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Dr. Julie Rickard thought that her visit to Wisconsin during the Christmas holidays would be a break from her day work in suicide prevention in Wenatchee, Wash.
The visit did not go as planned. After a tense battle between his mother and another family member, everyone scattered. Rickard is prepared for the return trip to the Pacific Northwest.
At the airport, she received a call from her mother, Sheri Adler. This was not unusual: Adler, like many adoring mothers, always calls his daughter after a separation.
On the phone, Adler wanted to tell his daughter how much she loved him and liked him.
"Normally, I would think" Oh, it's a sign of suicide, "but it was during my break," Rickard says. "I had just left her, and all my life, she had always cried when I left and always said that I loved you."
This time it was different. "This time," said Rickard, "it was a goodbye."
When the plane landed, Rickard received another call. Her 72-year-old mother tried to commit suicide.
"I went home and I guess I just did not know how to handle it," says Adler about the suicide attempt. "It was just more than I could get together … I just made a stupid mistake, I guess I just wanted to give up, because I felt like I was not a good mother. that's all I wanted to be. "
Since the January attempt, Rickard has helped his mother find care. Adler is now taking medication and meeting a therapist for depression and helping to deal with family issues. They both say that she is better.
Nevertheless, this episode reflects the vulnerability of a group that researchers call a "forgotten" population, especially with regard to mental health: the elderly.
Risk in seniors
Across the country, suicide rates have increased and this has particularly affected seniors in the country. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, among the more than 47,000 suicides that occurred in 2017, those aged 65 and over accounted for more than 8,500. Men aged 65 and over higher risk of suicide, while adults age 85 and older, regardless of bad, are the second oldest age group most likely to die of suicide.
According to the US Census Bureau, there were 47.8 million people over the age of 65 in the United States in 2015. By 2060, this number is expected to reach 98.2 million.
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This includes mental health experts such as Dr. Jerry Reed, who manages suicide, violence and injury prevention at the non-profit Education Development Center.
"It's likely that if we have a problem now, we could very well have a problem in the future if we're not careful," says Reed.
What is particularly disturbing, say experts like Reed, is that when seniors try to commit suicide, they are much more likely to die than those who are younger.
Research has revealed that one in four seniors who attempt suicide commits suicide compared to an attempt on 200 young adults. Although the precise reasons for these figures remain unclear, experts suggest that older people are more fragile and are therefore more vulnerable to self-inflicted injuries. They can also be more isolated, making rescues more difficult and perhaps even planning their attempts more carefully.
Why are seniors at risk?
There is a myriad of reasons why older people are more likely to be 10th main cause of death.
One of the most prevalent is loneliness. Older adults often live in isolation and may be dealing with the death of a husband or a wife throughout their life or with the grief of losing their close relatives or friends. ..
Research has shown that grief is "disproportionately experienced by the elderly" and can often trigger physical or mental illnesses such as "major depression and complicated bereavement". Children and parents are often far from home, so parents and grandparents can stay miles away, looking for the love and human connections that family visits bring.
Aging can also present transitions that are difficult to manage. According to the National Council on Aging, about 80% of seniors live with a chronic illness – such as arthritis, diabetes, and high blood pressure – and 77% have at least two.
Seniors lose the ability to do their usual daily chores. The depression can settle. Physical problems can prevent the senior from driving, reading, talking, or doing other things that allow them to stay independent or find meaning.
"Transitions are a very difficult time for someone in life, and if you are not prepared for this transition, you tend to notice all the behaviors that marginalize or distinguish you from others," Reed explains.
For Adler, it's a combination of factors that led her to want to end her days. She lives more than 1500 km from her daughter, whom she describes as a best friend, and this distance, as well as the isolation that ensued, proved difficult.
"It helps to be with other people … when [my daughter is] said Adler. So far from me, it seems quite hopeless. And I did something stupid … I could not stand it anymore. "
Rickard, a psychologist, believes that when her mother lost the ability to read books as a result of a stroke, her mental health was affected and she lost part of her identity.
Adler also says that, as an elderly person, she sometimes feels stigmatized – people avoid talking to her and do not want to engage her. Aging in America can be "very difficult," she says. "People do not talk to you."
Know what to watch
Research on suicide among the elderly is rare, which means that family members and caretakers often do not know the warning signs. But experts say that certain behaviors should be considered as warning signs. These include drug storage, rushing to revise a will, increasing consumption of alcohol or drugs, altering sleep patterns, sharing desperation statements, and social withdrawal.
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention also warns seniors who say goodbye or who feel like a burden.
Following a wave of suicides in nearby senior communities, Rickard founded the Coalition for Suicide Prevention in north-central Washington in 2012. The work of the coalition has helped to reduce the number of suicides in the region.
Rickard is now working as a program director at American Behavioral Health Systems, a provider of addiction treatment services. She is also leading one of the country's only pilot projects to train doctors and residents of long-term care facilities with the warning signs of suicide.
Rickard believes that through human contact, medical and psychiatric help, exercise, physical well-being, regular visits to primary care providers and hydration, people older people can improve their mental health.
"Often, it is thought that it is normal to age for people who feel bad, who live in a loss or who are experiencing a lot of grief and who are not recovering from their depression, when in fact they are very recoverable something we should target, "says Rickard.
Unfortunately, according to Rickard, seniors are often left behind in America.
"If we treated them, they would not feel like swimming in the middle of the ocean without a lifejacket," says Rickard.
As for her own mother, she says she hopes she realizes now that she can not do anything to become a "burden" for her. "It's a gift for her when she asks for help or I spend time with her or just spend time with her," says Rickard. "And what I hope millions of people hear in this message is that they are not a burden either."
If you or someone you know is planning to commit suicide, contact National suicide prevention lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (In Español: 1-888-628-9454; deaf and hard of hearing: 1-800-799-4889) or Crisis text line texting the house at 741741.
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