A disturbing new study finds Emergency room visits for suicidal children and teens have doubled since 2007.
In 2007, an estimated 580,000 people between 10 and 18 were seen for suicidal behavior in US emergency rooms.
By 2015, that number had swollen to 1.12 million, according to alarming research conducted by Montreal Children’s Hospital.
ER visits for suicide have only ‘accelerated’ upward since 1993, the scientists warn, suggesting a dire need for better preventive efforts and for specialized training for ER doctors.
The mental health of America’s children, teenagers and young adults is in crisis, in the views of many public health experts.
Suicide is the second leading cause of death for people between 10 and 24, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
And attempts, like young people, are increasingly making, are the strongest predictor that someone will eventually take their own life, according to previous research.
Despite campaigns to raise suicide awareness and combat suicide among teenagers and children, the rise is moving faster, now.
A startling proportion of the children who considered or actively tried to end their own lives were young. 43% were between just five and 11 years old.