Welcome to Brain Stuff, a production of I-Hart Radio.

Hey, Brain Stuff, Lauren Bogobom here.

Today's episode discusses suicide and suicide prevention in the United States.

If those aren't topics that you're up for hearing about, go ahead and skip this one.

And hey, take care of yourself, okay?

Here in the United States, discussion around mental health, self-harm, and death hasn't

always been a discussion as much as a whisper or a glance away.

But experts say it's well past time to recognize that suicide in America is both serious and

solvable.

For the article this episode is based on, How Stuff Works spoke with Jennifer Payne, the

director of the Women's Move Disorder Center, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral

sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore.

She said, I think we need to be having a national conversation.

How Stuff Works also spoke by email with Deb Stone, a behavioral scientist in the Center

for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC's Division of Violence Prevention, and the lead

author on a sobering 2018 study on suicide.

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 illuminate the scope of the issue.

Among the facts, the American suicide rate increased 33 percent between 1999 and 2019.

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