Suicide Among the Young: How to Try to Prevent It

To the Editor:

Re “After Three Suspected Suicides, a Shaken Cornell Reaches Out” (front page, March 17):

Suicide is a tragedy, made worse when occurring in youth. Many university campuses, not only Cornell, are beleaguered by this excruciatingly painful problem. After all, they have our youth and promise in their classes, seminars and dormitories.

The continuing neglect of the major cause of suicide among youth is shocking. The bulk of coverage in the media largely misses it. It is not only about stress, long winter nights, school challenges or failures, loneliness or social isolation. After all, most people who face these stressors do not kill themselves.

Thus, although stress might precipitate it, it is about mental illness, most commonly mood and substance abuse disorders. Until we as a country face the challenge of reaching our youth and providing high-quality mental health services, until we can reduce the stigma of seeking help for psychiatric conditions, we are crippled in our efforts to stem this scourge.

Our future is our youth. We are duty-bound to reach them and maximize the likelihood not only of their survival but also of their success.

Maria A. Oquendo
New York, March 17, 2010

The writer is a professor of clinical psychiatry and vice chairwoman for education in the department of psychiatry at Columbia University.

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