Suicide Prevention

adminDepression, General, Major Depression, Mental Health, Self Care Leave a Comment

10 USEFUL* things you can do for suicide prevention *Spoiler: none of these things are about “fixing” a suicidal person. I’d like to apologize for missing the actual National Suicide Prevention Day, which was September 10, but, really, any day is a good day to talk about suicide prevention.  Suicide prevention is not a matter of telling your distressed friend …

Deaths of Despair Anthony Bourdain Suicide

Deaths of Despair – Suicide & Self Injury Crisis in US

Peter ForsterMajor Depression, Policy Leave a Comment

The news of Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade’s death by suicide as well as the CDC’s report on increasing suicide rates in the US reminds us of a larger public health crisis that was given the name “deaths of despair” by researchers Case and Deaton (see below). We have been collecting information on this topic in preparation for an effort …

Where is the Outrage About Suicide?

Peter ForsterMajor Depression, Policy

A wonderful editorial in JAMA Psychiatry highlights the overwhelming evidence that stigma is continuing to drive underfunding for treatment and prevention of suicide deaths. Suicide and “accidental” overdose deaths are an epidemic in this country. Since 1999, the rate of suicide deaths increased by 28.2%, and this probably underestimates the increase because there is evidence that coroners are categorizing more and …

Lithium Prevents Suicide

Peter ForsterBipolar Treatment

This has been a year with lots of useful information highlighting the continued importance of some of the oldest treatments for bipolar disorder: lithium salts. A New York Times Magazine article (“I Don’t Believe in Good but I Believe in LIthium”) about bipolar focused on lithium, and another New York Times article a year before that asked the question “Should We …

Self Injury is the 8th Leading Cause of Death

Peter ForsterMajor Depression

Self injury (including suicide) is the 8th leading cause of death in this country. It is time to do something about it. An article just published online in the prestigious journal JAMA Psychiatry makes us drawn case that our fascination with trying to come up with clear answers to questions that may ultimately be impossible to answer (what a person’s …

Lithium Benefits for Health – NYT Article

Peter ForsterBipolar Treatment

Does lithium have benefits for health when it is found at small doses in the water? This is the subject of a recent article in the New York Time (september 13th, 2014). The article captured the attention of many readers of this blog and the companion one I write about mood disorders (moodsurfing.com). It was tantalizingly entitled,”Should We All Take a Bit …