It’s Movember again, and City Dads Groups across the country again are supporting the campaign to bring awareness and funding to research and treatment of men’s health issues, both mental and physical.
Dr. Sally Spencer-Thomas joins us on the Modern Dads Podcast to discuss suicide prevention and the Carson J. Spencer Foundation, on organization she co-founded after her brother took his own life in 2004. She talks about the suicide prevention programs they run to reach men in most need of support and least likely to seek it. She also talks about how dad communities like ours can be part of the solution.
** Listen to our suicide prevention podcast now **
The suicide rate increased 33 percent from 1999 through 2017, from 10.5 to 14 suicides per 100,000 people, according to the National Centers for Health Science. Rates have increased more sharply since 2006. Suicide ranks as the fourth leading cause of death for people ages 35 to 54, and the second for 10- to 34-year-olds. It remains the 10th leading cause of death overall.
Men of all ages are more likely than women to commit or attempt suicide with the likelihood of men committing suicide being close to four times more than that of women. Suicide rates in the US have been on a constant rise in the last thirty years. With 28.9 deaths per 100,000 people, Montana has the highest suicide rate in the US according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
White people in the US have recorded the highest rates of suicide at 14.7% followed by Native Americans at 10.9%, Hispanics at 6.3%, Asians, and Pacific Islanders at 5.9% with the lowest rates being among black Americans at 5.5%. Firearms are the most used methods in suicide with 49.9% of the deaths, followed by suffocation at 26.7%, and poisoning at 15.9% other methods contribute to 7.5% of the deaths. Due to the stigma associated with suicide, most of the cases go unreported. Suicide rates in the US have increased by 24% in last fifteen years from 10.5 to 13.0 persons in 100,000 persons.
You may also be interested in listening to these other Modern Dads Podcasts about Movember and men’s health issues:
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