Most teens with depression aren't getting treatment. Then there were two students from Severna Park High School, and later, Lydia Vorbach-Schabb, a sophomore at Park School. Within the past several months, two Howard County teens killed themselves. They are among a rash of youth suicides in the Baltimore area that have devastated families and put doctors on alert.
School counselors are soul-searching, looking for ways to prevent other deaths.
So are the parents who had to bury their children. I can't let other families go through this nightmare. But in the emotional, contentious debate over how to handle youth suicide, taking action often means taking sides. Some parents, physicians and counselors, feeling the issue has too often been hushed up, want to talk frankly with kids about suicide. They want to put prevention programs in every school and to mourn suicide victims like those of any other illness.