Black Males & Suicide: When Too Much Becomes Too Much

I wanted to briefly shed light on a serious issue affecting our communities, especially for those who may be dealing with depression and or suicidal thoughts or you know someone who is dealing with it themselves.

Suicide is increasing rapidly among young, black males stemming from severe depression, behavior problems and even mental illness. Many times the signs go unnoticed because people lack the education and knowledge about mental illness or they refuse to believe it’s something “we” deal with as a people. It is prevalent that mental-health and mental-health treatment is so stigmatized within the African-American community but why? This negative stigma needs to cease immediately. One should not be stigmatized for deciding to reach out for help by seeing a psychiatrist or psychologist but rather be encouraged to take proactive measures in getting help and support. It is sad to think that therapy is something looked at as being a “white thing” within our communities, or you have to be weak or crazy to want to see a psychiatrist – People please open your minds. It is so disheartening to see the age of young males committing suicide become younger and younger to the point where it’s children taking their own lives. I know it may seem difficult for us as black men, or young black men to turn to someone when we’re facing adversity, and therefore we tend to bottle up all our feelings and emotions until we get to a point where it’s too much to handle, and we explode. Know that it doesn’t have to be that way, reach out to someone to talk to and seek help.

This issue of suicide hits home with me personally stemming from depression which is something I dealt with for quite some time, years as a matter of fact. It came a time in my life where I felt like giving up, I felt like life wasn’t worth living and there was no need for me to go on. I felt like I didn’t have anyone to turn to, no were to go, no hope, I was at my wits end, so my only outlet was ending my life, suicide. At that moment in time I didn’t realize that there were many other outlets I could have chosen to take but there was. We sometimes get so bogged down with letting our life stresses overtake our life blessings, but in the end, we fail to realize that our life blessings outweigh the stresses. We don’t see that when we’re in the middle of what we consider to be, the end all be all position in life thinking and believing that things will never change but they will. Faith has gotten me this far, and it will lead me further. Yes I still battle depression but I am now able to cope and manage it differently than before being that I finally reached out for help.

If you or anyone you know had suicidal thoughts in the past, or have been thinking about suicide for any reason please get help, please know that you’re not alone and it WILL get better. There are resources and other outlets available for you to utilize.

Here is a link for the Suicide Resource Prevention Center (SPRC)for ANYONE who has been having suicidal thoughts and need someone to reach out to.

In addition to available resources, this site SAVE provides you with awareness of knowing the warning signs of suicide.

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is a 24-hour, toll-free suicide prevention service available to anyone in suicidal crisis. If you need help, please dial 1-800-273-TALK (8255).