There is a lengthy two plus page article starting on the front page in the Wall Street Journal entitled, “One Teen-ager Killed Himself Then Six More Followed.” It begins by summarizing the events of a suicide cluster in Herriman, Utah and then discusses larger issue of the adolescent suicide in the state of Utah and the influence of the Mormon Church.

Some statistics:

Utah ranks third in the US for youth suicides (ages 10-17) behind New Mexico (#1) and Colorado (#2). The rate is a little over 10 deaths per 100,000 persons.

The national average for suicide in this age group is 5.3 per 100,000 persons and is rising.

Utah consistently ranks in the top three with this statistic.

Suicide is the leading cause of death in the 10-17 age group in Utah.

Utah has the largest proportion of 10-17 year olds in the US.

The article cites the influence of the Mormon Church in two contexts: the problem of perfectionism among those who are active Mormons and the problem of feeling left out among those who are not.

The article is well written and the topic is of utmost importance. It is difficult not to be touched by suicide in a very personal way. My uncle killed himself before I was born but there is still an effect on our family. I recall seeing the police tape near one of the dorms in Deseret Towers at BYU and later learned that a student jumped out of a seventh story window to his death. As a mental health professional I have known people who have both attempted and completed suicide. I have worked with colleagues who have completed suicide.

This is truly becoming a public health crisis.

What makes this inexcusable is this has been a problem for decades
I grew up in a small town in northern utah with a temple and churches on every street, "righteous" dudes in suits leading every ward and stake
But there was this dirty secret that the young people are killing themselves. I KNOW FOR SURE that the church top leaders knew about this very well because it was reported on in many major news sources many times, even nationally.
In my middle and high schools, there were very high rates of suicide among both girls and boys. The schools had very strict policies to keep it strictly hush hush.
But we all noticed. Every school term and every school year, many of us would say, "where's sally?" or "where jared?" Many of these of our disappeared classmates had ended their lives. Some of the girls had gotten pregnant of course.
I was effected by this very personally many many times. I went through school from kindergarten with my friend Jared. He was always a sweet boy, rowdy, fun. In 9th grade we ended up in the same English class but after the first week he never showed up to class and he was just different.
Well a few weeks into the term my teacher stopped me after class and asked me if I would tutor him every day after school to help get him caught up. I said sure. We set the first tutor appointment.
Well that day came and some other kids were playing out on the front lawn after school and I totally forgot the appointment. I remembered and ran to the classroom to see if I could make the appointment. He was not there.
He killed himself the next day.
I just think the mormon leaders are sick psychopaths. They know these problems, I know they do. But they don't give a crap. They do everything possible to not have to even answer for this. It is their fault. I blame them. There is no justification. Blood on their hands

Having experienced the suicide of a 26 year old in my family within the past year, I think it short sighted to focus just on M ormon Utah. Suicide is at near epidemic levels in western nations today not just in Utah even though here we might see it through that lens.

Modern life making people want to kill themselves isn’t just a Mormon problem. Mormons are better at piling on the misery, though.

Remember being taught that JS once said that if we could see how glorious even the telestial kingdom is, we'd commit suicide to get there?

That's probably not a good thing to have rattling around in your mind under some conditions. And that is unique to mormonism.



Edited to correct a word omission



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/14/2019 01:32PM by elderolddog.

I lost my first born son to suicide, and it was church related, just not Mormon. It is just too ironic that my daughter is thinking of moving to Herriman now. What a bummer.

My TBM brother, who lives in Utah, said that people living in high-altitude states have a higher rate of suicide. Blame it on the altitude. I guess that's how the Mormon church is spinning it.