Suicide Prevention Month 2021
What’s good, family! Welcome to our very first Vinyl & Vinyasa blog post! We are certainly excited (: to connect with each of you through this technical writing medium. In this space, we aim to shed critical light and discuss topics surrounding mental health, mindfulness, psychology, music, astrology/astronomy (um, yes!), public health, social determinants of health, critical race, intersectionality, and structural racism. Sounds like a lot, huh? Well, we are just getting started...
With September being Suicide Awareness Month and in our 18th month of the COVID-19 pandemic thus far, we felt it critical to first highlight the rise in stress and suicide risk during the pandemic and secondly, to consider rising suicide rates using an intersectional (considering race, gender, age) lens. We note that this increasing trend has long been occurring before the pandemic - the rise of suicide in Black Americans has been increasing since the ‘80’s. And particularly affecting Black male adolescents. This group specifically experienced the largest increase - by 162% (!) - in suicide attempts from 1991 to 2019, compared to any other sex* and ethnic/racial subgroup in a national sample (Xiao et al., 2021).
Furthermore, CDC data from 2017 indicate that suicide was the 3rd leading cause of death for Black males ages 1-19 and the 4th leading cause of death for Black males ages 20-44 (CDC, 2017). Factors contributing to this disheartening data include - but are not limited to - structural racism and discrimination, cultural mistrust, mental health stigma, and other socioeconomic stressors, such as lack of access and resources. It is clear that successful individual, community and policy-level interventions for suicide ideation and mental health concerns requires focus on culturally protective strategies and the uprooting of systemic racism and intergenerational trauma. This is especially true considering the lack of suicide interventions geared for young Black men (Joe et al., 2018).
So, as we transition into a new season, as temperatures drop, and as the leaves change, the possibility of high stress situations and feelings of depression and Seasonal Affective Disorder become very real. Let’s continue to keep mental health and suicide prevention in the front of our minds and also continue checking in on our closest people. Ebonee Davis (model, actor, writer, we swoon) has created a beautifully written and impactful Seasonal Depression Survival Guide for us all to delve in and protect our peace of mind in these times. We hope some of these tips resonate with you, that they can become new (or revitalized) tools in your toolbox. Taking care of self is essential. Show up for self every single day.
Xiao Y, Cerel J, Mann JJ. Temporal Trends in Suicidal Ideation and Attempts Among US Adolescents by Sex and Race/Ethnicity, 1991-2019. JAMA Netw Open. 2021;4(6):e2113513. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.13513
Centers for Disease Prevention & Control (CDC). Leading Causes of Death - Males - Non-Hispanic black - United States, 2017: https://www.cdc.gov/healthequity/lcod/men/2017/nonhispanic-black/index.htm
Joe, S., Scott, M. L., & Banks, A. (2018). What works for adolescent black males at risk of suicide: a review. Research on Social Work Practice, 28(3), 340-345.
Ebonee Davis Seasonal Depression Instagram post (9/9/2021): https://www.instagram.com/p/CTnP-ZAhkwA/?utm_medium=copy_link
* note: we use the term sex here because the journal article reports the data using this terminology, but we prefer the term gender, for inclusivity and general purposes
**image from CNN article entitled “Suicide attempts by black teens are increasing, study says” from: https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/14/health/black-teen-suicide-attempts-study/index.html