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Understanding Male Suicide

Big Think showcased a new study of men, suicide and mental health authored by Social Welfare Professor Mark Kaplan and researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study tracked recent suicide deaths among U.S. males age 10 and older and found that 60% of the victims had no documented mental health conditions. In many cases, alcohol and firearms were significant factors, the researchers determined. While it’s likely that some of the males without known mental health issues were concealing struggles, the study also suggested that men tend to be more impulsive than women. “Greater investment and focus on mental health is undeniably needed in the U.S., but to make a dent in the tragic number of American male suicides, reducing firearm access, advocating responsible alcohol use, lowering poverty, and teaching males healthy coping methods to deal with acutely stressful situations might save a lot more lives,” the article said.


 

Facts on Monkeypox and the Gay Community

Amid a global outbreak of the virus monkeypox, the Gay Sexuality and Social Policy Initiative (GSSPI) at UCLA Luskin launched an outreach campaign to share accurate information with gay and bisexual men. Monkeypox is not exclusive to LGBTQ communities, stressed the initiative’s directors, Ian Holloway and Alex Garner. However, “anxiety about contracting monkeypox among many gay men is compounded by negative messaging being disseminated about gay men and the virus, some of which echoes the stigmatizing rhetoric from the early days of the HIV epidemic,” they said. GSSPI collaborated with the Los Angeles LGBT Center to produce an infographic explaining how monkeypox is spread, what symptoms to look for, and what steps to take if an infection is suspected. It also encourages its audience to be wary of stigmatizing language. “At GSSPI, we remain committed to conducting research to understand health issues that impact our communities, and challenging stigma about gay sex and gay sexuality,” said Holloway, a professor of social welfare who also directs the UCLA Hub for Health Intervention, Policy and Practice. “We also remain committed to education and community empowerment.” Holloway and Garner advised the LGBTQ community to stay up to date with changing information about monkeypox, and stick to sources that are reliable and evidence-based, such as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.


 

Kaplan Discusses CDC Report About Suicide Rates Rising Across U.S. 

New CDC figures documenting the growing rate of suicide may not reflect the full scope of the problem, said Mark S. Kaplan, professor of social welfare at UCLA Luskin. Many suicides are actually classified as ”accidental deaths,” Kaplan, a noted suicide prevention researcher, told WebMD. “Some are classified as unintentional self-injury when, in fact, if you take a closer look, they look more like suicide,” he said. “The true incidence of suicide is unknown.” Kaplan said the Great Recession from 2007 to 2009 contributed to what he terms ”deaths of despair” by suicide. Some people, he said, never recovered economically.


 

Suicides by Drugs in U.S. Are Undercounted, Study Suggests Report co-authored by UCLA Luskin professor Mark S. Kaplan finds that a substantial gap between the rates of drug suicides and 'accidental' drug deaths is likely due to misclassification

By Stan Paul

Mark S. Kaplan

The rate of suicides by drug intoxication in the United States may be vastly underreported and misclassified, according to a new study co-written by Mark S. Kaplan, professor of social welfare at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.

The study was published online Jan. 10 in the journal PLOS ONE. The researchers report that the drug suicide rate in the United States rose nearly one-quarter (24 percent) between 2000 and 2016, and the accidental opioid and other drug intoxication death rate increased by 312 percent. This rate gap suggests an increase in suicide undercounting, according to the multidisciplinary international team of researchers led by Ian Rockett of West Virginia University School of Public Health.

“Unfortunately, part of the problem is due to serious under-resourcing of state and local death investigation systems throughout most of the U.S.,” said Kaplan, whose research has focused on using population-wide data to understand suicide risk factors among veterans, seniors and other vulnerable populations. Kaplan added that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently reported more than 63,000 drug deaths in 2016, up from 52,000 in 2015.

“Many of these deaths were probably suicides, yet reported as accidental self-poisoning rather than intentional self-harm, particularly among the middle-aged,” Kaplan said.

The researchers report that suicide notes and psychiatric history, including a prior suicide attempt or diagnosed depression, are much more important in helping medical examiners and coroners identify drug suicides than suicides by more violent and obvious methods. The new research further shows this evidence is absent in a large majority of suicide and possible suicide cases.

“A suicide note, prior suicide attempt or affective disorder was documented in less than one-third of suicides and one-quarter of undetermined deaths,” the research team reported in the study. The researchers cited larger prevalence gaps among drug intoxication cases than gunshot or hanging cases.

“Our incorporation of undetermined deaths, as well as registered suicides, not only provided a window on the nature of suicide misclassification within the undetermined death category, but within the accident category — as a much larger reservoir for obscuring drug intoxication suicides,” the researchers wrote in the report.

The opioid epidemic in the United States is also exacerbating problems with suicide accounting, the researchers report. And that severely impedes the understanding and prevention of suicide and drug deaths nationally.

The team analyzed data from the Restricted Access Database in the National Violent Death Reporting System, which is administered by the CDC.