Religious leaders have joined health professionals in several antisuicide initiatives. The goal is to save lives by stripping away feelings of shame that stop people from seeking help.

The statistics are grim: An estimated 765,000 Americans attempt suicide each year, according to the American Association of Suicidology, or AAS. Each suicide closely affects at least six people, experts estimate; with more than 752,000 suicides between 1972 and 1997, it's likely that there are 4.5 million suicide "survivors" in the country.

Religion long has treated suicide severely, telling people "if you commit suicide, you'll go to hell" says James T. Clemons, professor emeritus at Wesley Theological Seminary and president of the Organization for Attempters and Survivors of Suicide in Interfaith Services. But, in fact, "there is no explicit condemnation about suicide" in the Bible, he argues. The primary basis for labeling suicide a sin is the commandment "Thou shalt not kill," later interpreted to include killing oneself.

King Saul and Judas Iscariot were condemned for many acts, but not for their suicides, adds Clemons. "So if you ask me if suicide is a sin, I say no. It's a tragedy."

Clemons is organizing the first national interfaith conference on religion and suicide, one of several new antisuicide initiatives:

* The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, or AFSP, has received $1.2 million from Solvay Pharmaceuticals Inc. to mount a public information campaign on preventing teen suicide.

* A group of concerned parents and doctors in Wilmette, Ill., has formed a new organization focusing on bipolar disorder in children and teens. About one in five teens who commit suicide shows signs of the illness, also known as manic depression, according to the Child & Adolescent Bipolar Foundation.

* Screening programs in high school are identifying potentially suicidal youths when they could be referred for treatment. Such early intervention can help teens improve their mental health and prevent suicides, says David Shaffer of Columbia University's Department of Child Psychiatry.

With more than 30,500 deaths in 1997, suicide is the eighth-largest killer in the United States. Yet suicide is "the only major health problem where we blame the person suffering the pain or the illness and invest little time, energy and resources in acknowledging it or doing something about it," says Alan Ross, executive director for the Samaritans of New York. The Samaritans is the world's largest suicide-prevention network, with 400 hot lines and centers around the world, according to Ross.

Most of these attempts are by women -- three women try to commit suicide for every male. Among suicides who succeed, however, nearly 90 percent are male, and white males comprise the overwhelming majority of these deaths. "Men complete the suicide more often because firearms are their weapon of choice" says Ross. Other groups with high suicide rates are elderly people, people ages 15 to 24 and black males.

Prevention efforts got a boost last year when Surgeon General David Satcher made the unprecedented declaration that suicide is a threat to public health. Satcher called for a national suicide-prevention strategy, identification of risk factors, more treatment and support services and the strengthening of cultural and religious ties that foster self-preservation.

Even the Roman Catholic Church, which has been outspoken about suicide, has altered its policy on suicide. For decades, anyone who "deliberately committed suicide" could be excluded from a Catholic burial, says the Rev. James Coriden, a professor of church law at Washington Theological Union. But in 1983, that category was dropped.

Religious leaders who tackle volatile social issues such as domestic violence or abortion virtually ignore suicide -- except at funerals, says Clemons. This is a serious omission since "half the people in any congregation anywhere in the country ... have already been touched by suicide." He hopes that religious leaders will prepare written policies on suicide and enlist in prevention efforts. The Evangelical Lutheran Council, for instance, adopted a policy in November that says that "there is no shame in having suicidal thoughts or asking for help."

Meanwhile, groups such as the AFSP and Suicide Prevention Advocacy Network are working to publicize risk factors for suicide, such as:

* Mental illness such as depression, bipolar disorder and anxiety disorder.

* Access to a firearm.

* Substance abuse.

* Situational stress, such as the death of a loved one, loss of a job or chronic sickness.

* Repeated attempts at suicide, since many people try more than once.

Some researchers have linked suicide to family breakdown. For instance, studies have shown that suicide rates among the elderly are highest for those who are divorced or widowed. Researchers also have found that previously married men and women were more than 2.5 times more likely to attempt suicide than their married counterparts.

This would appear to indicate a "protective effect of marriage," says Ronald C. Kessler, whose study appeared last year in the Archives of General Psychiatry. Another study also published last year found "a strong relationship" between black male suicide and marital disruption and fatherlessness.

COPYRIGHT 2000 News World Communications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_16_16/ai_61934322

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