Earlier today, a man killed himself in the parking lot of a Denton County elementary school. I wrote that it was “selfish to the point of possibly damaging hundreds of children forever.” The folks at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention saw my post, and sent me a note. Published with permission:
…I would caution about editorializing and labeling suicide or this man as “selfish”. Clearly, someone who takes their own life, and especially near a school, is not mentally stable. We know that 90 percent of people who die by suicide have an underlying mental illness at the time. We know that treatment for depression and other mood disorder is the best way to prevent suicide. Stigma surrounding suicide and mental illness is a major barrier to those struggling to seek help.
The more you know. The national suicide prevention hotline number is  1-800-273-TALK.
