Spam alert: #SuicideAwareness

Suicide Awareness Dead End

Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
January 6, 2019

We are not here to curse the darkness, but to light the candle that can guide us thru that darkness to a safe and sane future. John F. Kennedy

According to Wikipedia, this is what suicide awareness is supposed to be.

Suicide awareness is a proactive effort to raise awareness around suicidal behaviors. It is focused on reducing social stigmas and ambiguity, by bringing attention to suicide statistically and sociologically, and encouraging positive dialogue and engagement as a means to prevent suicide. Suicide awareness is linked to suicide prevention as both address suicide education and the dissemination of information to ultimately decrease the rate of suicide. Awareness is a critical first stage that ultimately can ease the need for prevention. Awareness signifies a fundamental consciousness of the threat, while prevention focuses on stopping the act.^[1][2] Suicide awareness is not a medical engagement, but a combination of medical, social, emotional and even financial counseling. Suicide awareness in adolescents focuses on the age group between 10–24 years, beginning with the onset of puberty, according to combined definitions and theories found in developmental psychology.^[3][4]

Yet we know it does not work and far too many saw it as a way to get fame...and a lot of money. They CDC has shown that suicides have increased in the years after the "awareness" raisers jumped all over social media.

Suicide rates have been rising in nearly every state, according to the latest Vital Signs report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In 2016, nearly 45,000 Americans age 10 or older died by suicide. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death and is one of just three leading causes that are on the rise.

The original idea behind suicide awareness, at least my goal, was to force action on the prevention side of it. I figured that if more families were aware it was not just happening to their family, they would join forces and get the government to do something to prevent more families from suffering the same pain.

It was happening in the civilian community, but it was more unacceptable for it to be happening in increasing numbers among those who serve the civilians.

I was looking at the reports from current military members and wrote a report putting the numbers together. Since too many people do not want to read anymore, I put it into a video back in 2007.

Back then, it was needed but now it has become all about pushing service members and veterans to making the same conclusion their lives should end the same way.

It robbed them of hope they were desperately seeking. It became a numbers game of taking a headline and racking in as much money as possible. The public was unaware of the facts within the reports being quoted and not paying enough attention to notice that suicide awareness was a massive scam. 

It was driven by social media when the repulsive events began to be about having fun because veterans were committing suicide. It trivialized the pain families like mine were dealing with. What made it worse for me was the fact that after over 3 decades, too many people I know were doing the work to change the outcome.

We were offering the hope they needed to heal. We had the knowledge they needed to know because we invested years of researching PTSD to find the best ways to inspire them to seek help and then guide them to it.

Everything being pushed on the awareness side of this darkness has prevented them from seeking a better, happier life, because all they were shown was more suffering in the dark. 

Suicides increased in the Veterans' Community, in the military, in law enforcement, firefighters and other emergency responders, just as it has in the civilian community. Want to change the outcome? then help them want to live instead of sharing how many you think gave up.