Suicide Prevention Week is everyone's concern

Suicide, the 10th leading cause of death in the United States affects virtually everyone in one way or the other.

Sometimes it is a family member who commits suicide, or it could be a friend, a neighbor or an acquaintance. Many times, it comes as a complete shock.

I speak from experience. Seemingly out of the blue, my beloved 42-year-old nephew committed suicide in 1996. He was an anesthetist at a local hospital. He left his home on a Saturday to run his usual weekend errands and never returned.

He had a great family - wife and two children, two parents and three siblings who adored him - and an excellent job. He was known for helping anyone in need. He was warm, loving and funny. He seemingly had it all. Even in retrospect there were no signs of what was to come. Until this day, we never have found out why he decided to take this drastic and ultimate step.

There is no single cause of suicide. In the United States in 2014, nearly 43,000 people took their lives; 69 percent of them were men; the most likely group, men between 45 and 64. Although it is the 10th leading cause of death nationally and the 11th leading cause in Pennsylvania, it is the No. 1 cause of death among 15 and 24 years old. One person dies by his or her own hand every 12 minutes in our country.

But why?

There are many theories advanced by professionals who attempt to help those contemplating suicide. Writing in Psychology Today, Dr. Todd B. Kashdan said that, in general, people do not commit suicide because they are in pain; they do so because they don't believe there is a reason to live.

Kashdan tells of a 6-year-old girl who stepped into a speeding train in 1993. She left a scrawled note saying that she "wanted to be with mommy," who recently died from a terminal illness.

"This is the power of the human mind," Kashdan wrote. "A girl in kindergarten thinks of the past and imagines a future that is so bleak, so devoid of meaningful moments without her mom, that she takes her own life."

If a 6-year-old is capable of leaping into the path of an oncoming train, then we need to step up our efforts to understand human motivation, Kashan said.

This is National Suicide Prevention Week. Many schools and organizations across the country are marking the event by holding awareness seminars, setting up information booths. One of them is Lehigh Carbon Community College, where a support volunteer group placed white flags on the college's quad - one for each of the 1,100 college students who take their own lives across the U.S. each year.

There are five myths about suicide:

• People who talk about suicide won't really do it.

• Those who try to kill themselves must be crazy.

• If a person is determined to kill him or herself, nothing is going to stop them.

• People who commit suicide were unwilling to seek help.

• Talking about suicide might give someone the idea.

The Bo Tkach Memorial Foundation was created to raise awareness of obsessive compulsive disorder and mental health issues and to fund various youth programs for the betterment of children in our community.

The parents of Travis "Bo" Tkach, a 2001 graduate of Northern Lehigh High School and a 2007 magna cum laude grad of Wilkes College, set up the foundation in their son's honor after he took his life following a struggle with depression and obsessive compulsive disorder.

If you or someone you know needs help, please call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 800-273-8255. It is activated for both English- and Spanish-speaking individuals 24 hours a day. Or you can visit the organization's website - www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org.