Help-Seeking Behaviors

Many young people have known someone — a friend, family members, acquaintance — who struggled with suicide, thoughts of suicide or self-harm. Many also do things to try and help. They also feel a range of emotions about their help and how it was received.

• Among a national sample of over 1000 youth and young adults (ages 13-23 years), one in five (21.9%) who helped someone who was struggling with suicide felt really good about their helping, 42.9% said they felt somewhat good.
• About half (51%) said that the at-risk person responded negatively, however.
• Positive responses from the at-risk person were associated with increased odds of the bystander feeling somewhat or really good about their decision to help and feeling like what they did really helped.
• Bystander behaviors most consistently associated with increased odds of feeling good about helping were:
  Encouraging the person to talk to their family
  Telling the person they were important to them
• It was not uncommon for the youth to perceive both positive and negative responses from the at-risk person.
• Expectation needs to be matched with mental health resources and concrete referrals for people who subsequently find themselves in a situation where they are a bystander.
• Interventions should provide resources not just for where the bystander can refer the at-risk person, but also where they can access support if they need it themselves.

Source: https://www.jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X(21)00399-2/fulltext

Implications for Social Support

Exposure to suicidal thoughts and behaviors may negatively impact youth, including higher risk for personal thoughts of suicide and attempts and depression. Such exposure may pose particular risk for sexual and gender minority youth who already have elevated rates of suicidal behavior and depression. Social support can be a critical factor in well-being, particularly in the context of exposure to suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

• Sexual and gender minority youth are more likely to know someone close to them who attempted suicide, relative to cisgender youth.
• Cisgender heterosexual youth were buffered from recent depressed mood when they endorsed having high social support in the context of exposure to suicidal behavior; less support did not provide such a buffer.
• For cisgender sexual minority male and female youth, exposure to suicidal behavior was
  related to recent depressed mood regardless of the level of social support.
• For gender minority youth assigned female at birth, the combination of exposure and high social support was significantly associated with elevated depressed mood.
• Findings suggest that for some youth, social support may not always be protective
  or always associated with well-being.

Source: https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/147/4/e2020033134/180820/Exposure-to-Suicidal-Behavior-and-Social-Support?searchresult=1

Mental Healthcare

Good mental health helps young people handle emotions, build resilience and strength, stay connected with others, have healthy relationships, and do well at school and work. Mental health concerns are unlikely to get better on their own, so it’s important to seek help. Barriers to getting mental health treatment exist — here’s what youth tell us about that.

Many reported barriers that would affect their decision to seek treatment for a mental health problem from a professional, like a psychologist or counselor:

• 34.5% said that to knowing where to get help was a barrier
• 28.2% said that not having a way to get to a treatment center was a barrier
• 39.9% said it was too hard to schedule an appointment
• 51.1% said it would be hard getting time off work or school for treatment
• 67.9% said getting treatment costs too much money

Source: Mitchell, KJ & Banyard, V (2021-2026). Understanding Bystanders for Self-Directed Violence Prevention: A Prospective National Study Highlighting Marginalized Youth and Young Adults. Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Mental Health 2021-2026 Original Grant Number: R01MH128269, unpublished data.