Suicide is on the rise. Here’s what to do if you think someone is considering it

Dr. Cesar Figuera has treated suicidal people for 35 years, and he has some good news for anyone struggling with those kinds of thoughts.

Figuera, a psychiatrist at Coliseum Medical Centers in Macon, said evolution has built the will to live into everyone. All people have to do is reach out for help and give treatment a chance, Figuera said.

“Suicide is very unnatural,” he said. “We are biologically wired to survive. We are resilient as a species. When someone actually starts thinking, ‘I need to end my life,’ that goes against everything biological we have been told to do. In every patient there’s a voice inside saying, ‘You’ve got to survive.’ ”

While suicides have been steadily rising nationwide in recent years, the rate has fluctuated in Middle Georgia counties but is also on an upward trend.

At the request of The Telegraph, the North Central Health District of the Georgia Department of Public Health compiled suicide statistics for seven Middle Georgia counties over the past 10 years. Those are Bibb, Crawford, Houston, Jones, Monroe, Peach and Twiggs counties.

The total suicides among all of those in 2007 was 50, with 63 recorded in 2017, a 26-percent increase. But the total has gone up and down throughout that decade both across the region and in each county.

Heather Prunty is a licensed counselor in Warner Robins who is a member of the Suicide Prevention Coalition of Middle Georgia. She has treated many people struggling with suicidal thoughts or who have attempted suicide, as well as people who have lost loved ones to suicide.

“The biggest question that they all have is, ‘Why?” Prunty said. “I don’t have an answer for those whys. They don’t even have an answer. I will say for those that have attempted and didn’t die from suicide, the whys that they have for themselves, if you ask them, they can’t answer. It’s just a strong urge and a strong feeling to just be done.”

Nationwide the suicide rate has been rising since 1999, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control released in June. In 2016, the latest year examined in the report, there were 44,965 suicides compared to 29,199 in 1999. The number of suicides in 2016 exceeded the number of traffic fatalities — 40,200 — and far exceeded the number of homicides, 17,250. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death and is one of only three causes on the rise.

Figueroa, chief of staff for the Coliseum Center for Behavioral Health, said there are a variety of reasons people consider suicide.

“Stress is a major issue,” he said. “People that think about suicide, they see themselves in a corner. They feel like they are trapped, that sense of being completely hopeless and helpless. That’s a common thing.”

Star Golden is a licensed counselor in Warner Robins who is a member of a suicide crisis team that responds when someone has threatened suicide. She is working to organize a suicide prevention event for the community later this year.

She knows of at least two teenagers who have killed themselves in Warner Robins this year.

“It blows my mind that a child wants to die,” she said. “It bothers me that a child is in that much pain.”

Asked what she would tell people who are considering suicide, Golden responded: “Your life matters. It may not seem like it matters. It may not seem like anyone cares, but your life matters. You are here for a purpose, and there are people who can help you find your purpose, but you’ve to get help.”

Among common signs of people who may be at risk of suicide are social withdrawal and loss of interest in things that the person once cared about. But often, mental health experts said, there are no signs.

Figueroa said if you suspect a loved one may be having suicidal thoughts, you don’t have to ask the question directly. He said a good start might be just asking the person if something is wrong and what could be done to help. If a person is considered a high risk of suicide, he or she should not be left alone and help should be sought immediately.

Nationwide,the suicide rate, based on the number of suicides per 100,000 people, rose 25 percent since 1999, according to the CDC report. It was up 16 percent in Georgia.

About 75 percent of those who take their own lives are men, while 83 percent are white.

Guns are the most likely method used, accounting for about half of suicides, while relationship issues are the most likely cause, accounting for about 42 percent. Substance abuse accounted for about a third, while a temporary crisis also accounted for about a third.

Anyone struggling with thoughts of suicide can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 800-273-8255 or visit suicidepreventionlifeline.org.

Middle Georgia suicides by the numbers

• 72 - Number of suicides in 2016 in a region that included Bibb and surrounding counties. It was the highest in the past decade.
• 36 - Number of suicides in the region in 2012, the lowest in the past decade.
• 31 - Number of suicides in Houston County in 2014, the highest in a single county in the region in the past decade.
• 0 - Suicides in Twiggs County in four years during the past decade. Crawford was the only other county with zero suicides in a year, which happened three times.
• 13.2 - Suicides per 100,000 population in the region over the past decade. The suicide rate for Georgia over the same period was 11.8.

Source: North Central Health District