This killer is the eighth-leading cause of death in the United States.
It’s the third-leading cause of death among young Americans.
And it’s the leading cause of death among white men over 85.
But the Times-Union, along with much of the news media, does not report it except in rare circumstances.
The killer is suicide.
And it appeared on the news pages of the Times-Union twice recently — apparent suicides of a University of North Florida baseball player and a prominent St. Augustine attorney.
Figuring out when to cover suicide is a riddle.
- For example, shooting someone is news. Shooting yourself is not. Yet, there are three suicides for every two homicides in this country.
- Killing yourself in a public place is news. Killing yourself in private is not. Yet the result, tragically, is the same.
Those are the traditional rules of news coverage that result in less coverage of suicide than homicide.
Deborah Davis, founder of the Survivors of Suicide support group in Jacksonville, said there is a stigma against suicide that prevents people from talking about it and the news media from covering it. Thus, the dangers and warning signs don’t receive enough attention, she said.
“The more honest people are, the better off we are in this country,” she said. “It becomes a learning experience.
Untreated depression is epidemic. You’re really doing a disservice to the community without making it clear what an epidemic it is.”
Though not every suicide victim suffers from clinical depression, knowing the warning signs of depression and the more severe warning signs of suicide are keys to preventing it. In fact, the U.S. surgeon general last week issued an action plan to reduce the rate of suicide. It depends in large part on creating more awareness of the danger signs among the professionals and caregivers — doctors, lawyers, religious.
One argument against covering suicide is concern for the feelings of the survivors. Relatively new journalistic ethics of privacy and sensitivity come into play. Yet this bias in favor of not publishing becomes part of the communciation barrier that hamstrings prevention efforts.
I don’t have all the answers, but I think more coverage is deserved. For instance, when a suicide is reported, the phone numbers should be published for the suicide hot line, First Call, and Survivors of Suicide. The warning signs ought to be published at least once a year.
For more information, see the Web site of the Survivors of Suicide: www.neflsurvivors.org. Call (904) 868-5156. The phone number of First Call, a 24-hour crisis informaton and referral service, is (904) 632-0600 or (800) 346-6185. The Web site of the surgeon general is: www.surgeongeneral.gov.
Suicide warning signs
Here are some of the high-risk warning signs that a suicide may be attempted: a preoccupation with death and dying, a mood of resignation, a desperate feeling of hopelessness, intense dependency, no control over life, displays of anger, a rigid view that suicide is the only option, pathological perfectionism, impaired capacity for relating with people, self-destructive behavior, giving away prized possessions and putting affairs in order.
