Most of us have had, or will have, fleeting thoughts of death as a means of escaping from an unpleasant situation at some time in our lives. It is when the thoughts are more than just fleeting that there is need for concern.
The National College Health Risk Behavior study of 1995 found that as many as 11.4 percent of college students have seriously considered attempting suicide. The National College Health Assessment Survey, completed in the Spring ’03 semester, evaluated 19,497 student participants at 33 schools and produced essentially the same results: 10 percent indicated having seriously considered suicide during the preceding year.
Data reported on http://www.ulifeline.org (an online behavioral support system for college-aged students) indicates that 1 in 12 college students (8.33 percent) go so far as to make a suicide plan, and 7.5 of every 100,000 succeed in taking their lives.
Ninety percent of adolescent suicide victims have at least one diagnosable/treatable disorder, but only 15 percent were in treatment at the time of death. How many deaths could have been prevented if more were in treatment?
Approximately four-fifths of those who successfully complete suicide are severely depressed. Many bouts of depression are moderately short lived and if the person can be helped through the episode they have a good chance of recovery. We are talking here of severe depression, not the transient feeling of sadness all of us experience from time to time.
