US Surgeon General

US Surgeon General

According to the United States Surgeon General (2004) Protective factors for suicide include:

·                     Effective clinical care for mental, physical, and substance use disorders

·                     Easy access to a variety of clinical interventions and support for help-seeking

·                     Restricted access to highly lethal means of suicide

·                     Strong connections to family and community support

·                     Support through ongoing medical and mental health care relationships

                 Skills in problem solving, conflict resolution, and nonviolent handling of dispute.

            Cultural and religious beliefs that discourage suicide and support self-preservation.

Halloween 2005

Two articles in the same newspaper caught my eye. One was American the other English.

The American report described a situation in which a woman hanged herself from a tree alongside a road. Apparently the body was there for three hours before anyone realised what had happened. Shoppers, passer-bys and motorists had all mistook her to be an Halloween decoration.

In the same newspaper there was the account of a man who'd gone missing from his home. He was later found on top of a very high bridge. The police were able to talk the man down. This done, he was promptly arrested, charged and fined eighty something pounds for trespassing on railway property.