The Importance of Suicide Prevention

When hearing the word epidemic, you most likely think of a physical sickness that havocs the body for weeks or even months. Yet, the emotional epidemic of suicide and mental illness most likely does not cross your mind. You might be asking the question “Why should I care if it’s not going to affect me?” Well, suicide-related matters are more common than you think. Suicide prevention is important as mental illness could negatively affect any person no matter if they're the victim or related to the victim.
Against popular belief, suicidal thoughts are very common and could affect anyone at any given time. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “an estimated 12.3 million American adults seriously thought about suicide, 3.5 million planned a suicide attempt, and 1.7 million attempted suicide” (Disease Control and Prevention). Sadly, matters concerning suicide are not as rare as you suspect. Millions of Americans are affected by this throughout their life. Even if you believe you’re “too strong” or “not emotional enough” to be affected by mental health issues, this could change when you least expect it. Nobody is an exception for mental illness and this horrific sickness could have a destructive effect on anyone's life. With suicide prevention, America would have an overall positive impact as a large number of people with mental illness would be able to access help.
Mental illness not only has a detrimental effect on the person who experiences it but also heavily impacts the family members of the person struggling. You may think suicide is unimportant as it only affects one person. However, this idea is completely incorrect and inaccurate. According to the National Library of Medicine, “Survivors of suicide loss are at higher risk of developing major depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and suicidal behaviors, as well as a prolonged form of grief called complicated grief” (National Library of Medicine). Suicide does not only affect the victim, but it affects many people who are acquainted to the victim no matter whether they are family or friends. The act of committing suicide has a domino effect on those around you and can make them severely depressed or influence their mental illness. With suicide prevention, this domino effect would dramatically decrease as fewer people would be committing suicide overall due to the help they are getting. If fewer people are committing suicide, the spread of mental illness would decrease and the total number of people living with uncured or unnoticed mental illness would go down.
Now that we've established the importance of suicide prevention, let's talk about what resources are out there already. 988 is the universal helpline for people thinking about committing suicide. You can call from anywhere in the world and you will come in contact with someone willing to help. There are also psychiatric hospitals and therapies open to anyone struggling with these issues. Most insurance plans cover any mental health issues that require psychiatric wards or hospital so it takes some of the burden off of you financially.
Overall, suicide prevention is something that should be viewed as serious and crucial as it could help prevent the negative impacts of mental illness. Next time when making a joke about suicide or wishing someone was dead, think about the severity of what you are saying and how it could harm other's emotional health. Sometimes, what a harmful joke is to you is the difference between life and death for someone else.