More and more people are starting to talk about it. It's not common dinner table talk, but it's not really a common conversation anywhere.
But sophomore communication studies major Tyler Fox says suicide should be discussed. He said his method of bringing it up is unorthodox.
"My approach is up in your face," he said. "This is a problem. It needs to be changed. What are you going to do about it?"
As a high school freshman, one of Fox's best friends committed suicide. He graduated with about 120 people and there were four suicides.
"We had to deal with it a lot in the small setting that I was in, so I knew that if I had to deal with it this much that globally, this would have to be a major issue that we're having," Fox said.
As a freshman in college, Fox had the opportunity to do something to create awareness for suicide prevention. He was in COMM 240, and the class had a project dealing with ways to improve relationships. He decided to create the Facebook group, "Ask a Question, Save a Life: Suicide Prevention," which now has more than 6,000 members.
Fox is also a member of Ball State's Alive Campaign. The group is another advocate for suicide prevention.
The topic is becoming serious across age groups. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide rates in 25- to 64-year-olds increased from 2000 to 2006.
Suicide is the 11th-leading cause of death in the U.S. People like Fox and Jamie Tworkowski, the founder of To Write Love On Her Arms, are speaking up and trying to make a difference. Aaron Moore from Solace Counseling often accompanies the TWLOHA crew on college tours. He spoke Monday at Pruis Hall about how suicide often goes without mention.
"These are things we don't talk about," Moore said. "The vast, vast, vast majority of these things happen in silence. They happen in secret."
According to the CDC website, some of the signs of suicide can include a history of depression or alcohol and drug abuse, even incarceration. Most people do not see these signs at all, or if they do, it is too late.
Fox never anticipated his friends' suicides. He never saw the signs.
"Never in a million years would I think that they would [commit suicide]," he said. "These were people that I knew. I still think I would've noticed some of the nonverbal or things people say when suicide is mentioned."
The Ball State Counseling Center offers an open discussion where people can talk about their struggles.
Fox said the subject is a blacklisted topic that no one wants to talk about.
"I think it has to do with peoples' comfort levels," he said. "They just don't want to hear about it. They don't want to hear about a self-inflicted injury. They don't want to hear about someone taking their own life because that really hits home to know that you have a choice in that."
The Counseling Center has groups dedicated to helping people recognize signs of suicide. They are offering a trauma team discussion Nov. 20 at the Maring-Hunt Library.
"There are people out there that care, and I know sometimes they are hard to run across," Fox said. "But there are resources to help and there are people who have felt the way that you have."
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