{"id":25714,"date":"2020-11-02T09:28:54","date_gmt":"2020-11-02T14:28:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/?p=25714"},"modified":"2020-11-02T09:30:28","modified_gmt":"2020-11-02T14:30:28","slug":"suicides-up-nearly-100-among-young-people-in-wisconsins-second-largest-county-as-medical-experts-cite-perils-of-social-isolation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2020\/11\/02\/suicides-up-nearly-100-among-young-people-in-wisconsins-second-largest-county-as-medical-experts-cite-perils-of-social-isolation\/","title":{"rendered":"Suicides Up Nearly 100% Among Young People in Wisconsin\u2019s Second Largest County, as Medical Experts Cite Perils of Social Isolation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This summer, a relative reached out to me regarding the sad story of Kodie Dutcher, a 10-year-old from Baraboo, Wisconsin who was reported missing in July.<\/p>\n

Law enforcement officials put out an Amber Alert, and a volunteer search party was organized. Kodie\u2019s body was found the following morning\u2014July 7, a Tuesday\u2014near her home. Her death was ruled a suicide by the Baraboo Police Department<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kodie\u2019s death shook me. I grew up in a small town not far from Baraboo and know people who live there today. It occurred to me that my own little girl, whom I still think of as a baby, is roughly the same age Kodie was when she took her life.<\/p>\n

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a challenge for everyone, but evidence suggests that few demographics are suffering more than young people. Data show they\u2019re suffering more economically<\/a>, and emerging evidence shows that many are less equipped to deal with the \u201ccollateral damage\u201d of forced lockdowns mentally.<\/p>\n

A new report<\/a> from the Wisconsin State Journal<\/em> examining mental health trends in Dane County, the second most populous county in Wisconsin, shows that many are struggling to cope with the mental toll of social isolation precipitated by the economic lockdowns.<\/p>\n

Hannah Flanagan, the Director of Emergency Services at Journey Mental Health Center, said calls to the center\u2019s crisis hotline are up more than 15 percent since the beginning of the pandemic, with many people suffering not from severe mental illness but situational stress. Preliminary data collected by the center show that Dane County passed its 2019 suicide count in early October.<\/p>\n

Flanagan said Dane County had experienced 57 suicides as of early October, more than the total of 54 it had experienced the entire calendar year in 2019. She indicated that the excess deaths largely stem from stay-at-home orders.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen people are lonely, it\u2019s really hard to cope,\u201d Flanagan said. \u201cThe specificity about COVID social distancing and isolation that we\u2019ve come across as contributing factors to the suicides are really new to us this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s alarming to see a large county eclipse its previous suicide total with nearly three months remaining in the calendar year, but the numbers become even more troubling when you drill into them a little further. The center\u2019s figures show that 15 of these suicides were committed by people under the age of 25. That\u2019s nearly double the total in 2019 (eight)\u2014and we still have nearly three months until the year is over.<\/p>\n

One could dismiss these figures as anecdotal evidence or a strange outlier. The problem is it fits with other mental health trends around the country. The CDC recently reported that one out of four<\/a> young people have contemplated suicide during the pandemic, about two and a half times the overall rate.<\/p>\n

Though national data on youth suicide during the pandemic is not yet available, trends reported from suicide hotline centers<\/a> across the country<\/a> show that many young people are crying out for help.<\/p>\n