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The CDC’s comprehensive study of suicides from 1999 to 2016 found the rising suicide rates among seniors can be attributed to several key factors. These include increasing financial and housing pressures, life crisis, chronic health conditions and relationship issues. Another factor is the dramatic increase in substance abuse among the elderly.
While the statistics are discouraging, our September edition of Brookdale’s Optimum Life Continuing Education series, entitled Suicide and the Elderly: Prevention Can Be Possible, focuses on potential solutions to elderly suicide. We explore the warning signs for elderly suicide, effective prevention strategies and the five action steps to assist someone in emotional pain.
Our guest is Doris Fischer-Sanchez, a senior clinical and risk management expert. Doris has more than 30 years of experience in healthcare. She’s a board certified psychiatric and family nurse practitioner with extensive experience both the inpatient and outpatient settings focusing on critical care, psychiatry, private practice, ambulatory and long- term care. During our conversation, Doris outlined the warning signs for elderly suicide:
Effective suicide mitigation strategies center on identifying the warning signs of elderly suicide and proactively addressing the underlying conditions that drive a sense of hopelessness and suicidal thoughts. These prevention strategies are often centered on these three areas:
Many people often aren’t sure what they can do when they recognize an elderly person they care about may be at risk for suicide. While elderly suicide involves a complex set of factors and emotions, Doris says there are five key action steps you can take to help someone experience emotional pain. These include:
If you’d like to learn more about the warning signs and prevention strategies for elderly suicide, you can attend a session of: Suicide and the Elderly: Prevention Can Be Possible. Just send a request to register for the session by visiting our Optimum Life Continuing Education page.