Photo Credit, NY Times
Don’t worry, I haven’t. I had a graphics card go bad on my computer, and I am finally getting things up and running again. While the podcast “trial” run went well, I am having issues with the audio so, back to the drawing board. So, speaking of not forgetting, Jeremy Richman the father of Avielle Richman who died during the massacre at Sandy Hook was found to have taken his own life. Ugh…
I had an email, my first, ask why so many mental health issues? Well simple, I guess, is that now we are in a news loop with gun violence, suicide, and the damn measles. Each has specific medical implications especially the wounds generated by a gunshot. The medical community stands to and can provide a large amount of data on gun violence. Right now, gun violence stands #2 in the most common reasons for death.
Many of us watched the massacre in New Zealand and the almost immediate reaction of that nation to that massacre. I read a lot of press in both directions, but it seems that as Americans we can’t understand the concept of people wanting to stop gun violence. Mr. Richman was in the heart of understanding gun violence. He lost his daughter, he was accused of being a crisis actor, he was mercilessly trolled by conspiracy theorists (including those that claimed that his daughter was still alive and one who repeatedly appeared in New Town demanding information). No one has a good reason why someone commits a mass shooting like this if we did we would probably not have any mass shootings. What we do know is gun violence remains on the rise with fewer and fewer real conversations about it without people shouting over each other. Believe what you want, but if you endorse first graders getting killed in their school or the grief of a father committed suicide, you are not the kind of person that should live on this planet.
We have seen 3 suicides this week from survivors of mass shootings. First off if you have not experienced the violent death of a relative or a close friend it may be difficult for you to understand the trauma that these 3 individuals faced. Little Avielle had her whole life in front of her had it not been abruptly ended at 6 years old. His unimaginable the grief and pain the parents suffer when the child proceeds them in death.
Working with a lot of veterans who have dealt with friends and family’s violent deaths, especially by firearms or explosives, this experience really digs into the psyche. While not everyone has post-traumatic stress from this experience, many do. Sometimes this stress lays dormant until the right moment occurs such as what we had this week with a survivor suicide from the Marjory Stoneman Douglas massacre. There is always a great deal of speculation on exactly what events will trigger the survivors. All in all, this is just very sad, and there is no way even to put snark here. This is the kind of situation that does require action that we as medical professionals can provide.
We need to be in our patient’s faces. I know this sounds a little forward, but the trauma has occurred, and that patient may be acting on that trauma. We do not pussyfoot around suicide when I speak to a suicidal patient I am very blunt and straightforward; when are you going to do it, what if you got to get to do it with, did you leave a note, heavy thought of other ways to cope with this? If people realize that you care enough to assess them on a straightforward level, like this, they may be able to get the help they need. None of this is a guarantee but, we owe it to our patients to step up and confront the behavior and help them develop solutions besides suicide.
There is some truth to the statement with 1 suicide comes more. I agree with this. I’m not sure why the young survivor from MSD decided to end her life this week, but I am sure that this triggered more. It’s a really screwed up road that everyone must travel, but we all must move to help suicidal people. The most suicidal folks are incredibly subtle and in fact the successful ones you may never know they had the desire to kill themselves until they do.
The warning signs of suicide are indicators that a person may be in acute danger and may urgently need help.
Talking about wanting to die or to kill oneself;
Looking for a way to kill oneself;
Talking about feeling hopeless or having no purpose;
Talking about feeling trapped or being in unbearable pain;
Talking about being a burden to others;
Increasing the use of alcohol or drugs;
Acting anxious, agitated, or reckless;
Sleeping too little or too much;
Withdrawing or feeling isolated;
Showing rage or talking about seeking revenge; and
Displaying extreme mood swings.
All of these come from the website save.org. Including the crisis number 1-800-273-8255. You can also Text SIGNS to 741741 for 24/7 access to counseling. While all of this sounds trivial and repeated, it needs to be. People need to know. I am saddened by the loss of Mr. Richman, I also think I understand.
As medical professionals, we owe it to our patients to fight for gun safety (regardless of your politics. If you think it’s okay to shoot someone, especially 1st graders we have a much larger problem). We also need to listen to our patients. When we find the warning signs, we need to ask, and we need to probe. Then we need to listen and listen likely never listened before; I mean listen to the point you could almost hear the synapsis firing in the brain. We need to understand, and then we need to treat. We need to ask all the time if the patient has had thoughts of harming themselves or others. It’s a good question and one that needs to be asked no matter who the patient is.
While I apologize for the dark subject after being gone for a couple of days, but this one was plastered all over my news feed this morning, so I put aside the one I had been writing about the secret to human happiness, but I will save that for another time.
Many new bats out there. Many new hunchbacks at home depot. Question is do I want another one.