Stop Stigmatizing Suicide
COMMITTEE REPORT WELLNESS
Loice A. Swisher, MD MAAEM FAAEM
C
ommit suicide.
I finch with these words. It takes great effort to contain a wince as those words hit my ear. There is a visceral pain like a punch to the gut. No matter my prior personal sense of comfort, it falters. I’m sure the feeling is common for so many who have had friends or family who have killed themselves or who have had personal thoughts of suicide.
“ Commit suicide. I flinch with these words.”
My pained mind wanders…. • I wonder if the person saying these words realizes often the immediate subliminal message of a crime or sin to those who have suffered with suicide loss or suicidal ideation. • I wonder if the person saying these words actually believe that suicide is a crime or a sin. • I wonder if the person saying these words is aware they are dividing suicide from all other causes of death. After all, there is no other committed death. Commit makes suicide different; perhaps subtlety implying suicide is unchangeable. • I wonder if the words tumble out of their mouth without thought— as automatic as ‘peanut butter and jelly’ or ‘black and white.’ • I wonder if the person just doesn’t know another way or does and continues to say ‘commit suicide’ anyway. I wonder if they know it hurts. There are other ways to say this. The words are less automatic. They may sound strange to the ear. However, it is easy, and it is free. Instead, use the same terms that are used with cancer, car accident, and heart attacks: died by (or from) suicide. When Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade died by suicide in 2018 the media was widely watched on how the news was covered. Since then, the media guidelines are widely employed. Once made aware, one can now see that the use of ‘commit suicide’ is less used in the headlines. As emergency physicians, we tend to believe we can talk about and treat all emergencies. However, this is much less true of the American suicide health crisis. We can start by choosing other words-less divisive language. For National Physician Suicide Awareness Day commit to ending stigmatizing language with suicide. Commit to ‘died by suicide’.
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COMMON SENSE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021
“ We can start by choosing other words-less divisive language.”
