The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is a free and confidential resource available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. [1]
800-273-8255
800-273-TALK
This national network of local crisis centers has been set up to provide “emotional support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress.” Myrian impacts of novel coronavirus disease have added ongoing risk factors associated with ordinary people every day throughout the United States. [2-7]
Asking for help is often made more difficult by media and online chat groups that encourage hyperbolic Who’s got it worse? comparisons. But the fact of the matter is that all sorts of individuals are making all sorts of sacrifices today, feeling all sorts of triggers — like never before. [8-14]
They’re carrying burdens unseen by others, in many cases unlikely appreciated even if they were. Hit with things that they themselves never imagined. “Through no fault of their own”?
That’s not a question to be asked here in the first place.
Healthcare professionals are legitimately frightened of contracting COVID-19 through front-line exposure. Less obvious, perhaps, are the owners of restaurants and retail shops from which more visible employees have been laid-off: “On average, companies with fewer than 500 employees have less than a month of cash reserves ….” [15-20]
The State of Michigan is in complete agreement with the US Department of Homeland Security in designating “Mental Health” practitioners as “Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers During COVID-19 Response.” [21]
Think you might need help? Stop thinking about it: Call now.
800-273-8255
800-273-TALK
References
- National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (home page).
- “Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)” CDC: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- “Novel Coronavirus Reports” CDC.
- “We Can All Prevent Suicide” National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
- SAVE: Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (home page).
- American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (home page).
- “Suicide” NIH: National Institute of Mental Health.
- “Executive Order 2020-21 (COVID-19)” Gretchen Whitmer (March 23, 2020) State of Michigan.
- “‘Isolation is a big trigger’: Feelings of suicide are amplified amid a pandemic” Alia E Dastagir (March 23, 2020) USA Today.
- “Calls from suicidal people to 911 are rising, Portland police say. Coronavirus could be fueling anxiety” Maxine Bernstein (March 24, 2020) The Oregonian.
- “British teen dies after suicide attempt due to coronavirus fears” Joshua Rhett Miller (March 25, 2020) New York Post.
- “Mental health experts fear coronavirus anxiety may increase suicide risk” Shen Wu Tan (March 26, 2020) The Washington Times.
- “More People Died From Suicide Than Coronavirus In Tennessee This Week” Tristan Justice (March 27, 2020) The Federalist.
- “Media meltdown over Trump’s suicide warning shows the press can’t let its hatred go” Post Editorial Board (March 27, 2020) New York Post.
- “Stress and Coping” Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), CDC.
- “Covid-19 hits doctors, nurses and EMTs, threatening health system” Lenny Bernstein, Shawn Boburg, Maria Sacchetti and Emma Brown (March 17, 2020) The Washington Post.
- “Are grocery stores and pharmacies vectors for the coronavirus?” Brent Schrotenboer (March 27, 2020) USA Today.
- “At Work: Job, self-esteem tied tightly together” Andrea kay (August 31, 2013) USA Today.
- “As COVID-19 outbreak shuts down businesses, owners worry about how long they can survive” Stateside Staff (March 17, 2020) NPR: Michigan Radio.
- “Small Businesses To Washington: Please Send Money Soon Or We Won’t Survive” Chris Arnold (March 18, 2020) NPR.
- “Memorandum on Identification of Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers During COVID-19 Response” Christopher C Krebs (March 19, 2020) Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency, United States Department of Homeland Security.
