This is an archived copy of a post written by Conflict Of Justice (conflictofjustice.com). Used with permission: Conflict Of Justice may not agree with any alterations made.
Popular celebrity Dan Reynolds was featured in an HBO documentary that blamed “the church’s consistent rejection” of people for social problems in Utah. Soon after HBO’s special, the news media became filled with stories about the rising youth suicide rate. Many were surprised to discover this problem of rising suicide in the backyard of the church. Suicide rates from 1999 to 2016 rose among all age groups, and now is the leading cause of death for youth in Utah.
The church has responded with supportive messages for people who struggle with depression, and efforts to remove taboos about suicide. Some studies also explored the issue. One study concluded that the problem is greater in states with high church populations. But then, high church populations happen to be in states with higher elevations, and elevation is a proven strong factor for depression and suicide.
Healthcare Unavailble – Utah health stats find high mental illness rates with people who have little access to health care, which seems to be the bigger issue here. There are more people in Utah than anywhere else who suffer from mental health problems yet do not find a way to treat it. When I served my mission in Germany, I was shocked to see large numbers of mental hospitals. It seemed like everywhere I turned there was another mental health facility. If Americans had this kind of treatment readily available, how would things be different, I wondered?
Media Malpractice – But studies also found that rates are much higher than they were a decade ago. Why?
Well, according to the media it’s because of the church. Local CBS news reported: “There is also religious pressure that comes from a dominant faith in the state.” Then they contradict this with a quote the State Health Department: “‘We have been closely watching our rates since various events that happened in Utah relating to the LDS church,’ Hood said. ‘We have not seen an increase tied to those announcements.'” Oh, but that’s just because there “may be due to a lack of hard data,” CBS news insists.
This kind of irresponsible reporting from the news media has contributed to widespread rumors that make the church the whipping boy and may make the problem even worse. Mental health experts specifically warn against “big or sensationalistic headlines” about suicide. Journalists should not describe “recent suicides as an ‘epidemic’, ‘skyrocketing,’ or other strong terms.” Well, how did local CBS news begin the very first sentence of their article? “Utah suicide rates are skyrocketing…” Huh, apparently they didn’t get the memo. Mental health experts warn “risk of additional suicides increases when… repeated/extensive coverage sensationalizes or glamorizes death.” “Suicide is complex. There are almost always multiple causes… Avoid reporting that death by suicide was preceded by a single event, such as a recent job loss, divorce, or bad grades. Reporting like this leaves the public with an overly simplistic and misleading understanding of suicide.” (ReportingOnSuicide.org)
Take a look at how the Washington Post reported on Dan Reynold’s HBO documentary special: “He embarks on a listening tour, meeting with people who’ve been hurt by the church’s ostracization. He visits with a couple whose teenage son committed suicide… At roughly the same time, the brother of Lance Lowry, Reynolds’s hired assistant, commits suicide — not because he was gay, but because he admitted having premarital sex with his girlfriend and thereby received a five-year suspension from Brigham Young University.” (ReportingOnSuicide.org)
Nothing about multiple causes, just associations with the church. No links to mental health resouces which ReportingOnSuicide.org recommends. No information about treatment options. No stories of people who overcame a suicidal crisis. No information about warning signs. No quotes from mental health experts. This is just sensationalism.
Not Getting Needed Treatment – To explore the reasons for rising rates, there are a few interesting statistics to look at. According to Utah Dept. of Health, 75% of suicides are male, 35.2% had a diagnosed mental health problem, 55.3% had a recent crisis, 21.8% had a family relationship problem, 10.6% had an intimate relationship problem, 19.8% were under drug or alcohol influence, 12.7% were recently restricted from technology use, and 68.3% involved more than two precipitating circumstances. This flies in the face of the narrative that Antimormons spread. Almost two-thirds had more than two precipitating circumstances, which agrees with ReportingOnSuicide.org’s advice that there are always multiple causes. You can’t just blame the church. A dominant narrative I’ve seen is that Latter-Day Saint families ostracize non-conforming children, yet less than a quarter experienced a family relationship problem. If the church were really the biggest reason, wouldn’t there be a lot more family relationship problems? Only a third were diagnosed with a mental health problem, and that seems to be a likely issue at play here. Maybe victims were not being diagnosed and receiving the treatment they needed?
White Males – I find it particularly interesting that 75% of victims are men. Suicide rates in America tend to be higher among White males, which account for 7 of 10 suicides in 2016 in America. Utah is 79% White, so the demographics of Utah follow the same trend that we see in the rest of America. There are other states with higher White male populations, but those are near sea level elevation. States at high elevations and with high White male populations such as Wyoming and Idaho also have high levels of suicide. Wyoming is higher than Utah and Idaho is just right below it. So a big issue may be overall with White males in America. Strangely, I haven’t seen the news media talk about this.
Lower Among Church Youth – When we focus on the rising rate among youth, one study finds only “17% were prescribed psychotropic medication.” That’s even lower than the general stat for all age groups. Again, lack of treatment is a huge issue at play. There are some other really interesting finds in a study of children in grades 8, 10, and 12. This study was published by the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention for the year 2015:
- Many more girls than boys considered attempting suicide and planned how they would do it.
- Suicidal thoughts and attempts were higher at grade 8 and lower at grade 12.
- Whites were almost 4 times as likely to consider suicide and 3 times as likely to attempt it.
- Religious youth were more likely to consider suicide but less likely to attempt it.
- Latter-Day Saint youth were less likely to contemplate or attempt suicide than non-LDS youth. The study finds 2,398 “Mormon” youth in Utah contemplating suicide compared to 2,717 “Other”, and 856 “Mormon” youth in Utah attempting suicide compared to 1,339 “Other.”
- Rates are much higher if their household has a member with a college graduate compared to less than high school education.
There are some important finds in this study. First, all the news articles I could find say there isn’t data available on the religion of youth who attempt or commit suicide, but right here we have data that indicates they tend to be non-LDS. Utah is 67% Latter-Day Saint, yet about a third of the youth who attempted suicide were Latter-Day Saint. This seems to indicate Latter-Day Saint youth are much less likely to attempt suicide.
Second, the numbers are higher for younger ages. Youth are not in seminary yet at grade 8, and this appears to be the age of highest risk. I think is opportunity for church resources to be provided for families with children at this age, especially with the new 2-hour block program currently being rolled out. High school age is a big area of focus, but maybe we should focus more on Middle School age. For me personally, this was an age of great testing and spiritual growth.
Third, rates were higher among girls than boys, which is surprising considering overall rates are much higher for men than women. The risk at this age is apparently huge for girls, so we should consider more resources and care for girls. With the disassociation with Boy Scouts and rise of a church-wide youth program, a focused program for girls and resources for parents of girls can be a huge help.
Shame Culture – Something else interesting about these studies is the role of social media. Children who are bullied online are at greater risk. Online bullying is a problem among adults, but especially with children, online trolling and persecution takes a large toll. When children log on to social media, it opens the door to an enormous room filled with Antimormon rhetoric, negativity, and hatred for the church. Girls face all kinds of ridicule and shame for the church’s history with polygamy. How are children expected to reconcile such polarization between family, church, and popular culture? Hollywood musicals and TV shows heap the shame layer upon layer, and many teens turn skeptic of the church just to avoid going crazy. Add to that the TV and news specials blaming the church for suicides and the shame culture becomes even worse.
But social media can also be good. It provides resources that youth and adults otherwise would not be exposed to. The state statistics found only 12.7% of Utah suicides were restricted from technology use, so there are indeed those who find helpful resources and an outlet for their inner turmoil on social media. An outright ban of social media is not the answer, but we should very careful about it. I get the feeling that among non-LDS in particular, social media is a way for them to be exposed to non-church culture because they may find Utah’s culture stifling. It can be very positive for those people, though it can also aggravate feelings of resentment that may exist.
This is an issue that has been woefully understudied. Perhaps scientists don’t want to attract the anger of wealthy social media giants. But there was a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that suggests: “An increase in suicide rates among US teens occurred at the same time social media use surged and a new analysis suggests there may be a link.” Cyberbullying, image consciousness, and feelings of exclusion are cited as possible links. Perfectionism in particular is cited among many who overcame a suicidal crisis in Utah. It is admittedly a very perfectionist culture. When you start with high expectations of virtue by the church,and add to that popular culture’s expectations which are so widely divergent and so heavily thrown in your face, youth inevitably feel pulled in multiple directions and there’s no way to meet everyone’s expectations. Does it pretty much comes down to pleasing church expectations or pleasing popular culture on social media? Many call for the church to relax moral standards and be more “accepting” of popular culture, but why shouldn’t popular culture relax their standards and be more accepting of church culture? Defenders of the church point out that church’s standards have not changed all this time. They say it is popular culture becoming more extreme in the other direction, and rising social media usage that exposes children to this radical culture. Social media use has in particular exploded among youth during the same time at which youth suicide rates rose at the highest rates in Utah.
Drugs & Alcohol – An interesting peculiarity about Utah is that it ranks only 2nd in substance abuse among suicides while 90% of suicides in America involved substance abuse. From what I’ve seen and what I’ve been told, drugs are still a big problem in Utah, but apparently it is less of a cause than in other states. I am surprised that nobody thought to consider other vices that may substitute for drugs, such as pornography. Doesn’t Utah have the highest rate of pornography subscriptions in the country? Considering suicide is an issue that is overwhelmingly involving males, maybe that might be something to look at as well?
Low Homeless Rate – Something else to consider is the low rate of homelessness in Utah. In major cities of California and Washington there are shanty towns with hundreds or thousands of homeless people. But in Utah there is only 92 per 100,000 people without a home. This is an issue that I’m not qualified to talk about since I don’t know much about it, but I suspect that it also plays a role. Maybe the pressure and stress of home ownership is something to consider.
We all remember the depression and difficulties of youth. We all have some idea of how to fight through it. But circumstances change. Many think of mental health treatment as a band-aid for the bigger problems, and there certainly are societal problems that can be solved, but Utah’s elevation is always going to be high up. Quick recognition of mental health problems and availability of treatment are key. We need to be more willing to recognize issues in ourselves and our kids so that we can get them the help needed.
I think our confidence in the church and gospel is also key. Unfortunately, I see church church members perpetuating these false narratives, laying blame on the church. It only adds to the sensationalism. It distracts from real solutions. The church and gospel are wonderful, positive influences. Bishop interviews are important resources to help the youth, which Antimormons are agitating to abolish. Will it help if we cave in to the false narrative and Antimormon agitation? Further scientific study is needed, particularly in regards to social media. Focus on Middle School-aged children could help those at risk. The new youth program and family-centered church schedule could establish mentorship and bridges to help them through teenage anxiety. The online persecution, the polarity of popular culture, and chasm between us and those who antagonize us will only grow larger, and children must no longer be the first victims. Many have experienced what they are experiencing, and they persevered through it and won. We can start telling their stories. Help is there and we can be the ones to make a difference.
If you or someone you know is in crisis or need of help, the suicide prevention lifeline is available: 1-800-273-TALK
Or text: HOME to 741-741
The Family Acceptance Project: familyproject.sfsu.edu/
Suicide Prevention Resource Center: www.sprc.org
National Alliance of Mental Illness: nami.org
Parent Resource Program: jasonfoundation.com/community/
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: suicidepreventionlifeline.org/
Resources on suicide from the Church: lds.org/get-help/suicide
Church resources for LGBT church members: mormonandgay.lds.org/
Reconciliation and growth projects: reconciliationandgrowth.org/