By Brian Rust
Six suicides at Utah Valley State College during the past year may be only the symptom of a statewide problem.
'Over time it does seem like it has increased a little bit, until this year it just kind of exploded for some reason,' UVSC Director of Student Health Services Jack L. Jensen said.
Jensen has worked for UVSC for 27 years and said this has been the most suicides in a year he has seen while working there. The school usually experiences one to two suicides a year, but to already have had six this year is unusual.
Utah has one of the highest suicide rates when compared to the national average.
The national average is about 12 suicides per 100,000 people a year, while Utah''s average is about 15 suicides per 100,000 people a year, Jensen said. He said other western states near Utah have rates above the national average as well.
'One theory is that in the intermountain west we have more access to guns,' Jensen said. 'Most suicide completers are white males using guns.'
Traditionally during wartime, suicide rates on a national average usually drop because people become a little more patriotic, more concerned and closer together, he said.
'It doesn''t correlate very well with this year because ... usually the rate goes down instead of up, but this year it went up,' he said. 'It doesn''t make sense to me why we have such a spike this year.'
Jensen said 90 percent of all suicides have some kind of emotional or mental issue involved, with depression being the major factor for most of them. Alcohol and drug abuse follow as the next biggest reasons for suicide, he said.
'I think suicide is the straw that broke the camel''s back,' Jensen said. 'There have probably been a series of events in each of the lives that have led up to that. That was just one last thing, whatever that one last thing was, that really was just a straw. I think there was probably a lot of other things in their life that led to that culminating act.'
Brian Butler, a licensed clinical social worker, works with many people who have mental illnesses or depression that have attempted suicide or thought about it.
'People will feel suicidal and they''ll make an attempt and then decide that they didn''t really want to die, and so will call for help,' Butler said. 'Other times people are found by other people and will enter treatment that way.'
Butler said many clients admit they have a problem and are willing to work with it while others are more determined to avoid the idea that they have a problem.
The best way to prevent suicide is through educating people about the red flags and warning signs, Jensen said. Sometimes people leave notes or try to give away prized possessions, or they may even express their suicidal feelings in a theme paper for English or some other schoolwork, he said.
'It''s not the depths of the depression where they commit suicide,' he said. 'It''s when the depression starts to lift and when they start feeling a little better. That''s when it gets real dangerous because then they have the energy to actually commit the act.'
Jensen said a BYU study demonstrated active LDS males are seven times less likely to commit suicide than their inactive counterparts or ones that are not active in any religion.
'Devoutness to a religion is probably one of the best protective factors that a person can have against suicide,' Jensen said.