On-Campus Suicide a Hidden Killer
 

On-Campus Suicide a Hidden Killer
Sensitivity to the warning signs can save undergrads' lives, experts say.

Sensitivity to the warning signs can save undergrads' lives, experts say
By E.J. Mundell
HealthDay Reporter_



THURSDAY, Oct. 27 (HealthDay News) -- Back in 1998, Ron Gibori was a fraternity brother to bright, popular Jed Satow, a 20-year-old University of Arizona sophomore whose suicide that year shocked his family and friends.

"I made a promise at his memorial service that I would try and do something to make sure other students like myself would never have to lose a friend," Gibori said.

Then, less than six months later, another of Gibori's fraternity brothers took his own life. "I realized then that the promise I had made at Jed's memorial service couldn't go unfulfilled," he said.


Joining forces with Jed's parents Phillip and Donna Satow, Gibori helped create The Jed Foundation, a New York City-based nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness of the problem of suicide on America's college campuses.

According to Gibori, approximately 1,100 U.S. college students take their own lives each year. Nobody's sure if that number is rising or falling -- according to Gibori, a steep increase in on-campus suicides has been charted over the past 40 years, but that could simply reflect a more honest reporting of an event that's been too long cloaked in shame.

"Suicide is still an unexplored social taboo in our society today," Gibori said. Breaking that taboo is the key goal of The Jed Foundation and its Web-based help service, www.Ulifeline.org.

Students in trouble who head to the site can get youth-friendly, anonymous mental health information, as well as links to on-campus mental health centers at more than 530 U.S. colleges. "Right now, over 5 million students have access to the program," Gibori said.

The need is real. According to Los Angeles psychologist Michael Peck, a specialist in youth suicide, college can be a dangerous time for troubled young people.

Many are emotionally immature, he said, and while their newfound independence from parents is liberating, it can be scary, too. Alcohol and drugs are readily available, and the pressure to achieve and fit in can be overwhelming, especially at prestige schools.

In fact, "a study I did years ago found that elite colleges have much higher suicide-event rates than small, local community colleges," Peck said. Much of that owes to the fact that students attending smaller, local colleges are also more likely to be living in the relative comfort and safety of the family home.

"Elite colleges also come with higher stress because there's much more pressure on succeeding," he said. "When students aren't succeeding, they feel like they're failing both themselves and their parents, who are often paying a lot of money for these schools."

And Peck pointed to another grim phenomenon: The fact that suicide can be "contagious" on campus. "Students are closely packed together, so a suicide attempt or death may trigger other suicidal behavior by other students," he said. "That's always a problem."

There are warning signs, he said:

* Apathy. "You'll see a drop-off in school participation, and a falling of grades and class attendance," Peck said.
* Distance. Friends and family may notice a change in closeness or communication. "This might not always be in terms of frequency," Peck noted. "The student may still call his parents every Sunday like he's supposed to; but instead of the usual conversation, it's just 'Hi Mom, Dad, everything's fine, talk to you later.'"
* Substance abuse. Friends, especially, should react to any abnormal increase in drinking or drug-taking behavior with concern, the psychologist said.
* Unexplained gifts. "This actually happens a lot," Peck said. "A student will come to you and say 'I know you're taking chemistry -- here are my books, I won't need them anymore.'" These types of acts are usually a cry for help, he said -- something friends need to be sensitive to.

"Friends are the key ingredient here," Peck said. "Usually, if the student is going to tell anybody that they are at risk, they'll tell a friend." And he believes those closest to at-risk students need to be "understanding, not dismissive," and urge them to head for mental-health counseling.

Parents can also play a key role. "They need to be open to that idea that there can always be problems," he said, and to ease up on the pressure if their child seems to be struggling at school.

If and when problems do surface, parents may need to take decisive action. "They even have to be willing, in extreme circumstances, to bring their child home," Peck said.

Colleges have done much to raise awareness of campus suicide in the past decade or two, Peck said. "Most have a hotline now, a mental-health service, specific rules about partying and hazing," he said.

And yet students like Jed Satow can still fall through the cracks.

"I think the thing people say most often is, 'This can never happen to me, or to my friend,'" Gibori said. "There's that perception out there that people who are depressed are all dressed in black, pierced and tattooed."

But even the most outwardly cheerful, wholesome students can be struggling with hidden demons.

"My two friends in the fraternity who took their lives were probably two of the most popular kids there -- the most liked and the most sociable," Gibori said. "So the key message is that if you don't want it to be you or your friend, get educated on the warning signs, and know that depression is treatable, because everyone is vulnerable."

More information

For much more on campus suicide risks and prevention, visit The Jed Foundation (www.jedfoundation.org ).

This topic hits close to home because we had a suicide at one of the chapters I used to advise.

I'm going to leave the thread here and also copy it to Risk Management in hopes that more people will see it.

I was suicidal in college.

My brothers saved me....every time.

Kent State had 3 suicides last semester and one so far this year. :(

one of those three suicides at kent state was one of closest friends.

thats a great article, but another thing to remember is that sometimes there are no warning signs or they arent very clear. time is precious, use it well.

We're glad they did.

I'm so sorry. :(

One of the very most popular girls at Auburn committed suicide back when I was there. Nobody I knew knew why.

She won everything on campus--War Eagle Girl, Homecoming Court, yearbook beauty, and was in one of the most popular sororities but one day she killed herself with carbon monoxide. I can't imagine how much pain she must've been in to do that.:(

What the article neglects to mention is that young adulthood is the typical age of onset for mental illnesses such as Major Depression, Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia. I'd be curious to ask the suicide rate of the same age group who are not in college.

My cousin's son killed himself last month while a grad student at Michigan State. He had gotten engaged the weekend before he did it, was living with his fiance, was getting good grades, was very active in Boy Scouts and Venturing and was an APO. He never touched alcohol or drugs. He was fine earlier that day when watching the MSU-UM football game with his brother, cousin and some of their friends, including his girlfriend. We'll never figure out the "why" and he showed none of the signs until minutes before he did it, when he called his fiance at work and asked if she could come home because he was lonely. That was the one and only indication that anything was going on. His brother and cousin now think that he was actually manic the weekend before and are wondering if he was experiencing his first bipolar episode. They thought he was just very excited about getting engaged at the time. But, we'll never know now :(

Dee

I wouldn't blame yourself for not recognizing a suicide. ITs extremely rare and the signs are almost identical to normal anxiety and depression. I had to do a couple of projects on suicide . . .

I've been severely depressed before and I've been suicidal before. When I was severly depressed, I wasn't suicidal at all. I just cried all the time and showed the above signs. When I was suicidal, I was only mildly depressed. What triggered my suicidal feelings were a lack of hope NOT depression. So no, I didn't show any warning signs at all. Please keep an eye on your friends and family, especially when everything is not going well in their lives.

Another thing I'm wondering about. When people DO show obvious signs of depression/disturbed/suicidal behavior, and others do not acknowledge it, what is going on? Do they just not care? Or, are they inept/afraid of approaching these people?

I was at party a while ago, and this girl (and a friend at that time) was crying for like six hours straight over a guy. They weren't even in a serious relationship. Only me and one other guy was concerned about her. We seriously thought that she could've harmed herself. I didn't know what to do, but to keep an eye on her.

Same thing with a girl who was in my sorority's pledge class. This girl was obviously unstable, but most of the girls passed her behavior off as PMS. :eek:

No one really approached me about my problems either. Not only was I depressed at times, other times I was super happy, like euphoric. It was obvious that something wasn't right, when I go from from happy-go-lucky to sad and then back to really happy, like within a day or two. I was having mood swings. Fortunately, this ended when I took myself off the anti-depressants.

But, I guess it will be awkward to tell someone "I think you're having issues, you need to see a psychiatrist!"

That's what happened to him? That's awful! My codelences. :(

AGDee I wouldn't blame yourself...

Like James said - you can't always spot the signs or triggers for depression (trust me I know), because the signs or triggers aren't always in the open or "logical". Sometimes you can understand the logic or series of events that led to a sucide, sometimes you can't. Sometimes there are warnings and other times there aren't - a break or snap and it's done.

how sad...

Sometimes it's just that, "It'll never happen to someone I know" mentality. Like, maybe they're depressed, but they'll never actually go through it.

As far as the PMS... I'm sorry, but I could see having that reaction to someone. When I have PMS, you say one thing wrong to me and I burst into tears.