While the stigma of suicide leads to underreporting, as the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention says, it is important to let the public know the real score to make sure that the Americans see the alarming situation of people under distress.
Science Daily reports that, screening for suicide risk is to be prioritized among publicly insured urban children who have psychological distress cases, as per the new study from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.
Suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in America, having an average of 117 cases everyday. Although the category for teen cases (under 20 years of age) has the lowest rate of suicide, still the developing number becomes alarming. And the study shows that most of the urban children are prone to distress and later suicide.
The study used the data on socio-demographic and clinical characteristics to see what influences the suicide risk among the urban sample of children (ages ranging from 12 below), who are receiving psychiatric emergency services. The results show that approximately 17.2 percent of them had a history of suicidal thought and behavior.
The black children have major need for psychiatric emergency services but the study validates that the rate does not have significant difference in suicide risk across ethnic groups. The prevalence rates were increasingly higher in whites, Latinos and blacks, the blacks being the lowest.
Sean Joe, the leader of the study, says that: "These findings suggest that all children, regardless of ethnic group, should be examined for suicidality when presenting at psychiatric emergency service with known risk factors, and that more study is warranted on this topic,". Kids suffer from behavioral disorder, mood disorder, psychotic disorder, and so forth at different levels. It is, therefore, important to attend to their psychiatric needs to regulate the possible inflation of the suicide rates among the little ones. They need help.
