Suicide rates are stable in a pandemic and experts are seeing an increase in mental illness | Health and Safety

According to data from the county coroner’s office, 40 suicides were reported in St. Joseph County last year, 41 in 2018 and 37 in 2017. By the end of November this year, 37 suicides had been reported in St. Joseph County.

By November, 19 suicides had been reported in Elkhart County, according to the coroner’s office. Last year, there were 31 suicides in the county, 23 in 2018 and 30 in 2017.

Suicide prevention experts are pleased that suicides have not surged, but given the cataclysms caused by COVID-19, it is not clear why that number is being compared to the past.

“I don’t know; Kent Loudman, director of the St. Joseph County Suicide Prevention Center, has no good answer to you when asked why suicides have diminished during a pandemic.” “I’m happy that the numbers aren’t higher than they really are, and I’m sure they won’t be higher.”

Loudman hypothesized that people may not be so focused on internal struggles because public attention is sticking to COVID-19. He also said that suicide rates could decline shortly after a traumatic event, such as as a result of 9/11. Suicide in the New Orleans area also declined shortly after Hurricane Katrina, but increased sharply a few years later.

“Everything that comes with COVID, whether healthy, financial or unemployed, may be a little distracting people’s attention,” he said. It was.

Barb Welty, a spokeswoman for the Elkhart County Suicide Prevention Union, said there is another possible theory that the widespread adverse effects of the coronavirus have motivated people to talk about mental health and seek treatment. ..

The pandemic also urged people to reach out to family and friends. When people strive more and more to connect with their loved ones, it usually happens around holidays, suicide rates can go down, Welty said.

“I think part of the reason for the reduction in suicide during the holidays is once a year when we tend to reach out to family and friends, and I think we saw some of them during the pandemic.” Welty said. “We recognize that older people are isolated and are looking for ways to make connections between them.”

However, as the pandemic continues to disrupt daily life, both Welty and Loudman are worried that suicide could surge before the vaccine allows for more physical interaction. ..

“I think it’s a hammer waiting to fall,” Loudman said.

Nationally, suicide rates in the U.S. have risen by more than 30% since 1999, but the number of suicides will be nationwide in 2019 for the first time in 20 years, according to new data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Has decreased to.

In addition to the CDC data, officials from the US Suicide Prevention Foundation said limited data during the pandemic did not show an increase in suicide.

The full impact of a pandemic on suicide rates across the country is unlikely to be known until a few years later, but pandemics have a negative impact on mental health.

A CDC survey released in August estimates that 40% of respondents are addressing at least one “mental health adverse symptom.” Almost 12% of all age groups say they considered suicide last month.

Dr. Suhail Nasr, an inpatient psychiatric care worker at Epworth Hospital and medical director of psychiatric services at Beacon Health Systems, said local mental health providers were full during the pandemic.

“The demand for inpatient and outpatient care has increased significantly,” says Nasr. “People come with a lot of anxiety and depression. Substance abuse has increased significantly.”

Nasr said Epworth saw an increase in both severely ill and inpatients. Signs that a pandemic can exacerbate a mental illness that already exists in some people.

The pandemic said, “Not only did you suddenly change who you are, but whatever someone had in February, you add to it all the COVID anxiety, isolation, loneliness, and it expands.” He said.

Like Laudeman and Welty, Nasr believes that the long-term mental health impact of a pandemic will continue to be felt after the vaccine becomes widely available.

“Once the seriousness of the situation is over, there are many traumas to be dealt with,” he said. “I don’t think we’ve seen the end of it yet.”