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Suicide cases documented locally during the first part of this year have increased conversation and awareness of a topic usually left out of day-to-day conversation, as those Who have lost loved ones seek to increase awareness.
The concerns are evident on social media pages in the Bayou Region and increase when word of tragedy gets grapevine circulation.
And While the numbers of cases Where individuals have chosen to take their own lives are not appreciably increased in Terrebonne and Lafourche — certainly not to “epidemic” proportions — there are clear signs that this year is off to a hefty start.
“People are becoming more aware of the tragedy of suicide because it is happening more often,” said Lee Malette, a Galliano homemaker whose 23-year-old son, Brody, took his life in 2011. “Locally it is happening and every 12 hours in the state of Louisiana some-body dies from suicide.”
This year marks the second in a row that Malette and others touched by suicide will lead a walk for awareness.
The Houma-Thibodaux “Out of the Darkness” Walk is scheduled for 9 am. NOV, 18 at Peltier Park in ThibodauX.
For family advocates like Malette, public approach of the topic creates unique and daunting challenges.
Silence is the enemy of awareness. Fear that the wrong type of public approach can empower or enhance the resolve of those considering a permanent solution to what are in most cases temporary problems keeps the topic below most people’s conversational radar. On the other hand when the topic is approached there are fears that it can encourage copy-cat behavior.
Malette has not Viewed the NetfliX series “13 Reasons Why,” based on a book which chronicles the aftermath of a teen girl’s suicide. She does not Wish to see it, and so can’t evaluate it.
But concerns have been voiced nationally that the series treatment of the topic is related at the very least to in— creased internet searches on how to go about a self-inflicted death.
“I refuse to watch that because I feel there are pros and some cons, that it can lead to more suicides,” Malette said. Particularly troubling for her
is the key plot element of the series, that the dead girl has blamed friends and others in her life for her choice.
“However suicide gets written about it has to be done carefully, to avoid copycat behavior,” Malette said.
Newspapers generally do not report on suicides unless they occur in a public place or involve people who are already newsworthy. The new town square – Facebook – results in posted and reposted conversations regarding local suicides that occur, giving the appearance of skyrocketing numbers even though the evidence doesn’t agree.
According to official stats from Terrebonne Parish Coroner Victor Tedesco III, MD, 11 people have been listed officially as victims of suicide in 2017 as of July 31. One case, a teen who died in Houma of a gunshot wound, is still pending classification as either accidental or as a suicide and so was not included in the statistics.
That number puts Terrebonne well on the way to the 2016 number of 19; The last time numbers were that high was in 2011 when 18 cases were confirmed. The next year the number dropped to 12. For 2013 the number was 11, and then it slowly rose to the current figure.
“What we have seen is more instances involving females,” said Terrebonne Coroner’s Office Chief Investigator Daniel Theriot.
Of the 11 so far reported this year nearly half – five – were women. Of the 19 reported last year four were women. Earlier than that women represented no more than 20 percent of each years’ count.
Theriot said he is not certain why the trend appears, although he suspects that illicit use of drugs – a powerful companion to the depression that can lead people to suicide – is running high in both genders and could be related.
He also acknowledged that the suicide statistics could have an attendant dark figure – meaning that the data might not tell the whole story. It is difficult to distinguish suicide in cases of overdose. Theriot explained that without some evidence that that an overdose was intentional, it cannot be classified as a suicide although it might have been.
Malette said in her opinion it is perfectly reasonable to believe that many cases classified as overdoses mask suicide.
“A drug abuser is someone who has already lost all hope,” Malette said. “Someone is depressed and that somehow made them turn to the drugs and they overdose. It is a type of suicide.”
As someone who copes with the actions of a suicidal loved one, Malette said the most difficult task is realizing that there were signs which may have been missed
In the case of her son, Malette said, pronouncements of “I hate my life” were not seen as the indicator they were. There were other signs as well, including change of mood without apparent explanation.
A cement contractor who left two children, a 1-year-old and a 4-year-old, Brody was “a person that always made sure everybody else was happy,” Malette said. “He would leave you with a smile on your face, a jokester, a prankster who seemed happy all the time and never let on he was depressed. We had a really good relationship and if I knew I would have gotten him help.”
The only time she had ever heard of suicide, Malette said, was “in the news and movies and suicide never touched me, I never thought it would touch me at all. But then it did right there in my driveway. I suffered through it for so long and one day I woke up and said there have to be other people out there who have lost a loved one to suicide, I want them to know they are not alone.”
The Out of the Darkness Walk, already a success in other places through the efforts of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, thus came to Houma and Thibodaux.
The 2016 walk raised $27,000 being used to promote suicide awareness and prevention.
Now Malette is working with the organization to establish an outreach program for survivors in Houma & Thibodaux. *
Help is available for people who have been affected by suicides. Those wanting to be helped can call (985) 413-0522.
