In early 2020, my husband, the love of my life, took his life. He was 34 years old. His suicide was completely unexpected. He left letters revealing that he had struggled with anxiety and trauma his entire life; however, he kept these feelings completely hidden. When he ended his life, there were no visible […]
Governor Jesse Ventura's lack of sympathy for persons driven by brain disorders to commit suicide stands as an example of the ignorance and stigma that still needs to be overcome in American society in the treatment of mental illness.
NAMI commends Surgeon General David Satcher, M.D. for his leadership in producing the National Suicide Prevention Strategy being released today, building on his Call to Action to Prevent Suicide in 1999.
Firearms are responsible for the majority of suicide deaths in the U.S. In an effort to identify handgun purchasers at risk of suicide, researchers retroactively tested the reliability of a machine learning algorithm on a database of handgun purchases in the state of California from 1996-2015. Purchasing a revolver-style handgun, female gender, white race/ethnicity, […]
NAMI's medical director shares his experience with stigma around suicide in his personal life and in the psychiatric community.
[…] days in a row to show my dedication to this cause. Now, two years later, I’m a full-fledged mental health advocate. I present NAMI In Our Voice and am trained in suicide prevention. I take every opportunity available to make the world better for people with mental illness. I have not attended any formal classes nor had a […]
[…] us bereft. While nothing can erase the horrible tragedy of Robin Williams’ death, something remarkable emerged in its aftermath. Immediately upon hearing the news of Robin Williams’ suicide, people began to speak about depression and mental illness. Articles blanketed the newspapers and internet as so many shared their own experiences with the disease. Mental […]
On October 17th, the President signed the National Suicide Designation Act of 2020 which establishes, in law, 9-8-8 as a universal number for mental health crises and suicide prevention. The law enables states to enact fees similar to those in place for 9-1-1 that will support the need for expanded services at the local […]
In this webinar, experts from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) and National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) will present the Blueprint for Youth Suicide Prevention and outline key strategies to prevent suicide in clinics and communities.
It's called "suicide by cop," in which a suicidal individual deliberately seeks to create a dangerous situation so that police are forced to shoot. Like Mr. Pickett, sometimes the person is only wounded. Other times, the shooting is fatal.
NAMI HelpLine is available M-F, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m. ET. Call 800-950-6264,
text “helpline” to 62640, or chat online. In a crisis, call or text 988 (24/7).
