According to the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation’s website, the national average suicide rate is 11.5 per 100,000 individuals. Athens County is higher than that average, with 11.8 suicides per 100,000 individuals.
Editor’s Note: If you or anyone you know has suicidal thoughts, please call the Hopewell Health Center Crisis Hotline at (740) 593-3344 available 24/7 or Ohio University’s Counseling and Psychological Services’ 24-hour hotline at (740) 593-1616.
Suicide rates in Athens County were lower than usual in 2014; with four suicides recorded by the Athens County Coroner’s office, though local officials said the factors that commonly cause depression are still prevalent in the county.
Between 2010 and 2013, there were six to 11 suicides per year in Athens County, according to records from the coroner’s office, with more than half being a result of a gunshot wound.
According to the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation’s website, the national average suicide rate is 11.5 per 100,000 individuals. Athens County, however, sees an average of 11.8 suicides per 100,000 individuals.
Athens County Sheriff Rodney Smith said he receives calls to his office weekly regarding suicide attempts or threats.
“We need to keep working on letting people know that there’s somewhere to turn,” Smith said.
110 calls related to suicides were made to the sheriff’s office between November of 2013 and November of 2014. Of those calls, 72 were threats, 35 were attempts and three were calls reporting a suicide had occurred.
When the Sheriff’s Office receives a call relating to a suicide attempt, Smith said deputies are dispatched to the location and try everything in their power to talk the person out of suicide.
“You have to think and do something pretty quickly – you need to be able to talk them down,” Smith said.
Sometimes, though, deputies arrive at a scene where a person might attempt “suicide by cop,” which is when a citizen tries to force the deputy to shoot him or her. Smith said suicide by cop attempts become more prevalent each year.
“I’ve experienced it, but it worked out so I didn’t have to use deadly force,” Smith said. “I’ve said (in those situations) ‘Give me two minutes and talk to them about anything they want.’ I’ve always been lucky enough to have that.”
Some experts have pointed to the concentrated poverty in Athens County as the main cause for higher suicide rates.
“The feeling of hopelessness goes along with poverty,” Chris Henry, director of crisis services at Hopewell Health Center, said. “Poverty can make it much harder for people to get treatment.”
Henry said when individuals face being in poverty, they might be prone to more impulsive tendencies, which could lead to an increase in suicides by gunshot wound.
Henry attributed the more than 50 percent rate of suicides by gunshot wound to the probable popularity of Athens residents owning guns.
According to a report compiled by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, 214 concealed carry licenses were issued to Athens County residents in 2014, and 213 were renewed.
“People who have suicidal thoughts can have moments of impulsivity,” Henry said.
According to individual death notices for those that committed suicide in 2014, the most common age group affected by suicidal thoughts in Athens County included middle-aged and young adults.
Henry said there is an assortment of reasons that could contribute to higher suicide rates in those two age groups.
“Mid-life crisis can occur,” he said, “Changes in life periods make those folks the most vulnerable.”
Athens City-County Health Commissioner James Gaskell said high suicide rates could also be a result of depression, opiate use or poverty levels.
“We have a number of psychologist and mental health facilities here in Athens to help those people,” Gaskell said.
Gaskell said if poverty levels were to be reduced, suicide prevention could be achieved on a greater scale. Additionally, he said, depression and a lack of good self-image can lead to drug usage.
There are several resources people can reach out to in Athens if they’re feeling suicidal, Henry said, including the Athens County 317 Board’s Suicide Prevention Coalition and the additional psychological counseling available to Ohio University students.
“The university does a good job of making their resources known and available,” Henry said.
He said he works closely with OU’s Dean of Students, Jenny Hall-Jones, and keeps track of the students that are considered to be “at risk.”
Ohio University offers psychological care at Hudson Health Center through Counseling and Psychological Services, which is located at the building’s third floor. After a brief 30-minute session, the center is able to determine what kind of help the individual needs.
“Some people handle pressures better than others,” Smith said. “They just need someone to talk to.”
@fair3julia
Jf311013@ohio.edu
