Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among people ages 15-24. But dig a little deeper, and the statistics surrounding suicide are complex, and at times can seem contradictory.

Studies show women are more likely to attempt suicide, but men are more likely to be successful. Suicide rates vary among racial groups. National data shows between 7 and 10 percent of undergraduates will consider suicide during the course of the academic year, but less than 1 percent of those people will attempt suicide.

“What is it about college students that make them different from other age groups in terms of suicide?” said Max Malikow, a psychotherapist who teaches an honors course at Syracuse University on the psychology of suicide. “In some cases, nothing.”

In a 2014 national survey of college counseling center employees, 94 percent of directors reported a trend of an increasing number of students with severe psychological problems. That trend is reflected at SU, where the Counseling Center has seen an increase in the number of students accessing its emergency services.

While suicide is the second-leading cause of death among 15-24 year olds, it is rarely caused by a single factor.

The issue is complex, and experts say colleges across the country have adjusted or added mental health resources as a result of more awareness, or in some cases as a result of suicide clusters. These services, while not always well known to students, are critical in the prevention of suicide as well as in the aftermath of a student death.

Malikow wrote his doctoral dissertation on the topic of suicide. Since then, he’s practiced as a therapist and taught the subject. The things that drive suicide are present in all age groups, he said, but a couple factors separate college students from other groups.

Going away to college often involves a difficult social transition. While some students find that exciting and see it as a great social experience, others don’t always get into the social flow, Malikow said. That can lead to a sense of loneliness and isolation.

Other factors, such as depression, feelings of rage or despair, substance abuse or dealing with a profoundly difficult circumstance can also contribute to why a person might be considering suicide. But the way a younger person views those circumstances differs from those with more life experience, Malikow said.

“Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem,” he said. “But how do we know that a problem is temporary? The advantage to being older is you have enough life experience to see most problems — even profound problems — life experience teaches you that you’ll be able to get over them.”

In a 2014 National Survey of College Counseling Centers that included 275 schools, respondents reported that 125 students committed suicide in the previous year. Eighty-six percent of them had not sought counseling center assistance, according to the report.

Cory Wallack, director of the Counseling Center at SU, said the school has seen a 66 percent increase in the number of students using the center’s services in the last five years, as well as an increase in the number of students accessing its emergency services.

Frankie Prijatel | Senior Staff Photographer

While the center has seen an increase in appointments and use of services in each of Wallack’s 13 years at SU, he said the numbers can be difficult to interpret. The rise doesn’t automatically mean more students are dealing with mental illness, but it could mean students are seeking help more often.

The services offered by most colleges now include measures of prevention, intervention and postvention, which refers to the actions a school takes in the aftermath of a student suicide. Experts say it’s normal for those close to someone who committed suicide to feel guilt, anger or confusion. Postvention partly aims to help those close to the deceased deal with those feelings.

On the Counseling Center’s website, there is a “crisis help” tab that lists various resources and assistance numbers, as well as a separate page that includes potential warning signs for depression and suicide. In addition, a therapist is available for students with mental health emergencies who walk into the center during the day.

At SU, when a student contacts the Counseling Center saying they are having suicidal thoughts, a staff member will conduct a risk assessment, which will determine a corresponding treatment plan. The focus is on establishing a safety plan and getting the student into therapy, Wallack said.

If a third party contacts the center about a student who might be having thoughts of suicide, Wallack said staff will gather as much information as possible about the student from the third party. If university therapists already know the student, they reach out to them saying someone has expressed concern about their well-being.

If the student is unknown to the staff, the Counseling Center will attempt to connect with the student through the third party, or could ask the Department of Public Safety to do a wellness check and put the student in touch with the center, depending on the urgency of the situation, Wallack said.

The university also partners with St. Joseph’s Hospital, Upstate Medical University Hospital and other local organizations for assistance with additional assessment, treatment and stabilization, Wallack said.

In terms of postvention, Wallack said SU follows many of the guidelines laid out in the Higher Education Mental Health Alliance’s postvention guide. For example, multiple offices are involved in supporting the friends, family and classmates of the deceased, regardless of cause of death. Hendricks Chapel also plays a role in providing an outlet for grieving students following campus tragedies.

In addition, the guide lays out specifics such as how to deal with the deceased student’s social media profiles in the aftermath of a suicide, when it’s appropriate to hold memorial events and how to plan a memorial service and communication with faculty.

“One of the things we know is young people are more at risk for contagion,” said Victor Schwartz, medical director at the Jed Foundation, which aims to prevent suicide and promote emotional health and college campuses. Contagion occurs when a campus death can slightly increase the risk of another person experiencing suicidal thoughts or committing suicide.

While having serious thoughts of suicide occurs each year among 7-10 percent of students, Schwartz said it’s important to recognize suicide is relatively rare among students. Statistics show that for every 1,000 students with suicidal thoughts, one dies by suicide, he said.

There’s no official or orderly way of tracking suicides on college campuses in the United States, but Schwartz said the information researchers do have suggests the suicide rate of college students has slightly decreased.

A study done in 1980 showed that, on average, there were 7.5 suicide deaths per 100,000 people. The latest data, from information gathered between 2004 and 2009, showed that number decreasing to 6.6 per 100,000.

Schwartz added that the suicide rate among people attending college is actually lower than 18-to-25-year-olds not attending college. For that group, the average is about 12 or 13 suicides per year for every 100,000 people. Schwartz said he attributes this decrease to increased awareness, more reporting on the issue and an increased likelihood of students seeking help.

While he acknowledged there are societal stresses and an increase in competition on college campuses over the past few decades, Schwartz said schools are doing a better job of getting people to ask for help, and getting them to ask for help sooner. In order to maintain that trend, publicizing a school’s available services is critical, Schwartz said.

Malikow, the therapist who teaches at SU, added that education is an important factor in preventing suicide.

“That education would include telling the friends and associates of anyone who might be suicidal that it’s better to lose a friendship than a friend,” Malikow said, referring to when someone who is having suicidal thoughts may not want a friend to share that information with anyone.

Being familiar with warning signs, knowing what resources are available and advertising those resources and having a memorable help hotline number are all critical in getting help for those who need it, Malikow said.

Frankie Prijatel | Senior Staff Photographer

Kylie Kerker, president of Active Minds at SU, said she believes one issue on campus is that students often don’t know what resources exist that can help them. For example, she said many students might know that the university has a 24-hour help hotline, but they don’t know the number or where to find it among all the other hotline numbers listed online.

As a result, Kerker, a sophomore, set a goal to get the suicide hotline number on the back of SU ID cards before she graduates.

“Awareness is one of the biggest ways to prevent suicides,” she said. “If you’re going through something and dealing with suicidal thoughts, the last thing you need to feel in that moment is to feel ashamed or stigmatized.”

Increasing awareness, both of mental illness and of the resources available to get help or treatment, are ways to eliminate that stigma, Kerker said.

One event Active Minds hosted in an effort to increase awareness was, which, in April 2015, brought 1,100 backpacks to the Quad to represent the approximate number of college students who commit suicide each year. Each backpack was accompanied by a personal story of a student who committed suicide.

As the display spread out to cover the entirety of the Quad, the number of backpacks could be overwhelming for some and eye-opening for others. For Kerker, the personal stories, which give an emotional aspect to the backpacks and reinforce the complexity of suicide, are what made the display especially powerful.

“You see the diverse backgrounds and experiences and it’s not a cookie-cutter type thing,” she said. “It’s not just one group of people who deal with this. It can affect anybody.”

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255 
Community Services Crisis Hotline for Onondaga County: 315-251-0600 
Crisis Text Line: Text “GO” to 741-741

Counseling Center 24/7 Crisis Support Services: 315-443-4715
For life threatening and/or medical emergencies on campus call Public Safety at 711, or off campus call 911.

Published on February 28, 2016 at 11:39 pm

Contact Brett: blsamuel@syr.edu | @Brett_Samuels27