The words we use to describe mental illness - how they matter

We hear the words often - words that imply that a person is a disease and the disease is a person. For example, we may say that someone is a diabetic or a hypertensive. But that's not right. The diabetes and the hypertension (high blood pressure) don't define the person. The person lives with or has diabetes or hypertension. Do you see the difference?

This use of words is particularly important when it comes to mental health. Someone may say that a sibling or coworker is a schizophrenic or that someone committed suicide. The first is wrong for the same reason that saying someone is diabetic is wrong. But what is wrong with "committed suicide?" A lot really, because people commit crimes - and suicide isn't a crime. 

Someone I love killed himself. I don't say he committed suicide. I say he killed himself or he took his life. He didn't commit a crime and by implying it with the words, his death is stigmatized even more.

How we use words evolves over time and writers and journalists play a role in how this happens. If writers repeat hurtful or incorrect terminology or phrases, the readers begin to think that this is normal and what they should be using too. Because of this, I was glad to see that the Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence and Trauma partnered last year with CBC News (the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), to put together a comprehensive guide on writing about mental health. Mindset - Reporting on Mental Health was compiled to help Canadian journalists navigate the waters of reporting on mental illness. The English version was launched last week, April 24, and is now available for download.

While it was written for Canadian journalists, there is no reason why English-speaking writers and journalists from around the world can't use the guide. It addresses issues about how not all mental illness can be put into one category, how the majority of people with mental illnesses don't commit crimes, interviewing techniques, and mental illness and the law - among other things.

It's an interesting read for students who will be working in social fields, such as psychology, teaching, policing, social work, law, and so many other professions. It's also interesting for the general public, because it gives some context to the issue of mental illness and how we talk about it. 

Think about it - how do you talk about mental illness? I know that I learned quite a bit from just browsing the document. 

Suicide Prevention Across the Globe

Next week, September 10, is World Suicide Prevention Day as designated by the World Health Organization (WHO). I've written about suicide a few times on this blog - it's a topic that too many people would prefer to avoid. If we don't talk about it, acknowledge it, then it isn't really a problem, right?

According to the WHO, every 40 seconds, there is one death to suicide somewhere in the world, one million people each year. In 2005, my brother was one of those 1 million people. He was only 35 years old. "The number of lives lost through suicide exceeds the number of deaths due to homicide and war combined," says a WHO fact sheet. It is one of the leading causes of death among young people. These numbers are just the successful suicides, not the attempted ones.

Thousands of people are dying each day because something has broken inside them. In many cases, with the right resources, what was broken could have been fixed.  You may want to read this blog post I wrote in 2007. I think it's pretty relevant still today: Suicide, not a disease, so no walkathons, ribbons, or research race.

Too many people have opinions about suicide. They may say that those who choose to die are cowards, unable to man-up and face the world. Others say that they are to be pitied. Others get angry at the person who died, because of the pain they left behind, feeling that the dead person took the easy way out. After my brother died, I was speaking to a priest who was president of the high school my sons attended at the time. As a Catholic, I know what the Church says about suicide. The priest asked if I wanted him to say a prayer at JP's grave. When I said something about the Church's view of suicide, this older man, well beyond retirement age, got angry and said, "Anyone who takes his life is ill. He died of an illness and that is not to be condemned in any way." I've never forgotten his words. Sadly, he died himself, suddenly, before he could say that prayer. But as someone who is not really religious, I took a lot of comfort from his words. Here was someone who understood.

How can you help reduce the suicide rate? Acknowledge that it happens. Talk about it. Don't dismiss the topic if it comes up. It may be unpleasant, but it's important. Often, when people find out that I have a brother who died young, they are shocked that I will tell him that he committed suicide. They aren't so much shocked about the suicide itself, but that I will openly say it. Why? Because it's an uncomfortable reminder that this occurs, even to people they know. But it has to be said. It wasn't all that long ago that the words "breast cancer" were whispered. Why should "suicide" be whispered?

The WHO offers suggestions on how you can help fight the stigma of mental illness and the risk of suicide. If you can do only one thing, you've done something important and may save a life.

On September 10, at 8 pm, please consider joining us in lighting a candle of hope.

If it's suicide prevention week in Quebec...

Where the hell does it say anything about it?

I am really upset, really upset. Starting today, February 3, through to the 9, it is suicide prevention week in Quebec, Canada. But, can I find anything about it? No. Do I see anything about it? Yes, a tiny little three line blurb in a weekly local paper that just says that it's Suicide Prevention Week. That's it.

I did a search on-line and came up with nothing about it. Nothing.

Quebec has one of the highest suicide rates in Canada. Suicide is one of the leading causes of death among young men in Quebec. Do you think there would be a bit more noise about it?

To be fair, the colleges and universities are holding events and information sessions on suicide prevention - this is targeting an important group. The initiative to get this information into the schools is a huge step in the right direction when, at one time, you could't talk about suicide in the schools.

My frustration lies in the lack of information out there for the people who aren't attending school and - in my mind - ones who may be even more at risk of ending their life. Those who are school drop outs, who are unemployed or in dead end jobs. The disadvantaged, the homeless, the lonely ones. How will the news get out to them or those who love them? We need more action. We need more help.

Suicide is real. It affects the survivors every day. I had lost touch with my brother before he took his life at the age of 35, but I thought of him often before and I think of him often now. I think of the legacy he left behind for his two sons. Did you know that if a parent committed suicide, your own risk of suicide rises? And the irony of it all? He took his life during Suicide Prevention Week. He died three years ago this month.

I wrote about this last year, Suicide, not a disease, so no walkathons, ribbons, or research race. I'm just as passionate about it now. I try to bring the topic to the surface; I don't hide that JP killed himself. People need to know that people they know are touched by this. They need to know how close to home it can be.

I know most of my readers are not in Quebec - but you don't need to be here to make it an issue where you are. Please.

Gambling and addictions

Addictions are everywhere, from alcohol to drugs to gambling. We know that addictions are serious but there are many people who are quick to label any type of obsessive behaviour over which they feel they have no control, as addictions. I used to feel that way about gambling. In my mind, it was “get over it, just stop.” Until I learned that gambling truly can be an addiction.

I thought of this last night as my husband and I went for our annual casino adventure. Montreal has a casino run by Loto-Quebec that was supposed to be mainly for visitors, but a good look at the parking lot and listening to conversation in the casino, it’s patently obvious that the majority of the patrons are from Quebec and the Montreal area. You can see that many of them are very regular visitors.

I see going to the casino as having a bit of fun with a bit of “who knows? Maybe we’ll come out ahead.” Alas, we didn’t – our allotted spending amount was depleted in short order. But, in all seriousness, gambling has become a big problem. According to Statistics Canada , “Whether buying lottery tickets, visiting casinos or participating in hockey pools, Canadians are gambling more than ever before. In 2004, Canadians bet a total of $12.4 billion—more than a fourfold increase from the $2.7 billion wagered in 1992.”

More recent statistics from Stats Canada, from 2006, show that up to 1.2 million Canadian adults are either addicted to gambling or are at risk of developing the addiction. That’s 5% of the total adult population, and 6% of all Canadian gamblers. The statistics go on to show that of the 1.2 million, 10% of them, 120,000 people, are having financial problems, are depressed, anxious, or are alcoholics.

The Canada Safety Council has even more sobering statistics when looking at gambling and suicide. A report from 2004 from Nova Scotia states that problem gambling was a factor in 6.3% of suicides in that province. This type of statistic is only available in Nova Scotia and not other provinces because it is required that suicide investigation includes asking about gambling while no other province does.

Ready for another scary statistic? In a study from Quebec of college students, 26.8% of pathological gamblers had attempted suicide. Compare this with the average rate of attempted suicide of 7.2% among college students who don’t gamble.

One more: In the US, a survey of Gamblers Anonymous members found that 48% had considered suicide, 13% attempted it.

Then, there are the other fall outs of gambling, such as isolation from family, domestic abuse, theft, and job loss, among others. And gambling doesn’t have to be the legalized casino-type gambling. What of the people who spend a substantial part of their pay or social income on provincial and state run lotteries? What of bingos and other sorts of legalized gambling. Of course, there is the behind-the-scenes type of gambling as well, the poker games, the sports betting, there’s no end to it.

Makes me feel a bit guilty about spending my evening at the casino last night.

News for today (hey, it's August!)
Laser printers can affect air quality, researchers say
Skipping doses is 'crisis' in U.S., report says
Anorexia nervosa -- more common and transient than previously thought
Study shows radiofrequency ablation highly effective in treating kidney tumors
Screening MRI allows detection of more breast cancers in high-risk women
Study Offers New Look at “Self-Neglect” Among Older Persons

Suicide, not a disease, so no walkathons, ribbons, or research race

There was more news about suicide yesterday in the papers. This time it’s about whether some antidepressants really do raise or lower the risk of suicide. I don’t know – I’m not an expert in that department. I think suicide is way more complicated than if a drug helps or prevents it. What I do know is that suicide hurts like hell. My baby brother took his life in February 2005. He was 35 years old.

Quebec has one of the highest young male suicide rates in the country. Young men are one of the highest risk groups for suicide. In a youth suicide report published by the Canadian Task Force on Preventative Health Care, it says: “Suicide has accounted for about 2% of annual deaths in Canada since the late 1970s. Eighty percent of all suicides in 1991 involved men. The male:female ratio for suicide risk was 3.8 to 1. In both males and females, the greatest increase between 1960 and 1991 occurred in the 15- to 19-year age group, with a four-and-a-half-fold increase for males, and a three-fold increase for females.”

Statistics aren’t that much better in the United States. Published in Explaining the Rise in Youth Suicide, by David M. Cutler, Edward L. Glaeser, and Karen E. Norberg, March 2001, are these findings: “Suicide rates among youths aged 15-24 have tripled in the past half-century, even as rates for adults and the elderly have declined. For every youth suicide completion, there are nearly 400 suicide attempts.”

According to an article by Stewart Tendler that appeared in the London Times, UK, in November 2004, suicides made up 13% of the inquest deaths in England and Wales in 2003. Compared with 744 women who committed suicide, 2,511 men did. Although the numbers in the UK seem to have stabilized, it is still the younger men, between 15 and 24 years, who have the highest suicide rate.

Excuse me? Did I read that correctly? Eighty percent of the suicides in Canada in 1991 involved men?? Suicide rates have tripled in the US among older teens and there were 1,767 more men in the UK who committed suicide than women? Between 1960 and 1991, there was a 4.5-fold increase for males and a 3-fold increase for females in Canada? Where is the outcry? Where is the demand for something to be done about this? Oh, right, I forgot, we don’t talk about suicide. It makes people uncomfortable. Talking about suicide means that we have to talk about mental illness, depression, pain, and despair. Not exactly cocktail chatter.

I’ve read, although I can’t pull the sources right now, that the rate among young men may actually be higher because of accidents that are really disguised suicides without actual intent, meaning that some of the young men who crash their cars or do dumb stunts that result in death may actually be playing with suicidal behaviour. I can’t back that up, but I do recall reading it. I wonder if there is some merit to that though.

Action has to be taken to help those young people who feel that there is no other outlet, no other way to solve their problems than to end their lives. I’m not a psychologist or a social worker. I don’t have the answers to any of the questions of how to stop this, but if people were dying at these rates of a disease, or some sort of fatal accident, I’m sure that people would be taking action. The only way action is going to happen is if we start to talk about the people who we lose through suicide. We need to bring it out to the forefront of people’s thoughts. We need to do something because our young people, our young men, are so desperate that they see no other way out.

Do I sound angry? I am. I’m angry, upset, saddened, and frustrated. JP was 35 years old. He had a rough life and was never able to get the help he really needed. He hung himself on a Friday night in February. He was alone.

I would do anything to get my brother back. The help I gave him wasn’t enough. The help his friends gave him wasn’t enough. His two young sons weren’t enough. We all tried in our own way, stumbling through the mental health minefield. The help I did give wasn’t enough, he couldn’t take it. I don’t know why, but it didn’t work. I miss him and my mind often goes to where he must have been before he died. My heart still cries for him and probably always will.

We have to stop this. We have to.

Today's News:
Suicide Findings Question Link to Antidepressants
Western diet linked to breast cancer in Asian women
Aging: Some Antidepressants Tied to Bone Loss, Findings Show
Chronic insomnia linked to depression, anxiety
A Healthy Diet Promotes Healthy Lungs