Welcome to Back from the Abyss.

This is a place for stories of hope and healing, recovery, and redemption. I'm Dr. Craig Hecock.

There are still a few spots left in my intensive psychotherapy workshop in June, geared for

psychiatric NPs and PAs. It's called Bringing Therapy into Med Management. It will run June 3 through 6

here in Fort Collins.

This is a chance to learn how to break out of the short-sighted and terribly limited

med management model into a more holistic, psychodynamic, and patient-centered way of practicing.

Check out my website for more details and registration. Today's episode focuses on

something that almost no one seems to want to talk about. The United States has a major

suicide problem, around 50,000 people every year, and 60% of those suicides are gun suicides.

The suicide problem in the United States is largely a gun problem.

The number one risk factor for completed suicide, it's not depression or anxiety or addiction or acathia,

it's access to means. And it turns out that it's

actually not that easy to kill yourself unless you have ready access to a gun. We are finally

starting to talk about ways to keep guns out of the hands of potentially suicidal people.

And one concrete step in that direction is something called Donna's Law,

a program where people can voluntarily be put on a no-cell list during times of psychological

crisis or instability. Donna's law is named after Donna Nathan, who impulsively bought a handgun

in 2018 in New Orleans,

and then shot herself during a period of psychiatric crisis.

There were no barriers in place, no waiting period, or a no-sell list.

Donna found easy access to means, and she paid the ultimate price.

...