Suicide? We Can Prevent Suicide! Please Read and Share
There has been much controversy over the years between professionals, arguing if suicide is preventable or not.
After being in the world as a counselor and minister and more for 42 years, I can tell you I believe that probably 90% of suicides are preventable!
And what about the 10%?
In our practice, we see people with extremely deep mental and emotional dysfunction, that will not or cannot for whatever reason get help, be a percentage of the population that we may not be able to save… But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try!
And what about the 90%… Why do I think this is preventable?
Because as someone who attempted to take his own life in 1990, and what I’ve learned after working with so many people who have had a friend or a child or a family member commit suicide… I truly believe that a huge percentage of these are preventable.
I have had the opportunity to work with families whose teenage children have committed suicide and help them to grieve and heal…
I’ve worked with middle-aged family members where one of the parents took their life and we had to work with the children and the remaining parent to be able to process what just happened!
And I’ve worked with families where an older parent has chosen to take their life and help them work through this tragedy to try to come out with some sense of closure or peace, which is not an easy thing to do at all.
So from my own personal experience, and then over the last 42 years working with so many families grieving after a family member, or a friend, or a neighbor or a coworker has taken their life… It is such a horrendous thing to go through and at the same time, there are things that we can do to help prevent it.
Let me share some statistics from the CDC:
Number One. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States
Number Two. In 2019 47,000 Americans committed suicide
Number Three. In 2019 more than 1.3 million Americans attempted to commit suicide.
Number Four. That’s 130 Americans a day who commit suicide, and 22 of those are United States veterans!
But here’s the great news… The brilliant news… What we need to focus on…
“93% of Americans believe suicide can be prevented!“
That is an incredibly beautiful statistic and one that we need to really focus on.
So what are the causes, or just a few of the causes that might make someone consider, deeply consider taking their own life?
Number One. Extremely poor health, either mental and or physical.
Number Two. Addiction, any type of addiction can continually wear down the confidence, and self-esteem, leading people to stay stuck in the more negative mindset, and at one point they feel helpless, hopeless in their addiction and how it makes them feel, think and act.
Number Three. Fear of asking for help. This runs through the veins of almost every American. But it really runs through the veins of our active military personnel, veterans, and even first responders.
Since I have worked with veterans, active military, and first responders who were incredibly depressed, despondent and had suicidal ideation or suicidal thoughts, every one of these individuals told me in our private confidential sessions that they were so afraid to go to their superiors, their managers, or their commanders because it would be put in their file that they were depressed and it would greatly reduce their chances of promotion!
Number Four. The feeling that no one cares. So many of our veterans have expressed this to me that they go and they put their life on the line for our country and when they return? They’re not getting the support they need with therapy, they’re not getting the support they need with financial education, they’re not getting the support they need with their career and where do they go after being in the military?
One veteran who I recently spoke to said that he became so depressed and so despondent, after applying for a job and letting the individual know that he was a veteran, and the response from the employer was “I don’t care if you’re a veteran that means nothing to me.“
Can you imagine how that would make you feel after serving your country?
Number Five. Diagnosed, or undiagnosed, mental health conditions like anxiety, depression, insomnia, bipolar, borderline personality disorder, and more.
The longer the lack of treatment for these mental health conditions go, the greater the chance of someone beginning to think about taking their own life.
So what can we do?
Let’s start with these very simple tips:
Number One. Please share this article everywhere! Please share this with your friends, coworkers, your social media platforms, please share this everywhere!
Number Two. Ask for help starting today with any addictions to drugs, alcohol, food, gambling, sex… Every addiction creates a total imbalance of brain chemistry, which we need to eliminate to decrease the number of suicides and suicide attempts every year.
Number Three. Acceptance of the fact that mental health challenges are a part of life for many like me, that mental health challenges are fixable.
Acceptance of the fact that in order to heal we must be willing to ask for help!
Everything that I mentioned above takes a person with confidence, to be able to reach out and ask for help, I know it’s not the easiest thing to do but it is so pertinent in regards to decreasing suicide attempts and the loss of so many lives every year.
Number Four. Exercise! I know this sounds so simple, but in every client that I’ve ever worked with who has attempted suicide and failed, we put them on an exercise program, and within three months the endorphins are flowing and they are feeling better!
Number Five. Healthy friendships, healthier relationships.
If someone is prone to depression, or extreme negative thinking, or any other mental health issue, we need to make sure we’re surrounded by extremely healthy, grounded, addiction-free friends and associates.
This is one of the biggest keys I believe, that we need to look at when people are struggling with suicidal ideation, the concept that suicide is an option for them to get out of their own pain.
Number Six. We need corporations, the government, the military, and all organizations to offer more emotional support, more counseling, more therapy, more life coach assistance for their staff, employees, and more!
It’s so sad to know that there are counselors and therapists and coaches in this world who could truly help people manage the pain they’re in, and reduce greatly the suicide statistics listed above, but we need corporations even sports leagues to make it OK to ask for mental health help!
I have mentioned above many organizations that fall short of giving the veterans and first responders the mental health help they need, there are many corporations that are dropping the ball regarding mental health needs, and even major-league sports, need to open the doorway and to encourage more of their athletes to get the mental health help needed starting right now!
We want to make a difference! That’s why I created Helping Americans Heal™, to help everyone with mental health challenges, financial challenges, relationship challenges, and more.
We encourage you to join our program at https://davidessel.com/helping-americans-heal/
I survived the attempt on my own life, and I know that there is so much help out there for not only myself but for you and everyone we know.
My long-standing depression, my long-standing undiagnosed anxiety, my long-standing ADD, and undiagnosed ADHD until my 30s, created so much hell in my life that I leaned on alcohol and drugs to numb the pain so I could do the work that I’ve been doing for 42 years.
When I survived my own attempt and got the professional help necessary, both the psychiatrist and the counselor were not surprised at all that I had come to the place of desiring to leave this world because I had so many mental health conditions that were never diagnosed and never treated!
Since that day in 1990, I have put so much effort into making sure that I’m surrounded by healthy people, that I’m surrounded by healthy habits like exercise, prayer, meditation, journaling, nutrition…
I dropped all my addictions and got the help necessary and I want you to do the same!
Please! Please! When you start to feel that vortex suck you into the bowels of the earth, which is what it feels like when you want out at any cost, reach out to me!
Reach out to anyone!
And once again I must beg you, please share this article with all of your friends, family members, coworkers, and especially on social media!
We can destroy the stigma around asking for help, and diminish the suicide rate dramatically in the USA!
We can do it together, but we must work together every day to get these messages out!
I love you, so very much, David.“
David Essel‘s work is highly endorsed by individuals like the late Wayne Dyer, and celebrity Jenny McCarthy says “David Essel is the new leader of the positive thinking movement.“
His work as a counselor and minister has been verified, by so many organizations like Psychology Today, Therapy Tribe, Theravive, and marriage.com has verified David is one of the top counselors and relationship experts in the world.
To work with David one on one for any mental or physical challenges, please visit https://www.davidessel.com
