New study says U.S. suicide rates have reached highest levels in 30 years

According to a new study by the National Center for Health Statistics, America is experiencing the highest suicide rates the U.S. has seen in nearly 30 years.The study noted particular spikes among middle aged women and teenage girls. From 1999  to 2014, women between ages 45 and 64 saw a 63% increase. In addition to that, the rate tripled for teenage girls between 10 and 14 years old. The Life Crisis Center in Salisbury says those numbers make sense. Last year the Salisbury Life Crisis Center answered 2,000 suicide related calls on a local level.

Michele Hughes, the Executive Director of the Life Crisis Center in Salisbury says, “we’ve certainly seen an increase in the number of calls we are getting.”

Clinical psychologist, Shelena Heard, says she sees a common pattern in her own teenage clients.

“In that particular age group they’re is a lot of issues with body image, bullying behavior, a lot of relational aggression they experience in the school setting and for a lot of girls in that age it feels like the end of the world,” says Heard.

“It is a serious issue and parents and educators and people who work with young people need to be constantly vigilant to make certain kids are not falling through the cracks,” says Hughes.

As for middle aged women experiencing suicidal thoughts, therapist and coach Dr. Debra Laino attributes it to chemical imbalances, food people consume nowadays, as well as job and financial stresses women might feel.

“Downtime in the economy there is usually spikes in suicide versus economic boom.We do live in a society that wants a quick fix. Even in regards to money and some of those material things and materialism in general has a huge impact on it,” says Dr. Laino.

Therapists agree that a big part of reducing these rates is erasing the negative stigma often associated with mental illness  and acknowledging when help is needed.

“Services are available there for people to use and thy should use them they are non judgmental and don’t cost anything and they can help you to make the right decisions,” says Hughes.

The Life Crisis Center tells us one of their biggest goals is making their services more available to a younger demographic.The center recently applied to a grant to be able to offer counseling through text messages. For more information on local hotlines click here.