New research reveals that child and teen suicides rose in over a dozen states during the COVID-19 pandemic. A research letter published in JAMA Pediatrics this week found the proportion of suicide among adolescents increased in 14 states during the pandemic. This was not the first time healthcare professionals have sounded the alarm that poor mental health among young people has become a national state of emergency.
According to The Hill, researchers from Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Boston Children’s Hospital analyzed death certificates of people who died by suicide in 14 states and compared the data from 2020 to the numbers of suicides recorded from 2015 to 2019.
They found that the total number of adolescent deaths rose in Georgia, Indiana, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Virginia, and California during the first year of the pandemic. In Montana and Alaska, the total count and proportion of adolescent suicides decreased. In the six remaining states, Arkansas, Connecticut, Colorado, Nebraska, Ohio and Vermont, data was also examined and when the numbers were aggregated across all 14 states, the researchers found an overall increase in adolescent suicide rates, says The Hill. The results showed that adolescents accounted for a larger share in all suicides in 2020, about 6.5 %, compared to 5.9% during the previous five years, according to NBC News.
The new findings reflect the urgency of the situation as two high-profile athletes recently took their lives. Katie Meyer, a star goalkeeper on Stanford women’s soccer team, was found dead in her campus dorm in March. Her death was determined to be self-inflicted. University of Wisconsin track star Sarah Shulze died by suicide in April after her family said “balancing athletics, academics and the demands of everyday life overwhelmed her in a single, desperate moment.”
Suicide is the second leading cause of death for college students, says the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. In 2020, it was among the top nine leading causes of death for people ages 10 to 64, reveals NBC News.
Last October, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the Children’s Hospital Association, all declared adolescent mental health a national state of emergency, says The Hill.
Experts in all three organizations reported witnessing “soaring” rates of “depression, anxiety, trauma, loneliness and suicidality” among children, teens, and their families during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that emergency room visits for mental health reasons increased 31% during the first year of the pandemic.
Terri Erbacher, a school psychologist and co-author of Suicide in Schools: A Practitioner’s Guide to Multi-level Prevention, Assessment, Intervention, and Postvention, says that while school counselors, social workers, and psychologists can offer counseling, it may be more difficult for these professionals to evaluate and assess children and adolescents who are struggling emotionally.
“Warning signs for suicide are often hidden and best detected by those who know the child well, especially a parent,” she said. “Warning signs might include children appearing depressed, withdrawn, lacking energy, feeling hopeless about the future, or displaying overwhelming emotional distress.”
While Erbacher acknowledges that it may be difficult distinguishing COVID-19 anxiety from a real psychological struggle especially for teens, she encourages parents to have an open dialogue and ask their adolescents how they are feeling and more directly, if they have thoughts of suicide.
“Asking about suicide does not give the child the idea to do it,” she says. She adds that some children aren’t comfortable talking to their parents. A 24/7 resource is the National Suicide Hotline at 1-800-273-8255 or the Crisis Text Line which can be reached by texting HOME to 741741.
“It takes a village to keep children safe, especially during these unprecedented times” says Erbacher. “So, do not be afraid to reach out for help. Your child does not need to go through this alone, and neither do you.”