Disparities in Suicide Rates in Alaska

DISPARITIES IN SUICIDE RATES IN ALASKA

Volume 28, Issue 492 May 25, 2007

The suicide rate for Alaska Natives is among the highest in the world and significantly higher than in the rest of the country, according to a new report from the Alaska Injury Prevention Center. Although Alaska Natives comprise 16 percent of the state’s population, they accounted for 39 percent of the suicides. Suicides were highest among younger Alaska Natives, ages 20-29.

The most common reasons given were depression and other mental illness, alcoholism and cultural and economic stress. “They’ve lost their culture, they don’t have a way to support their family, and then what we see is a lot of alcohol and drug use, particularly alcohol,” Diane Casto of the state’s division of behavioral health, told the New York Times.

Researchers interviewed the next of kin to obtain information about the departed. Some of the survivors said that mental health care was either rejected by victims or unattainable. Twenty-nine percent said the decedent did not believe in counseling or asking for help, 18 percent said they had difficulty finding mental health services and 11 percent reported problems with paying for treatment.

On the other hand, 80 percent of decedents had few impediments to obtaining needed medications. Slightly over half had an illness or disability that made it difficult to take care of normal daily activities, and about a third had problems with memory or thinking clearly.

One counter-intuitive finding indicated that the time of year had impact on the number of suicides, with the darker months of November and December having fewer suicides than the sunny months of June and July. The report recommends that substance abuse and mental health treatment be improved and more widely available, and that public health campaigns be launched to reduce the stigmas associated with mental illness.

The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services funded the study.