Conversation Continues During Suicide Prevention Month

Talking about suicide is uncomfortable, but necessary. Last week, a suicide prevention group was asked to leave the show Good Morning America because the show, and I quote “didn’t want suicide on the brain.”
 
Professional counselors and therapists from the group said that this is a a reminder that there is still work to be done and people need to talk about it.
 
“We as humans will talk about anything physical even if it is embarrassing," said Jackie Meyer, therapist at Counseling And Enrichment Center in O'Neill. "But when it comes to mental health, we don’t.”
 
Jackie Meyer has been a therapist for over 25 years, and has pushed this subject to the top of her talking points.
 
“Lets go with something more serious, and keep people alive,” Meyer said.
 
And talking about it, along with knowing what signs to look for is important.
 
“So when we look at suicide and depression, we need to be sure, first of all and ask “Are you suicidal?” and then go from there," Meyer explained. 
 
But Jackie Meyer says there is another step. "The second thing is to find out for sure, and then get them some help.”
 
“They are working, not out of their thinking brain, but out of their mid brain," Meyer explained. "Which is where there is no thinking going on. They are simply just reacting. So they look at this situation and say, I cant do anything about it. I am just a burden to everyone. I will just leave.”
 
Ignoring the symptoms of depression is like ignoring the symptoms of a broken leg or low blood sugar for a diabetic.
 
“So what we need to do is if we see something like verbal cues, indirect verbal cues, ‘Naw, I just don’t want to live much.’ ‘I’m just really tired. I wish I was in heaven with my husband.’ Or ‘I am just so down.’ These are indirect verbal cues," said Meyer. "We can have verbal cues which means ‘I could just kill myself.’ These are cues. Not necessarily true things. But they could be cues that this person really is suicidal.”
 
Meyer said that someone may not realize just how serious their depression is until they start talking about it with someone else.