I was disturbed to hear that two students at Vanderbilt committed suicide in the past week (and one earlier in the year). Before this year, it had been a decade since a student last killed themselves. These students are top students in high school and then come to college and have to work harder than they ever had to and maybe not get straight As anymore. One of the students this week was very outgoing, had many friends, one would never know anything was going on with him. Is this common on college campuses and we just don’t hear about it most of the time?
Although I can’t dismiss that suicide rates are higher on college campuses, I feel obligated to mention the risk of mis-attribution. US’s suicide rate is around 21/100000. With an undergrad pop of around 20 million, we could easily expect 200 college students to kill themselves per year (if my math works?)
Not refuting your point – it definitely seems valid-- but I wonder if suicides at high-stress schools are reported more often
Suicide is a problem in America that in general is not discussed, except for easily identified groups such as veterans or military. Yes, the ratio may seem low but we need more resources. I believe in suicide prevention training not just to inform bystanders, but because if done properly it can encourage those who are struggling to seek help.
My nephew was NOT at a high stress college and he took his life last August. He was like the student the OP described. NOBODY had a clue. I know that a lot of times, people say there were clues, but in this case there just weren’t. I’m not sure how you can prevent something like that. 
He would have turned 21 next week.
U Penn has had 10 suicides in three years - one just a few weeks ago. I think that between the pressures of these years and the increase in social media this is an unfortunate consequence. In general, US suicide rates are up at all ages but in particular these teen-young adult years http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/22/health/suicide-rates-rise/
I’m not sure if they are happening more or we are hearing about them more, but it’s important to realize that mental illness typically begins to appear in early adult years . There may be signs, but in the case of more serious disorders involving psychosis with hallucinations, the first episode may result in suicide. That’s why it’s important to take note of changes in behavior . Pay attention to length of time of these changes. Are people sleeping more or much less than usual? Increased irritability or isolation? More elated or driven than usual ? Eating more or less than usual? Usually these symptoms are nothing when isolated , but when they show up together or last for more than several weeks, they should be evaluated . @MaineLonghorn I am very sorry about your nephew.
Actually, there has been a steady rise in suicide since 1999. Suicide is now the 10th leading cause of death in the U.S.
From the CDC:
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/suicide/rates_1999_2014.htm
@MaineLonghorn, what a terrible thing to go through. So sorry.
And yes, @MaineLonghorn – I think of your nephew’s story often. Peace to your and your family as his birthday approaches.
So sad. A dear friend’s son is headed off to Vandy next fall, so reading this gave me pause, only because the school mentioned this time is Vandy.
A sobering reminder as some of my friends and I are sending our youngest ones, our babies, out there to college. Finally emptying the nest. Such an exciting time. And yet, it can be so hard. Too hard, sometimes.
I know this can happen anywhere. At high stress schools, or low stress, as in the case of @MaineLonghorn’s nephew. So very sad. Very sorry, @MaineLonhorn, about your loss. No signs. How devastating that must be. Some people hide their pain from their loved ones very well.
I didn’t realize that suicide rates had increased so much just in the past 20 years (@scout59). Any thoughts as to why this is?
@julianstanley “US’s suicide rate is around 21/100000”
I am not familiar with that statistic, but 21/100,000 = 210/1,000,000 = 2,100/10,000,000 = 4,200/20,000,000
So 4,200 per 20,000,000 students if your statistic and data are correct.
I just read a really sad story about a student from UF in 2011. He had gotten caught up in a DEA raid. Horrible.
@jullianstanley “Not refuting your point – it definitely seems valid-- but I wonder if suicides at high-stress schools are reported more often”
This is almost certainly true. When it happens at Penn, Harvard, Cornell, or MIT, the schools have done a better job of tracking and their school names mean that the item is newsworthy. I don’t think that the news outlets are going to all report it when it happens to a community college student, but Vanderbilt makes it news from their perspective of selling papers.
@kiddie “U Penn has had 10 suicides in three years”
This is a good example of @jullianstanley’s point. Penn counts suicides of all of its students. Even if it happens while they are taking a year off or while they are at home living with their parents on summer break. They also count graduate students. Penn is a mid-sized school with an enrollment of about 25,000 (10k undergrad and 15k graduate). With that many students it is going to happen from time to time (although I think they, and all schools, could take more steps toward prevention and may be able to reduce the rate).
The most odd thing to me is that we don’t hear about suicide more often at the largest schools like Arizona State, Ohio State, Texas A & M, Texas, Minnesota, Indiana and Michigan State. All of these schools are at least twice the size of Penn with over 50,000 students each. Statistically it has to be happening, but we don’t hear about it in the news for some reason.
I am not convinced that there is a causal relationship between top schools and higher suicide rates. The demands and stress levels can be high at top schools and that can certainly contribute, but unidentified or untreated mental illness is the most likely root cause, in my opinion.
Parents can also do more. Teach your child about depression, and anxiety. Teach them that mental illness is real and treatable. Teach them to reach out to you, of seek a medical opinion, if they even think it is possible that they may be developing any form of mental illness (these often first appear at college age). Be supportive of your college age student and stay in regular contact with them.
@MaineLonghorn So sorry for your loss.
I do think we hear about these cases more now with the 24hour news cycle and social media, although I remember hearing whispers about Cornell and the gorges back when I was a HS student in the 80s.
I have read (maybe it was in that recent Atlantic piece?) that suicides may “cluster” because hearing/knowing about one can plant the idea in a vulnerable person’s head as an option. Sad to think about.
I also can’t help but wonder if the mass sleep deprivation so common among students doesn’t leave them at higher risk these days. I mean, we all pulled the odd “all nighter” in my day, but the crazy schedules kids are running today boggles my mind and it’s not uncommon to hear about students regularly surviving on way too little sleep. That has to mess with your judgment and emotional balance.
@julianstanley. College students are in a fairly narrow age & SES bracket, particularly at the elite colleges. It is misleading to compare the proportion to the rate of incidence among the entire US population.
Also, there is a cluster effect in suicide, which hits high schools and colleges particuarly hard.
I’m so sorry for your family’s loss too @MaineLonghorn. How devastating.
@MaineLonghorn I am so sorry to hear about your lost…
This is why it is so important to be observant of family members’ emotions and tendencies, including your own. College transition and that first year of school is extremely nerve racking and stressful. Going from trying to pick your college, course of study, and finishing high school to being in the front seat with studies, a new place to live, new people, new expectations, new environment, etc. can be overwhelming and make people depress, even if they don’t express it.
I guess that’s why I took a gap year…ultimately because I was so stressed with picking colleges, going away from people I know and love, being somewhere I wasn’t familiar with, finances for college screwed up, and not sleeping were all contributing factors for me to become more depressed and at times contemplate should I continue with life…Now I feel a lot more relaxed, mature, and well prepared–emotionally and financially–that I am not as anxious about going away to college and quite excited for.
People need to not be afraid to listen to their emotional needs and address them sooner than later. Suicide is the end and can never be fixed…that’s why taking a moment and focusing on what one needs for personal health or of someone close is important. If we as a society can continue to remove the stigma of depression and mental health issues in order to help those in need we can become a lot happier as a people.
A student at Penn State committed suicide a couple weeks ago and nobody reported on it. Not national media, not campus media, not State College media. The university didn’t even send out the traditional notification email (at least, not to everyone, because I didn’t get one). It was like it hadn’t even happened. Search their name now and you get a podcast with their pastor and an article on The Advocate (they were genderfluid). That’s it. The university didn’t even seem to care.
@bodangles maybe they don’t want a spotlight to hurt their image…
@atomicPACMAN07 If so, that’s crappy. It’s just a stark contrast to the candlelit vigils, Daily Collegian and Onward State articles, and all that stuff that was held for the girl who died in a car accident while fundraising for THON in the fall. It’s nice that she got those – a lot of people went. But if they’re going to make that kind of effort they should make it for everyone.