Friday, Oct. 3, 2003 | 10:01 a.m.
Nevada's suicide rate declined in 2000 and 2001, knocking the state out of an unwanted No. 1 spot in the nation for suicides, a national and state group reported this week.
Local and state experts, however, are warning that the economic slump could push up the number of suicides.
The American Association of Suicidology, based in Washington, D.C., ranked Nevada first in the country for suicides per 100,000 population in 1997, 1998 and 1999, with 24.5, 22.7 and 22.3, respectively.
In 2000, the rate per 100,000 people dropped to 21.3 and to 18.4 in 2001, according to the association and the Crisis Call Center, a Nevada suicide prevention hotline. In 2000 Nevada ranked second, behind Alaska; in 2001 Nevada ranked third behind New Mexico and Montana.
The total number of suicides in Nevada has hovered around 400 since 1997, although the number dropped to 387 in 2001, the last year for which the association has complete numbers.
About 75 percent of the state's suicides occur in Clark County, a number roughly proportionate to the population breakdown.
Clark County coroner's records indicate a fairly steady number of suicides in the past five years, coroner Michael Murphy said. The rate of suicides per 100,000 is declining as the population continues to increase.
Last year a total of 295 county residents committed suicide, while in 1998 the number of suicides was 286, Murphy said.
Statistics for 2002 and 2003 have not been compiled yet, but those declining trends may change as the result of a persistent economic slump in Las Vegas and across the country, the experts said.
The Suicide Prevention Center in Las Vegas receives more than half of its calls from people desperate because they lost a job and could lose their home, said Dorothy Bryant, who has worked the suicide prevention hotline for 33 years.
"We have just noticed a big increase in our calls based on the economy," Bryant said.
The local hotline averages 500 calls a month, Bryant said.
The state's suicide prevention hotline handles 1,800 to 2,100 calls a month, and the economy is a factor in many of those, said Casey Gillham of the Reno-based Crisis Call Center.
"Definitely, the economy is playing a role," Gillham said.
The 2003 Legislature approved a statewide suicide prevention program which will be under way by January 2004, Gillham said.
On the national level, a Nevada native son who has had suicide hit his family is working for suicide prevention.
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., has introduced legislation to recognize suicide as a national problem and focus resources on prevention. In addition, he has sponsored a bill that would prohibit health plans from treating mental health services differently from those provided for medical or surgical needs.
"While we can always do more, this is good news," Reid said of Nevada's apparent decrease in suicide rates in recent years. "When my father committed suicide more than 30 years ago, we handled it the way most families handled depression and other mental illness at the time -- we kept quiet."
Reid has held congressional hearings on the subject of suicide.
"We need open and honest discussion, and easy access to treatment, if we are going to prevent more deaths in the future," Reid said.
Local agencies are already working to increase awareness of the issue and promote ways for people with suicidal potentials to seek help.
The Clark County Health District placed posters at local bus stops with the toll-free suicide prevention hotline number, (800) 992-5757.
People who are depressed, are mentally ill or are having financial problems can become so overwrought they will attempt suicide, Bryant said.
"The statistics don't tell the whole story," she said.
Many people who call the hotline in Southern Nevada have small children or have disabilities and don't know when the next paycheck is coming, she said.
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