges, workplaces and jails; educating doctors and nurses to spot warning signs in their patients and to ask at-risk patients about the presence of firearms, drugs and other lethal weapons in their homes; urging broadcasters to air public-service ads; and encouraging religious groups to help remove the stigma of talking about suicide.
"Suicide exacts an enormous toll from the American people," said Surgeon General David Satcher, who noted that 30,000 people a year kill themselves.
The prevention guide is the result of a 1998 national suicide-prevention conference, in which experts debated 80 recommendations.
"America is not yet fully facing the mental-health needs of its citizens," said Michael M. Faenza, president of the National Mental Health Association. "In the majority of cases, suicide is the most-tragic result from common and treatable mental illness."
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