Hey everybody, Ritu Chatterjee here. September is suicide prevention awareness month.

Now, while data from the CDC shows that overall suicide deaths declined during the pandemic,

more young people, especially teenage girls, did end up in hospitals last year after attempting

suicide. And a number of studies show that the pandemic has taken a huge toll on mental health,

and significantly increased suicide risk factors such as social isolation,

drug and alcohol use, economic stress. So today we're going to encour our episode from earlier

this year about suicide prevention. How someone can help a loved one who may be struggling.

And if you or anyone you know has been having suicidal thoughts, the 24-hour National

Suicide Lifeline is there for you. The number is 1-800-273-8255. Again, the number is 1-800-273-8255.

And now here's the episode. You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.

Hey everybody, Emily Kwong here, Shortwave Reporter. And I'm Ritu Chatterjee,

I cover mental health for NPR. Today we're going to talk about how you may be able to help someone

who is suicidal. Now, my mom is a suicide attempt survivor. And this topic is really meaningful

for both of us because there's so much shame and stigma that can make people who are suffering

unable to safely talk about suicidal thoughts and feelings. But as a society these days, Ritu,

we seem more open to talking about it. Certainly, I mean, we have a long way to go, but yes,

we are becoming more open to talking about it. Yeah, let's talk first about how prevalent suicide

is right now. Well, it's the 10th leading cause of death in the United States. In 2019,

and that's the most recent year we have data for, about 47,000 people died by suicide. And

according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, about 1.4 million people attempted

suicide that year. But here's the thing about suicide. Research shows that suicide is preventable.

Yes. And there are things that friends and family can do that are genuinely helpful to someone

...