~ Karl A. Menninger

September is the beginning of autumn, and it's also a month we equate with going back to school. It is also National Suicide Prevention Month. Suicide is not a subject I particularly enjoy writing about, but it's something that deserves special attention. I'm sad to report that during my more than six decades on this planet, I've lost seven loved ones to suicide. I write about these losses in my poem "The Lost List."

These individuals all took their lives for different reasons, but they all left me with different emotional scars that I share in my poem. For the most part, prior to their deaths, they were dealing with mental health challenges such as depression. Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. We're lucky to be living in a time when there are many modalities to help deal with depression, such as therapy, medication, exercise, and holistic healing.

Below, I review the book Let's Talk about Death, which helps us talk more openly about death and how we want to die. Author Michael Hebb says that next to the death of a child, suicide is the most difficult subject to talk about.

Recently, I've pondered the effect of the pandemic on the incidence of suicide. Early in the pandemic, I read that due to personal and financial reasons, suicide numbers have increased, especially among adolescents. However, according to the CDC, since 2016 the overall rate of suicide has dropped incrementally. Healthline suggests that the reason for the drop during the pandemic is that historically during times of crisis, people tend to rally around one another, become more open about their feelings, and seek out medical and psychological assistance. This could also be the result of an increase in suicide-prevention campaigns.

Perhaps this is the silver lining of the pandemic: We've not only learned how to be alone and work from home, but we're more inclined to reach out for the emotional help we need. Hopefully, moving forward, we can hold on to these new ways of navigating life's challenges.