9
over there, hoping and praying it wasn’t true. But when I
saw red and blue lights flashing, I knew. I saw my mom
crying and walked over to her. Then we just hugged and
cried and screamed together.
6
Increasing Rates of Suicide
It is a scene that is playing out in increasing numbers all across
the United States. From 1999 through 2017, the US suicide rate
increased 33 percent, from 10.5 to 14.0 per 100,000 population,
according to a 2018 report by the
CDC. Since 2006, suicide rates
have risen by 2 percent per year.
Ella Thomas’s suicide was part
of another disturbing trend. The
rate of suicide for women grew
by a staggering 50 percent from
2000 to 2016, according to the
CDC. The rate for men increased
21 percent over the same period.
In part this is because fewer women than men commit suicide, so
a modest increase in raw numbers translates into a large increase
in percentage. In 2000 the ratio of male-to-female suicide rates
was 4.4 men to 1 woman. But the gap is narrowing. In 2016 it was
3.6 men to 1 woman.
The Trauma of War
Suicide rates have risen among all races, ages, and genders, but
they have risen more dramatically in some populations than oth-
ers. For example, a 2016 study by the US Department of Veter-
ans Affairs (VA) found that the suicide rate among veterans had
increased 35 percent since 2001—two percentage points higher
than the national average. The increase among female veterans
was a mind-boggling 85 percent. The rate of veterans’ suicides
“My dad called and told
me what happened. I
was at home alone. I
collapsed and fell to the
ground, screaming and
crying.”
6
—Solomon Thomas, suicide
survivor
