This is an I-Heart podcast.

Welcome to Brain Stuff, a production of IHeart Radio.

Hey, Brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum here.

Just a heads up, today's episode is a heavy one.

We speak frankly about mental health in general and suicide prevention in particular.

If that's not something you're up for today, go ahead and skip this one. And hey, take care of

yourself, okay? Okay. Americans have come grimly to abide, if not necessarily accept, the fact that suicide is a societal problem.

We understand that it's a national issue, a dangerous and growing one. We whisper about it. We grieve when it affects us.

And often, we just try to move on.

To be sure, there are many who spend their lives trying to help those who struggle with mental health. For the rest of us, though, it is probably well past time to recognize that the

increasing issue of suicide in America is both serious and solvable.

So, to borrow a phrase from the harm reduction community, let's talk about it.

For the article this episode is based on, How Stuff Works spoke by email with Deb Stone,

a behavioral scientist in the Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention's Division of Violence Prevention. She said, suicide prevention requires a comprehensive

approach that addresses risk and protective factors at multiple levels, including societal,

community, relationship, and individual levels. There's a role for everyone in the community.

The CDC's latest findings on that illuminates the scope of the suicide issue in the U.S.

Among those facts, the American suicide rate increased 36% between the year 2000 and 2022.

In 2022, 49,476 Americans died by suicide, which is about one death every 11 minutes.

That's about twice as many homicides as we had that year.

Another 1.6 million Americans attempted suicide.

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