Teen suicide rates have increased more than 300 percent since the 1950's. Screening Day is designed not only to bring attention to depression and suicide, but to connect people with treatment and support resources in their area. It offers anyone the opportunity to complete a free, anonymous screening test for depression and manic-depression, hear an educational presentation on the disorders and speak individually with a mental health professional. The recent school shootings, as well as the steady stream of academic literature that indicates that suicide is a continuing unsolved problem, should focus all of us on the misunderstood illness of depression and manic depression. Perhaps the most aggravating misconception about these illnesses is that they reflect personal weaknesses.
Nothing is further from the truth.
On the contrary, these often are biologically based illnesses requiring further medical attention and counseling. Some 75 percent of people who commit suicide tell a friend or family member before they do it. Fully 75 percent of people who commit suicide have seen physician within six months of their death. The opportunity to intervene is there. We just have to learn to recognize it.