What can we do to combat the 46 percent spike in suicides in Utah since 1999?
The obvious solution is to increase psychiatric care options and to lower the cost. Health care in America is already much worse than necessary, but access to mental health care is abysmal. Increasing the number of psychologists and psychiatrists and subsidizing visits would be a first step.
Reducing the stigma attached to seeking counseling or mental health care must be a priority. A step in this direction — one directed squarely at teenagers in our state — would be to include mental health exams by psychologists in high schools, either as part of students’ yearly counselor meetings or as a stand-alone program. If everyone is getting help or talking to someone, the stigma will fade.
Last, our PAs, family medicine and primary care physicians should be trained to diagnose and treat depression. More than one-third of all people who attempt suicide see a doctor within four months of the act, with an even higher percentage seeing a doctor within a year of their attempt. These patients are often seeking help with the physical manifestations of depression and, if diagnosed, could receive the care they need.
Jason Chandler, Salt Lake City