Thursday, January 12, 2017

Suicide Awareness

On January 12, we had two people, Madeline and Matt, come in to talk to us about the importance of: 

  • suicide awareness
  • mental illnesses
  • anxiety
  • depression
  • different kinds of treatments
Mental disorder: something that affects a person's thinking, emotional state, and behavior
Distributes the person's ability to:
  • work or attend school
  • carry out daily activities
  • engage in satisfying relationships
How to diagnose:
  • doctors go inside of a book to classify mental disorders
Anxiety: a persistent or severe fear or worry that is difficult to manage and interferes with a person's quality of life
it's also: a normal reaction to stress and even beneficial at times


Symptoms:

- must be present for 6+ months; there are different types

Emotional:
  • feeling of apprehension or dread
  • trouble concentrating
  • anticipating the worst
  • irritability
  • restlessness
  • mind blank
  • watching for signs of danger; always on edge
Physical:
  • pounding heart rate
  • sweating
  • shortness of breath
  • muscle tension
  • fatigue
  • insomnia
  • dizziness 
When is it a problem?
  • when the fear or worry is constant/overwhelming
  • interferes with your relationships and activities
Types of Anxiety:
  • generalized
  • social
  • specific phobias
  • panic disorder
  • OCD
  • PTSD
Causes?
  • biological reasons
- genetics, brain chemistry etc
  • life circumstances
- significant losses
- divorce
- stressful situations
- high expectations put on you
- unresolved family conflict 
  • environmental 
- abuse
- trauma
- high stress
- violence

Facts:
  • 32% of teens will experience anxiety and 8.3% of those have severe impairment 
  • average age of onset is 6 years old 
Depression: depressed mood or loss of interest or pleasure in daily activities for two or more weeks

Symptoms:
  • depressed mood or irritable most of the day
  • decreased interest/pleasure
  • significant weight change 
  • change in sleep: insomnia or hypersomnia 
  • fatigue or loss of energy
  • guilt/worthlessness
  • difficult to concentrate
  • suicidal 
Sadness and Depression are DIFFERENT

Sadness:
  • feeling bad about something in particular
  • when we have adjusted, sadness goes away
Depression: 
  • affects thinking, emotions, perceptions etc
Causes? 
  • hereditary
- having a family member with depression can increase risk
  • brain chemistry
- imbalance of certain chemicals in the brain 
  • environment
- surroundings
- life experiences
  • stress
  • medications
  • alcohol/drugs
Without treatment, symptoms can get worse and other problems can occur such as:
  • problems at school
  • running away
  • social isolation
  • low self esteem
  • reckless behavior
  • violence
  • self harm behaviors
  • drug/alcohol abuse 

Facts:
  • 20% of teens will experience depression before adulthood
  • teens are 12 times more likely to commit suicide if they have depression
  • teenage girls report suffering from depression more often than boys
  • teenage boys are less likely to seek help or recognizing it 
Suicide: the intent to kill oneself 
  • second leading cause of death for 10-24 year old's
  • people who are suicidal are individuals who do not see a way out
  • those who die from suicide are frequently undiagnosed, untreated or under-treated 
Warning Signs!!!
  • threats to kill oneself
  • current talk of suicide: can be direct or indirect
  • making a plan for suicide
  • strong wish to die/preoccupied with death
  • anxious and depressed, not sleeping
  • abusing substances
Behavioral:
  • previous attempt
  • gun/stocking pills
  • depression
  • putting personal affairs in order
  • giving away prized possessions
Situational: 
  • expelled from school/fired from job
  • family problems
  • loss of any major relationship
  • death of someone close
  • diagnoses of a serious or terminal illness
  • financial problems
  • victim of assault/bullying
HOW CAN YOU HELP?

Question...a person about suicide
Persuade...the person to get help
Refer...the person to get appropriate resources

if you call the police, you can request for MST: these are mental health clinicians that will come with police officers

CALL 911 WHEN:
  • has a weapon
  • expresses immediate intent to harm self or others
  • tells you that they have overdosed on pills or other drugs
  • posts on social media threatening suicide 

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