Flame Think, Inc.

In 1999 the World Health Organization (WHO) released findings indicating approximately one million people die annually by suicide. That represents roughly one death every 40 seconds.
 
Suicides are increasing in the United States.
a.    In 2001 there were 30,622 reported suicides
b.    In 2002 there were 31,655 reported suicides
c.    In 2003 there were 31,484 reported suicides
d.    In 2004 there were 32,439 reported suicides
e.    In 2005 there were 32,637 reported suicides
f.     In 2006 there were 33,300 reported suicides

In the event these numbers do not alarm you, consider the following. These figures represent “the tip of an iceberg." In reality there are additional numbers to consider.

a.    Unreported Suicides - add an additional 5-25% to each yearly figure.
b.    Non-fatal Suicidal Behaviors - 40 to 100 times higher than the suicide rates.
c.    Serious Suicide Ideations - may be as high as 5% of the National Population. This means based on the 2006 U.S. estimated population (roughly 300,000,000) roughly 15,000,000 people may have dealt with serious thoughts of suicide.

Let’s bring this into clearer focus. The estimated population of the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan region in 2009 was 4,620,550 meaning approximately 231,027 may have dealt with serious thoughts of suicide. Area suicide crisis lines reported a 21 percent increase over the number of similar calls from a year earlier.

Thus far in 2010 there have been approximately 30 confirmed suicides and nearly half that number in suspected cases. Simply stated, it’s time to address this issue because rather we wish to admit it or not, we have a suicide crisis in our midst.