Highlighting an interview with the American Association of Suicidology (AAS), Beacon Health Options posted a blog in September about the potential impact of COVID-19 on suicide rates in the United States.
The blog pointed out that suicide data from 2018 — the most recent we have on suicide trends — can tell us little about anything today, such as a reaction to the pandemic, making it difficult to inform prevention efforts.
There are several critical factors that have contributed to the rising demand for crisis services: reliance on emergency departments and law enforcement as the de facto crisis system, high suicide rates, stigma around mental illness, inadequate access to behavioral health care, and a relentless opioid epidemic.
As part of our ongoing, in-depth look at that those factors, today Beacon Lens will focus on suicide.