Suicide: WE, The Students, ARE VICTIMS!

In reflecting back on the presentation given by the Katie Baird, I learned some interesting and disturbing things about suicide. The one thing that hit me the hardiest during the presentation was the fact that someone commits suicide about every 2 hours. I consider this to be horrible because that would be 4380 deaths a year due to suicide alone (if I calculated correctly). Another disturbing thing that I didn’t know before the presentation was that 80% of people actually think about suicide at least once in their lives. I do believe that is true because people do go through hard times and they think what life would be like if they weren’t here on Earth anymore, or will they live pain free after death. Other statistics that bothered me was that 1,000 students take their own lives on college campuses, making suicide the second leading cause of death among college students. This made me think about myself and my friends and how prone we all are to become victims of suicide. Also, being that we are college students, we are more likely to die due to suicide than many others ways of death.

In addition to those statistics that hit me the hardiest, I was very informed and interested in the other material of the presentation on suicide. I was really interested in how she listed some warning of suicide such as irregular hygiene, change in sleeping patterns, drastic change in personality, change in academic performance, abuse of alcohol, changes in eating patterns, and talks about committing suicide. Because she informed the class about these warning signs, we are better able to notice if some of our friends are experiencing some signs of suicide, in order to get them proper help. In addition to the warning signs, Katie informed us on C.A.R.E. In relations to C.A.R.E, C stood for remaining calm and being a good listener, A stood for asking them about suicide, R stood for referring the person to get help (preferably CSDC/Varner House here on campus), and E stood for encouraging hope for the future, such as exploring and reinforcing the person’s reasons for living.  This information was very relevant in part because it will allow other like me to efficiently help someone without doing so the wrong way.

In conclusion, I really enjoyed the presentation even though it was a little long and disturbing. As a graduate student, aiming to be a middle school or high school counselor, she seemed very informed on suicide and you could tell that she had put some time in finding those statistics.  If it weren’t for Katie coming to our class this past Monday, I would have never known that suicide was the second leading death amongst college students. I would have never known all of the warning signs of suicide, and how to efficiently help those people who are showing warning signs. Something I didn’t mention earlier in this blog was that some of the myths of suicide I have taken in over past years are false. Before the presentation, I thought that all suicidal people want to die, but after the presentation, I found out that suicidal people are typically ambivalent about dying and will often seek help immediately. This really reversed my thought. All and all, the presentation was legit, informing and life changing.