Every year since 2011 the American Association of Suicidology, has sponsored the National Suicide Prevention Week to bring the facts of attempted suicide to light. While the true numbers are really unknown, it is thought that there are close to 2 million attempted suicides within the United States every single year with over 30,000 of those attempts leading to death.

The National Suicide Prevention Week or NSPW, is being observed this September 5th through the 11th and coincides with the World suicide Prevention Day, which is September 10th.

Suicide is all around us and if you only take a little time to look you will clearly see how prevalent it really is. Talk to friends, family or even your doctor. Find out if they know anyone who has attempted suicide. Once you look closer you will see a sadly prevalent pattern of attempted suicide and death all around you.

Potential Suicide Victims are Asking for your Help

Suicide Awareness and the NSPW

Everyone should be aware of contributing factors that often lead to an attempted Suicide, they are all around us. Most suicide attempts are preceded with subtle cries for help. These cries for help can be clear if you can recognize them for what they are. Many people, after the fact, can look back and clearly see the signs that were given. Below are some of the more common suicidal signs and issues that may cause them. These common everyday signs of a problem and stresses kill someone every day and while just a thought for many, the weight and pain of any of the following can be deadly for others.

Signs of a problem

• Negative talk, being a burden, mentioning killing themselves
• Looking for a means to hurt themselves
• Not eating, significant weight loss or gain
• Wild mood swings, angry, loss of participation, irritably
• isolation, withdrawal, shutting oneself off
• crying, yelling, giving away favorite or meaningful things
• Sleeping too much or not being able to sleep

Potential triggers or stress factors

• Drugs, alcohol or any substance abuse
• Depression and anxiety
• Divorce, unhappy marriage
• Bankruptcy, money issues
• Mental illness
• Medical issues
• Injury or loss of physical capacity
• Being overweight or underweight
• Speech impediments, not feeling normal
• Teenager, just being a teenager is a top suicidal factor
• School issues, not fitting in, isolation
• Bullying including cyber bullying
• Children with Parents divorcing
• Pregnancy
• Death of a family member or close friend
• Military issues, both veterans and active duty
• Policemen and women and all the pressure they feel
• Job loss
• TBI (brain injuries) including concussion
• LGTB (lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual) community pressures

While the above list of signs and triggers are by no means an exhaustive list you can begin to see that the pressures of life are all around us. When you put one or two of these situations together with someone who does not have a strong support base or no support base at all, deadly results are possible.

Besides the Suicide prevention week information I wanted to make you aware of two other organizations that may be a help for many:

1) The Trevor Project

The Trevor Project is a national lifeline for the LGBTQ youth community. If you know a young person struggling with LGBTQ issues there is help out there for you, The Trevor Project information can be found here.

2) Mental Illness Awareness Week

At the beginning of October is Mental Illness Awareness Week or MIAW. You can get more information about the Mental Illness Awareness Week from Wikipedia Here. The National Alliance on Mental Illness or NAMI provides a wealth of information about mental illness. For more information go to the NAMI website. Besides the above website they have a help line at 1-800-950-NAMI.

In conclusion —– Remember; Potential Suicide victims are asking for YOUR help

If you ever feel that you or someone you know has an immediate problem DIAL 911 right away, do not wait. Get to an emergency room ASAP. Believe me; you need to address the situation now. If you are not sure but think you may have a potential problem you can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or go to their website here.

If your situation is not at the critical stage yet you will still need to seek help right away. Help is out there, you are not alone in this, but you can only get help if you reach out. You should talk to your primary care provider, get a reference and make an appointment with a specialist. There are many treatment options and support groups to contact. Any change in mood or behavior of an individual could be an early warning sign and should not be ignored. In my situation the person was saying good-bye and I love you, and the voice changed to a more calm, slower, deeper sound, almost like being possessed. The person can also get more excited and aggressive. It can be and was very scary and you should not wait or ignore the situation. If you think you have a problem, then you do have a problem, do not wait. Take advantage of all the information available during the upcoming National Suicide Prevention Week and go over the resources available to you.