Teen suicide: More youths in crisis but help is available

Oct. 27--BLOOMINGTON -- An autumn of anxiety has enveloped many adolescents and young adults in McLean County and beyond.

The good news is help is available and some young people are getting it. But more could use a hand.

"We have had an uptick in people presenting in crisis since the beginning of the semester," said Charles Titus Boudreaux, psychologist with Illinois State University's Student Counseling Services. "There has been a 25 percent increase in daytime emergency contacts relative to this time last year."

At PATH (Providing Access To Help), the area's crisis information and referral agency, calls from McLean County residents threatening suicide generally average 30 a month, but rose to 55 in August and 57 in September -- nearly double last year's numbers, said Executive Director Karen Zangerle.

In September, nine of those calls came from 15- to 24-year-olds, she said.

But she knows that the numbers of adolescents and young adults contemplating suicide is even higher because PATH volunteers aren't always able to get the ages of people who call in crisis and "that age group usually doesn't call crisis lines."

"That's why we're exploring going into chat services," Zangerle said. "We want to find a new way to interact with youth using social media."

"Recently, I've had more depressed adolescents," said Chris Cashen, a licensed clinical professional counselor with OSF Behavioral Health who was once a member of the Crisis Team for Center for Human Services, McLean County's mental health agency. Whether the increase is the beginning of a trend is unknown, he said.

Stephanie Barisch, regional clinical supervisor with the Center for Youth and Family Solutions, which provides behavioral health programs, said "We have noticed that some of our youth have needed more of our services because they knew someone who has completed a suicide. That increases their risk and adds grief and loss. There are a number of youth reporting being suicidal and severely depressed."

Nationally, the teen suicide rate has declined by more than 25 percent since the early 1990s, according to the American Psychiatric Association.

It remains the No. 3 cause of death among Americans ages 15 to 24.

Barisch and Boudreaux said the increase began in 2007-2008, when the recession caused some parents to lose their jobs, increasing family stress and instability, tightening household finances and prompting some young people to wonder what the future held.

"We noticed a significant uptick in youth going into psychiatric crisis and accessing our services," Barisch said.

Limited psychiatric services for low-income youth didn't help, Barisch said.

"We have a locality with a limited number of child psychiatrists," said Dr. Faisal Ahmed, child and adolescent psychiatrist with Advocate Medical Group, who advocates additional psychiatric training for primary care physicians.

Complicating matters has been increase in marijuana use among young people, Ahmed said. Marijuana use increases the risk of depression among people with a family history of depression.

"In a teen brain, there will be consequences," Ahmed said.

Death by suicide happens in all sectors of the community, Barisch said, but there's a higher risk of contemplation of suicide by young people with depression or another mental illness, survivors of sexual abuse or other trauma and people who use alcohol or drugs.

Meanwhile, an increase in school shootings appears to have made premature death "more psychologically available to people," Cashen said.

There's also increased pressure on adolescents and young adults, mental health professionals said.

"We're expecting kids to grow up too fast," said Cheryl Gaines, a licensed clinical professional counselor with Collaborative Solutions Institute and a former member of the CHS Crisis Team.

The young adult brain finds it difficult to look at the big picture and look beyond the immediate crisis, Gaines said. The brain is forming until age 25.

"Parents should try to give their children room for failure," Zangerle said. "For the child who always heard great, affirming messages about their accomplishments throughout high school, when something not-so-fabulous happens in college and when things get worse, it's hard for them to go to their parents and say 'I screwed up.'

"But we need to encourage our children to do that," she said. "We need to tell them 'We love you no matter what. Always come to us if you have problems.'"

How some young people use social media also complicates matters.

"When I was in high school, I didn't have to worry about people talking smack at me on Facebook," Cashen said.

Bullying using Facebook, texting or other social media takes its toll on youth who feel the need to be connected electronically and who crave the approval of their peers, Ahmed said.

"Young people feel there are no boundaries so they lose hope," Gaines said. "But there can be boundaries. Don't use social media as your personal diary."

"What I tell kids is never fight over texts," Cashen said. "If texting becomes negative or emotional, stop texting, call the person or talk with them face to face."

"Put electronics down," Gaines said. "Realize that you can have a life outside of texting. Have conversations with people. You'll be more likely to have significant relationships."

Good news is that more young adults are using social media to help each other, Cashen said. That should be encouraged, Ahmed said.

"There is hope," Gaines said. "There are ways of changing things and making life better."

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