Not even the United States Marines know how to fight one of this country’s biggest, most insidious and least understood killers.
Suicide.
There are facts. There are figures. And then there is one Marine family’s story, which is told below. All point to the need for better suicide awareness and prevention efforts.
The Washington Post reports that since 2001, more active-duty U.S. troops have killed themselves than have died in combat during the entire 14 years of the war in Afghanistan and that’s just the tip of a very big iceberg.
“More Americans now take their own lives than die in car crashes,” according to the Post, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report someone in this country takes their own life every 12.8 minutes, with men four times more likely to do so than women.
Paradoxically, “Women attempt suicide much more frequently than men, but men are much more lethal than women because they use much more aggressive means,” says Dr. Guido Nodal, a board certified psychiatrist and neurologist at the Indian River Medical Center’s Behavioral Health Center.
If you think you or your loved ones are somehow immune, think again.
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention says two of Vero Beach’s prime demographic groups – those between the ages of 45 and 64 and those 85 and over – are statistically even more likely to take their own lives than members of the military as a whole, including Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines.
According to AFSP, “the highest suicide rate [by age group] was among people 45 to 64 years old (19.1 per 100,000 annually). The second highest rate (18.6) occurred in those 85 years and older.”
Adolescents and younger adults, ages 15 to 24, have a suicide rate of 10.9, while those 25 to 44 have a rate of 15.6.
The overall rate for the military is 18.7, while the rate for active duty members of the Army and Marine Corps is 23 per 100,000 each year, the highest of any group mentioned in this article.
The CDC states that more than 41,000 Americans will take their own lives this year and goes on to say, “Nearly half a million people receive medical care for self-inflicted injuries at emergency departments across the United States. More than one million adults self-report a suicide attempt and 9.3 million adults self-report serious thoughts of suicide.”
No one knows how many attempts go unreported, and, unfortunately, there is no simple solution to this public health crisis.
As Nodal admits, “Mental health still has a stigma attached to it. What people don’t realize is that the brain is also an organ that gets sick. There is also the myth that ‘I’m tough enough to do it on my own.’ Nobody would say that about heart disease or kidney disease or other medical issues.”
In other words, as a society we’re willing to accept that our bodies need help, but not our brains.
“More than 90 percent of people who commit suicide have depression or another mental health illnesses,” according to Nodal, but spotting signs of depression or other mental health issues isn’t always easy. Many who take their own lives show few obvious outward signs that a layman might recognize.
Donna Barone, a nurse and medical assistant for Dr. Michael Tonner in Vero Beach points to Keith Miller, a handsome 22-year old Marine Corporal and the son of her childhood best friend, Margaret Miller. Barone describes the young man as, “very bright” and “a good kid and a good student.”
Cpl. Miller took his own life September first of this year.
Margaret Miller was shell-shocked. “Every conversation we had, every discussion we had,” she says, “was just as normal as always. There was no indication. I keep rewinding it in my head – the last few conversations that I had with him – to see if I missed anything anywhere. I can’t put my finger on anything.”
In fact, just a day or two before Cpl. Miller’s death, mother and son talked on the phone. “He talked about coming home,” recalls Miller. “He always looked forward to coming home at Christmas because his sister’s birthday is two days before Christmas so he always makes it a point to be home for her birthday.”
“When you lose someone by a car accident,” Miller continues, “You know why. It was an accident. I mean, I’m not taking away the grief from that, but on top of the grief of my loss, there are the ‘what if’s,’ and ‘how comes’ and ‘what did I miss’ and the doubts and the questioning myself. These are all thoughts that go through my head, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
Cpl. Miller’s death is – sadly – far from unique. If signs of a problem were there, no one spotted them. No one in his family, no one in his unit and no one in the Marine Corps chain of command.
Miller adds that servicemen and servicewomen, “Don’t want to dishonor their service,” adding that, “they’re afraid if they reach out, they’re going to be labeled and discharged.”
The CDC’s blunt assessment is this: “Too often the victims are blamed and their families and friends are left stigmatized. As a result, people rarely communicate openly about suicide. Thus, an important public health problem is left hidden in secrecy which hinders effective prevention.”
Barone and Miller are now determined to help sweep away mental health stigmas and raise awareness about suicide prevention.
They point to the “Out of Darkness Walk” on October 10 at Riverview Park in Sebastian as a good first step for those who want to get involved and learn more.
Meanwhile, Nodal emphatically states that, “Depression as well as other mental illnesses have treatments available.”
The bottom line is, while it takes guts and gumption to seek help for yourself, your friends or your loved ones, help is available. The toll-free National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 might be a good place to start. It is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and all calls are strictly confidential.
Locally, Dr. Guido Nodal is with the Indian River Medical Center’s Behavioral Health Center. The phone number is 772-563-4666.