Editors Note: The following is the first part in a Camden News series on mental health. In the following weeks we will cover mental health care solutions, the role of policing in mental health as well as how area schools are approaching the mental health of students.
According to the Arkansas Department of Health, in 2020, 583 Arkansans died by suicide.
Sylvester Smith, Ouachita County Coroner, told the Camden News, "Suicide is the second leading cause of death in the age group of 10-44 in Arkansas. That's kind of hard to believe isn't it? It's the fourth leading cause of death in ages 35-44 and the eighth leading cause of death from 55-64. So you see, as they get older it goes down."
Smith said that in Arkansas, four times as many people die from suicide than from car wrecks.
"In Ouachita County, we average from four to six suicides a year," Smith said.
He said the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated a mental health crisis that was brewing in the county and around the country.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, in February of 2021, 40% of adults in Arkansas reported symptoms of anxiety or depression and 25% said they were unable to get needed counseling or therapy.
Common warning signs of mental illness include:
- Feeling very sad or withdrawn for more than two weeks
- Trying to harm or end one's life or making plans to do so
- Severe, out-of-control,risk-taking behavior that causes harm to self or others
- Sudden overwhelming fear for no reason, sometimes with racing heart, physical discomfort or difficulty breathing
- Significant weight loss or gain
- Seeing, hearing or believing things that aren't real
- Excessive use of alcohol or drugs
- Drastic changes in mood,behavior, personality or sleeping habits
- Extreme difficulty concentrating or staying still
- Intense worries or fears that get in the way of daily activities
Deaths from Despair
In addition to suicides, overdoses and alcoholic liver disease are labeled as "deaths of despair."
According to statnews.com, "The term deaths of despair comes from Princeton economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton, who set out to understand what accounted for falling U.S. life expectacies. They learned that the fastest rising death rates among Americans were from drug overdoses, suicide, and alcoholic liver disease. Deaths from these causes have increased between 56% and 387%, depending on the age cohort, over the past two decades, averaging 70,000 per year."
Smith said that in 2020, Arkansas had 403 fatal overdoses, and the number rose to 536 in 2021.
Personally, he has seen an increase in overdoses due to fentanyl, he said.
"Earlier in the year, we had three or four deaths in one week dealing with fentanyl, where people were selling drugs as one thing, people were telling them it was Hydrocodone or Oxycodone and basically what the drug was, was fentanyl. They would take these drugs and go to sleep and basically they would overdose on them," Smith said.
Smith is the official who determines whether an overdose was accidental or suicide.
"It's thin line to walk -- to decide, did they take these drugs to end their life or did they take them to escape the environment or the reality of what's going on around them," Smith said.
Smith said as Ouachita County Coroner he has the authority to research someone's medical background which can often provide clues if an overdoes was accidental or not.
The Arkansas Department of Health operates the Arkansas Lifeline Call Center, which is a part of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. The line is answered in-state from area codes 501, 870, & 479 to better serve Arkansans with resources in their community 24/7. If you or someone you know, needs help, please call the Arkansas Lifeline Call Center: at 988, for veterans: Press 1