COLUMBUS, Ohio – Suicide rates among young men and women in rural areas are twice that of urban and suburban dwellers and two OSU researchers say the reason may be combination of a lack of mental health care, pride in self-sufficiency and substance abuse.
An analysis of nearly 67,000 suicides between 1996 and 2010 also suggests that the gap appears to be widening.
Cynthia Fontanella, clinical assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral health at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and lead author of the study said contributing factors appear to be barriers to health care, geographic isolation and a greater stigma associated with mental illness.
“Rural America is beautiful, and many individuals live in close-knit communities. But in terms of access to services and perhaps some other factors, the cards may be stacked against them,” she said.
Among males, the rural versus urban suicide rate was 19.93 and 10.31 per 100,000 and for females it was 4.40 and 2.39 per capita, Fontanella’s study showed.
The research, published in JAMA Pediatrics, also showed that gun use has decreased and that hanging has become a more common method of youth suicide for both males and females.
The findings suggest there is an urgent need to improve access to and availability of mental health care in rural areas.
“If a rural child is depressed, it’s much harder to get state-of-the-art care. And it’s especially difficult to receive psychotherapy in a rural area,” said John Campo, chair of psychiatry and behavioral health at Wexner Medical Center and senior author of the paper. Campo said.
Fontanella and Campo suggest that incorporating mental health care into primary care settings, using long-distance “telemedicine” and creating intervention programs in schools might help.
About 90 percent of people who commit suicide suffer from a major psychiatric problem such as depression or bipolar disorder.
Substance abuse, which can increase impulsivity and interfere with mood, is also frequently linked to suicides, they said.