Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS)
Suicide Prevention
College is a time of change and transition for students.
However, individuals respond uniquely to the challenges that they face during this adjustment phase.
While some students are able to make a smooth transition, others may experience stress related to this change.
Unfortunately some students are unaware of helpful on campus resources that can help them cope with the stress.
In order to prevent the students from unhealthy means of dealing with stress and to promote education and awareness regarding mental health of university students,
WSU has been working on a protocol which addresses working with students who have behavioral and mental health concerns.
As part of WSU’s suicide prevention team, CAPS has compiled the following information for students, faculty and staff:
Potential Warning Signs
While there are no infallible modes of identifying that someone is having thoughts about suicide, the following information regarding Potential Warning Signs of Suicide might indicate that a student is considering hurting themselves:
- A sudden decrease in academic performance
- Fixation/preoccupation with death or violence
- Unhealthy relationships
- Personal crisis such as major losses or rejections
- Violent mood swings or/and sudden change in personality
- Signs indicating that the student is in an abusive relationship
- Signs of an eating disorder
- Difficulty in adjusting to gender identity
- Depression:
- Withdrawing from social activities and friends
- Sudden decline of overall school performance
- Sadness, signs of hopelessness, or anger
- Feelings of worthlessness, or inappropriate guilt
- A sudden decline in energy and excitement
- Sudden neglect of personal hygiene and appearance
- Lethargy and feeling tired all the time, for no reason
- Lack of concentration
- Restlessness and agitation
- Dramatic changes in sleeping patterns and eating
- Unproved episodes of crying
- Lowered self-esteem
- Increase in use of alcohol or drugs
Other warning signs that demand immediate action:
- When a persona announces that he/she plans to end their life
- Writing about suicide or death or talking about it
- Saying statements such as:
- I just don’t want to be alive.
- I’m going to end it all.
- I wish I were dead.
- My life has no meaning.
- Everyone will be better off without me.
- There is no point to living.
- Soon you won’t have to worry about me.
- Who cares if I’m dead, anyway?
- I can’t go on any more.
- Life isn’t worth living.
- Withdrawing from friends and preferring to stay alone most of the time
- Giving away prized possessions
- Obtaining a weapon to hurt him or herself (including prescription medication)
These warning signs alone may not be a foolproof way of determining that someone is thinking about harming themselves, however they may mean that a friend, classmate, or student has serious problems that warrants attention.
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How to Talk to a Person who is Suicidal?
Talking to and reaching out to a person who is suicidal is an important action to take to help. This takes courage and compassion. In a firm, yet sensitive presentation a person is able to convey warm and genuine concern for another person. Although our society often emphasizes on privacy of individuals, it is important to intervene if an individual appears to be severely depressed and presents with suicidal thoughts or gestures. Here are some suggestions on how to approach someone who may be dangerously depressed:
- Choose a private location to address the person. Tell him/her that you are aware and have noticed some changes in her/his behavior. You can then ask if there is anyway you can help.
- Directly ask the individual if he or she is thinking about suicide or about harming themselves.
- Keep an open mind and an open ear; allow the person to talk.
- Don’t’ try to “make it all better”, just listen.
- Don’t’ argue with him/her about why they are wrong. Listen to them express their feelings.
- Take any suicidal threat, comment or act very seriously.
- Once the person is done talking, encourage them to seek professional help. You may provide them with information regarding CAPS: (313) 577-3398 or ask them to call the 24 hour crisis line (313) 224-7000. If the individual is presenting with imminent danger to self, encourage them to go to one of the following Crisis Centers:
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Crisis Centers
Detroit Receiving Hospital
4201 Saint Antoine
Detroit, MI 48201
(313) 745-3540
St. John Detroit Riverview Hospital
7733 East Jefferson
Detroit, MI 48214
(313) 499-4970
Henry Ford Wyandotte Psychiatric Assessment Center
2333 Biddle Avenue
Wyandotte, MI 48192
(734) 246-6066
Hegira Psychiatric Intervention Center
33101 Annapolis
Suite B
Wayne, MI 48184
(734) 721-0200
For additional listings of crisis centers near you please click on the following link:
http://suicidehotlines.com/michigan.html
- If the individual refuses to get help, please contact or visit one of the offices in for support and consultation.
- Dealing with an individual who is suicidal can be emotionally draining, so be aware of your limits and personal needs.
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Resources for Suicide Prevention
Publications:
National Institute of Mental Health. (2000). What do these students have in common?
Retrieved March 18, 2005, from http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/students.cfm
This booklet from the National Institute of Mental Health describes how the stresses of college can lead to depression, and provides information on symptoms, causes, treatments, and getting help.
Websites:
Campus Blues (http://www.campusblues.com) features information and resources for college students on mental health, anxiety, loneliness, alcohol abuse, gambling, and other social and emotional issues.
Go Ask Alice! (http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu/) is a web-based health question-and-answer service produced by Alice!, Columbia University’s Health Education Program. Go Ask Alice! provides information to help young people make better decisions concerning their health and well-being. Go Ask Alice! answers questions about relationships, sexuality, emotional health, alcohol and other drugs, and other topics. The addresses of e-mails sent to Go Ask Alice! are electronically scrambled to preserve the senders’ confidentiality. Questions are answered by a team of Columbia University health educators and information and research specialists from other health-related organizations. The Go Ask Alice! archive on emotional health also contains information on suicide and depression.
Samaritans (http://www.samaritans.org/) is an organization based in the United Kingdom that offers 24-hour, confidential emotional support to people who are experiencing feelings of distress or despair, including those feelings that may lead to suicide. The Samaritans operate a free and confidential e-mail service, which generally responds to your e-mail within 24 hours. You can send an e-mail to jo@samaritans.org or use the Samaritans website to send a confidential e-mail that cannot be traced back to your address.
Ulifeline.org (http://www.ulifeline.org) is a web-based resource created by the Jed Foundation to provide students with a non-threatening and supportive link to their college’s mental health center as well as important mental health information. Students are able to download information about various mental illnesses, ask questions, make appointments, and seek help anonymously via the Internet. Resources offered on Ulifeline.org include a customized version of Go Ask Alice! That allows students to have virtually any mental health question answered 24 hours a day; a mental health and drug information library that features consumer health information from Harvard Medical School; and the Duke Diagnostic Psychiatry Screening Program, which allows the Ulifeline user to be screened for different mental disorders. While this screening is not meant to take the place of an evaluation by a mental health professional, a positive result suggests that the student would benefit from comprehensive mental health screening.
General Resources on Suicide and Suicide Prevention
Suicide Prevention Resource Center (http://www.sprc.org/). The Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC) provides prevention support, training, and materials to strengthen suicide prevention efforts. Among the resources found on its website is the SPRC Library Catalog (http://library.sprc.org/), a searchable database containing a wealth of information on suicide and suicide prevention, including publications, peer-reviewed research studies, curricula, and web-based resources. Many of these items are available online.
American Association of Suicidology (http://www.suicidology.org/). The American Association of Suicidology (AAS) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the understanding and prevention of suicide. It promotes research, public awareness programs, public education, and training for professionals and volunteers and serves as a national clearinghouse for information on suicide.
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (http://www.afsp.org). The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) is dedicated to advancing our knowledge of suicide and our ability to prevent it. AFSP’s activities include supporting research projects; providing information and education about depression and suicide; promoting professional education for the recognition and treatment of depressed and suicidal individuals; publicizing the magnitude of the problems of depression and suicide and the need for research, prevention, and treatment; and supporting programs for suicide survivor treatment, research, and education.
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/). The National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC), located at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is a valuable source of information and statistics about suicide, suicide risk, and suicide prevention. To locate information on suicide and suicide prevention, scroll down the left-hand navigation bar on the NCIPC website and click on “Suicide” under the “Violence” heading.
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/). The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline provides immediate assistance to individuals in suicidal crisis by connecting them to the nearest available suicide prevention and mental health service provider through a toll-free telephone number: (800) 273-TALK (8255).
Technical assistance, training, and other resources are available to the crisis centers and mental health service providers that participate in the network of services linked to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
Suicide Prevention Action Network USA (http://www.spanusa.org). Suicide Prevention Action Network USA (SPAN USA) is the nation’s only suicide prevention organization dedicated to leveraging grassroots support among suicide survivors (those who have lost a loved one to suicide) and others to advance public policies that help prevent suicide.
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