Causes Of Suicide In African Americans

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has published a fact sheet of statistics on suicide in the United States. In 2007, it is reported that suicide was the tenth leading cause of death. Furthermore, for every suicide committed, eleven were attempted. A total of 34,598 deaths occurred from suicide with an overall rate of 11.3 suicide deaths per 100,000 people. (NIMH, 2010). Risk factors were also noted on this report and listed “depression and other mental disorders, or a substance abuse disorder (often in combination with other mental disorders). More than ninety percent of people who die by suicide have these risk factors (NIMH, 2010).”

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website serves as a wealth of information on prevention and treatment for many different topics. The website contains a section on cultural awareness for each of the topics. Stevens and Smith (2013) state “counselors need to gain an understanding of the history and background of their clients to address their issues within the context in which they are present” (p. 335). Cultural diversity is a major component in the United States today, therefore treatment and prevention plans need to account for this diversity in order to help these populations. Upon perusing the topics on the SAMHSA website, I chose to explore information on suicide prevention. Under the cultural awareness

As of 2016, 13.3% of the United States population is African American. A large portion of that population is located in the DC and MD area, which ultimately means a substantial amount of people dealing with mental health problems. Black/African Americans hold beliefs related to stigma, psychological openness, and help-seeking, which in turn affects their coping behaviors (Ward 2013). Generally speaking, many black people are not very open to acknowledging psychological problems, but they Aare somewhat open to seeking mental health services (Ward 2013). In the city of Baltimore 15.54% of the population has a diagnosed mental illness (Baltimore City Health Department 2012), which at first doesn’t seem like such a high number but to take into

Healthy People 2020 is a government site that identifies health concerns based on statistics observed and collected over a ten-year period. Mental Health and Mental Disorders is one of the many health concerns or topics listed on their website and has been further subcategorized into objectives and goals (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [HHS], 2015). The first objective listed under this topic states “reduce the suicide rate” (HHS, 2015). The goal of this objective is to “reduce the suicide rate by ten percent” (HHS, 2015). Suicide is prevalent among varying age groups, ethnicities, and genders (HHS, 2012). It is an increasing problem prompting Healthy People 2020 to label it as a Leading Health Indicator or an extremely important issue (HHS, 2015). To meet their goal, Healthy People 2020 partnered with the U. S. Surgeon General and the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention (NAASP) to create a plan that can be utilized throughout the nation. Their plan focuses on removing the stigma associated with mental health and mental health disorders while simultaneously building supportive communities with increased access to care, creating a standardized model promoting the collaboration of health care professionals in order to increase identification and data collection of high-risk patients and provide continuity of care, and ensuring the education and the adequacy of patient support systems.

Feelings of isolation have been linked to higher suicide rates. Durkheim’s study on suicide during the industrial revolution supports this theory as he states that, “people were increasingly disconnected from their communities and that this social upheaval had a greater effect on suicide rates than other factors like wealth” (Winner & Collishaw, 2011). Interestingly enough, despite the increase of media attention on suicide, no studies have been published that explain why suicide rates vary among different groups. However, various factors are involved in the decision to commit suicide. As a result, suicide rates vary according to race, gender and age.

Once the community has established an understanding about mental health and ways to prevent negative results, then one can evaluate how the African American community experiences mental health problems on a cultural, social and economic basis. It is important to put ideals into perspective, so breaking it down into statistics will give a better picture in understanding how many African Americans are affected by mental health problems. There are 13.3% of people in the United States that identify as Black or African American (U.S. Census Bureau, 2016). Out of that 13.3% of African Americans, approximately 16% or more have had a diagnosable mental illness in the past year, which is estimated to be over 6.8 billion African American/ Black people. The National Alliance of Mental Health declares that “African Americans are 20% more likely to experience mental health problems than the general population,” (Mental Health America, 2017). Depression, Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and suicide (prominent among young African American men) are the most common disorders that Blacks may encounter. Other disorders faced by African American Communities could include Alcohol/substance abuse, anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizophrenia, and postpartum depression.

Although African Americans, historically, have lower rates of suicide and eating disorders, there is some indication that these behaviors may be increasing. From the preceding studies, it appears that both acculturative stress and ethnic identification may play some important role in the mental health of African Americans. What is not evident, however, is if and how these two factors interact to predict both suicide and eating disorder symptoms in African American men and women, respectively. Such an effect may provide insight into the occurrence of these behaviors in the African American

According to further findings of the research, “In 2007, suicide was the third-leading cause of death among fifteen to twenty-four-year-old Black Americans.” When compared to their white peers they were also found to be more liable to attempt suicide. Sometimes stress can be unavoidable in our everyday lives; however, everyone’s coping method is different. Therefore, assisting someone in understanding the cause of the problem and learning how to cope is a very vital and effective way to prevent or reduce the number of individuals from taking their own lives. Wang and his colleagues (N(Wang, Nyutu, & Tran, 2012) also stated that, “Coping has played a mediator role between antecedent stressful event and psychological distress such as anxiety,

Among American civilians, whites have historically and significantly led the way in the rates of suicides. Although leveling off after the 1990’s, the rate of white suicides has still been almost twice as much as minority groups. It has also been shown that males commit suicide significantly more than females.

Over the past decade suicide rates have been either stagnant or have been decreasing over all of the demographics of people. One demographic of people's suicide rate, on the other hand, has risen at a substantial rate. Scientists and researchers have just started studying this trend and have yet to draw one specific reason on why middle aged white males suicide rates are climbing. The suicide rate for this demographic of people has just surpassed the deaths by automobile accidents. This recent epidemic has got many researchers and scientists asking the question of “why?”.

Suicide has become a major issue amongst African-American adolescent males. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS), suicide is the third leading cause of death for Black boys age 13 to 17 (CDC, 2014). That is above the number of deaths due to chronic diseases such as cancer, HIV and diabetes (CDC, WISQARS 2016.). Additionally, CDC reports for 2014 there were 68 African-American adolescent males that completed suicide and 1131 reported attempts for that year (CDC, WISQARS 2016). This is a significant number, although not all suicide attempts are reported (Joiner, 2005). Furthermore, suicide accounted for 10 percent of deaths of adolescents in 2014 reports (CDC, WISQARS 2016).

Depression has a profound effect on the daily lives of people on a consistent basis especially to African-Americans. In many African societies, gender, age, and marital status determine social roles and hierarchy structures, thus influencing the prevalence and experience of well-being (Khumalo et al., 2012). Depression symptoms can be produce in which increases fatigue or hopelessness, anger, thoughts of suicide, difficulty in concentrating and restlessness can contribute to negative outcomes if left untreated. In order to have criteria of being diagnose with depression or and or major depressive disorder a person must also not be able to function within the norms of societies expectations such as work, education, family,

Individuals who have history of attempted suicide have an increased risk of suicide, these individuals could possibly be vulnerable to aggravating factors such as daily hassles. Hirsch, Webb, and Kaslow led a study to examine the influences of daily hassles on suicidal ideation and the moderating role of spiritual well-being and its subscales of religious and existential well-being (Hirsch, Webb, & Kaslow, 2013). The study conducted a cross-sectional study of 148 African American women who had attempted suicide in the past year. Participants were recruited from an inner-city hospital that was affiliated with a university.

Suicide has become the second leading cause of death among teens in the United States. American youth have more risk to mental disorders due to race, sexuality, family, and stress of fitting in with their surroundings. Many mental illnesses will lead to suicidal thoughts or eventually to an attempt at suicide. Anxiety and the pressure to fit in contributes greatly to depression and suicide, particularly in high school. During youth, it's especially hard to find who you are, and still have the risk of getting made fun of or being bullied. Mental disorders along with substance abuse can also increase suicidal tendencies commodiously.All of these factors lead to the most common mental disorder, depression. Depression in young adults is the most

Hundreds of thousands of people die due to suicide every year. This number is estimated to double by 2020 should the current trend continue. The primary cause of these suicides is mental disorders and harmful use of alcohol - which in itself is a result of mental health related conditions. The World Health Organization reports indicate that 20% of the world 's children and adolescents suffer from one or more mental disorders and according to the Kim foundation, 57.7 million people in the US suffer from a mental health disorder.