Infographic 13.2: Suicide in the US

There are six sections in the infographic, each presenting information about suicide in the United States. Text under the title reads as follows: “In 2009, suicide emerged as the leading cause of death from injury in the United States, surpassing rates for homicide and traffic accidents (Rockett et al., 2012). Researchers examine suicide rates across gender, age, and ethnicity in order to better understand risk factors and to help develop suicide prevention strategies. Let’s take a look at what this means—and what you can do if a friend or family member might be contemplating suicide.” Section 1 reads “Among adults aged 18 or older, 8.7 million reported having serious thoughts about suicide in the past year. 1,100,000 attempted suicide.” Section 2 contains two subsections. Text subsection 1 reads “In 2010, someone died as a result of suicide almost every 14 minutes.” Subsection 2 reads “From 2000 to 2010, suicide rates increased by nearly 20%. A data chart next to the text shows deaths per 100,000 people on the y axis and year, from 2000 to 2010, on the x axis. The data line for the chart moves up and right over the chart, showing that deaths per 100,000 people rose from 10.4 in 2000 to 12.1 in 2010. Section 3 reads as follows: “Suicide is the leading cause of death for people aged 25 to 34, and the third leading cause of death for people aged 15 to 24. Until 2006, people aged 85 and older had the highest rate of suicide. Now people 45 to 64 years old have the highest suicide rate. The suicide rate for males is nearly 4 times higher than females. Section 4 is a bar graph showing number of people that commit suicide out of 100,000 for five racial demographics. The values are as follows: White, 14.1; American Indian and Alaskan Native, 11.0; Asian and Pacific Islander, 6.2; Hispanic, 5.9; Black, 5.1. Attached text reads “White Americans have the highest rate of suicide: In 2010, 14.1 out of every 100,000 died by suicide.” Section 5 is a list of risk factors for suicide. The risk factors read: “Previous suicide attempt(s); Family history of suicide or violence; Alcohol or drug abuse; Physical illness; History of depression or other mental illness; feeling alone.” Attached text reads “Ninety percent of those who commit suicide had a psychological disorder. Of these, 60% involved major depressive disorder. More than 80% of those people with disorders had not been receiving treatment at the time (Mann et al., 2005).” Section six is titled “If you believe a friend may be thinking about suicide”, and includes five suggestions, which read as follows. 1. “Encourage your friend to contact a responsible person who can help. This may be a counselor, teacher, or health-care professional. Or call a suicide prevention hotline.” 2. “Don’t be afraid to be wrong. Talking about suicide will not put the idea in your friend's head. Be direct and ask your friend if he is thinking about hurting himself.” 3. “Just talking with your friend can help. Listen without being judgmental.” 4. “If your friend admits that she has made a detailed plan or obtained a means of hurting herself, stay with her until help arrives or until she is willing to go talk with someone who can help.” 5. “Never agree to keep someone’s thoughts about suicide a secret.”