Shared Links (weekly) Nov. 24, 2024
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Sharing – Understanding The Rise In Suicide Rates Since The Nineties: Factors And Prevention
Unspoken in her article but implied by the risk associated with loneliness, we’d also do well to create more community. What I think takes many of these risk factors from challenging to overwhelming is when we are left to deal with them alone. We might see these trends reverse when we have the proper support and mental health resources, but we’re not there yet. Too many people are alone.
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Sharing – Most young people who die by suicide in the US do not have previous mental health diagnoses, study suggests
I think there are two things that stood out to me about this research.
Young people who need help aren’t getting it. Part of the reason why there is no diagnosis is that many of these young people are suffering in silence. They are vulnerable for a number of reasons but we are not taking the steps to identify the issues and get them help. That’s on all of us. It appears to be a larger issue with minority kids, males, and other groups who historically have been underserved my mental health resources.
Guns are so effective at killing that kids with access to guns only need to consider it one time. It’s hard to get to a diagnosis when the method works so often. Only 33% of those lost to suicide by gun had a diagnosis, compared to 40% overall. -
Sharing – How Modern Culture Drowns Out Psychology’s Important Message
I suspect that he is on to something. It’s hard to create a community of people caring for one another when our workplaces demand constant availability, and our culture rewards people who are singularly focused on career or commercial success. This reminds me of something I wrote about early risers and their productivity a few years ago. I thought it was weird that in a profile of these “very successful” men, every one of them talked about getting up early to start working, planning out their days, sending emails to their team so they’d be waiting for them when they got to the office, etc.
What was missing from every single person interviewed in the story? There was no mention of a family. None of these men talked about having breakfast with a spouse, taking their kids to school, etc. None of them mentioned having friends. Their entire goal was to get a head start on work so they could get ahead. And here we were, writing glowing profiles and encouraging everyone to live like this.
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Sharing – New Research from Thorn: Financial Sextortion on the Rise, Targeting Teen Boys
The use of AI is a new twist. It’s not enough to tell young boys not to send explicit selfies; they also need to understand that someone may use AI to create an explicit image of them regardless. Education must include societal-wide awareness that an image may not be what it appears to be. That has to be part of this. The extortionist’s main weapon is the shame of having explicit photos of their victim out among their friends and family. Shame is powerful. When we live in a world where anyone with an internet connection and a photo of your face can turn that into an explicit image of you, we need to eliminate the shame. There’s no shame to be had for someone else’s bad actions.
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An Example of Suicide Prevention Being About Many Different Things
For some people dealing with anxiety and depression, more exercise or time in nature might help. For a cross-country athlete, I doubt that is what they are lacking. The comments from the researchers in the article above made it clear to me that there are a multitude of reasons why the rate among student-athletes has been getting higher. That means the solutions are likely to include various options as well.
That’s not a bad thing. It just means we have to find what works best for us individually.
As I’ve repeatedly said, find what works for you and stick with it. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise or convince you to stop doing something that works for you. Don’t give up if what your friend or an online influencer does that works for them doesn’t work for you. Every one of these lives is worth the effort to find what will make them want to stay. That includes you.
