Suicide is something talked about in hushed tones, but listen to the numbers. Someone dies by suicide every 16 minutes in the United States, and an attempt is made once every minute.
On the Grand Strand and in the Pee Dee, although the national toll-free hotlines are always available, there's no local suicide crisis hotline.
That means 911 dispatchers often get the call.
"They always have to be ready for that one call that is a life threatening emergency. Those suicide calls are ones of that sort, because you never know. Just because a person's calm doesn't mean they're not about to commit suicide, and just because someone is upset doesn't mean they're not serious about what they're saying they might do," said Toni Bessent, Horry County E-911 Director.
The dispatchers are specially trained to deal with suicidal callers, and recently, that number has soared.
Here are the numbers of suicide attempts called in to Horry County Fire Rescue.
- August 2006 - 54
- August 2007 - 61
- August 2008 - 67
- August 2009 - 91
It's typically not just one situation that leads to those calls. Jennie Cassidy, Director of Counseling Services at Coastal Carolina University, says while one event may push them, there are usually a number of warning signs or stressers.
"Something bad has happened that's gotten them down, so that's the first thing you look for. Then you look for their response to it. If they seem to be chronically depressed or constantly anxious about it, if they're kind of dropping out of life, not going to work, not going to class, seem to be spending a lot of time in bed... kind of withdrawal from life, that's a concern," said Cassidy.
While most depressed people are not suicidal, most suicidal people are depressed.
More than 90% of suicide victims have significant, but treatable, mental illness at the time of their deaths, says David Shultz, a representative of The Jason Foundation, an organization to prevent youth suicide.
"One of the biggest ones is ceasing to enjoy activities that you normally like to partake in. Things like sporting events, for adolescents in particular, being with friends, maybe playing an instrument or being part of a group at school," said Shultz.
So if you see the signs, what do you do?
"The first thing they should do is talk to the person and try to get them to open up and not be afraid to ask them if they have thought about killing themselves or hurting themselves. There are a lot of people who are afraid to ask the question. They're afraid if I ask it, somehow I'm saying that's okay, and that's really not the case," explained Jennie Cassidy.
It's a myth that if you talk to someone about suicide, you'll cause someone to do it.
"I think for someone to inquire to someone, are you thinking about hurting yourself, because I'm really concerned. I'm seeing a lot of signs here that are giving me some concern about your wellbeing. I think it takes a lot of courage to ask that question," said David Shultz.
And what do you do if someone's talking about suicide?
"One of the the other myths is that if someone is talking about suicide, they actually won't do it, and that's usually not correct either. If someone's talking about suicide, they're usually thinking about doing it," said Shultz.
Jennie Cassidy says start off with the good neighbor response. "What would a good neighbor say? A good neighbor would say, 'Don't do it! I care about you! I don't want you to die!'"
And you need to decide how serious the person is.
"If you have somebody who's actually thought about ways that they would do it and have thought about ways to do it that are pretty lethal, the more you see those kinds of things happening, the more concerned you need to get and the more quickly you need to get the person help," Cassidy adds.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, please call 1-800-SUICIDE (784-2433) or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
