We've been observing Mental Health Awareness Month during May in the United States. The month kicked off with some good news. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, released at the end of April, found that youth suicides in this country have declined even more than expected since the switch to a 3-digit national suicide prevention hotline in 2022. As reported in the New York Times, from 2022 through 2024 there were 4,372 fewer suicides of young people ages 15 to 34 than had been projected using historical data. That's an 11% decrease, statistically significant.
(The number to call is 988.)
The study's authors were interested in looking at the effects of a hotline on young people, who might be most likely to use this resource. And indeed, suicide rates among older adults, who are less likely to use phone hotlines, declined only minimally. There was no decline among young people in the UK, where a nationwide hotline did not exist. Suicide rates among US young people declined most significantly in areas where the hotline use was highest.
It's notable that the young people who used the hotline were those who had just recently emerged from the COVID pandemic isolation that interrupted school, work, and social routines for so many. They were particularly at risk for depression and other issues that might increase thoughts of suicide. So the decrease in suicide rates over the course of the study is particularly encouraging.
The study's authors urge continuation of government funding for the hotline:
The results suggest that the government’s investment in the 988 rollout has translated into “a measurable reduction of deaths,” said Dr. Vishal Patel, a resident physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and one of the authors of the study. “What our study has added,” he said, “is evidence for the deeper benefit of the program, and that is, that at the population level, among young people at least, suicide mortality is lower than it would have been without the program.” He added, “The implication of that is that sustained funding for this program matters.”
Mental health: A concern of the whole Church
Although the declining suicide rate among US young people is good news, mental health professionals agree that the hotline is only one factor among many; much more needs to be done. And though suicides may be declining, rates of depression, anxiety, and other mental illnesses continue to rise among young people. According to the CDC, 40% of US high school students surveyed in 2023 reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopeless over the course of a year. One in five adolescents reported feeling anxious in the previous two weeks.
Pope Leo XIV, speaking on May 14 at Europe's largest university, Rome's La Sapienza, noted his concern, as Aleteia reported:
Leo XIV paused to reflect on the “sad face” that anxiety sometimes takes on. “We must not hide the fact that many young people are struggling,” he noted. “Everyone goes through difficult times; some, however, may feel that these times will never end,” the pontiff lamented, noting that the poor psychological health of many young people “depends increasingly on a blackmail of expectations and the pressure to perform.”
“This spiritual malaise among many young people reminds us that we are not the sum of what we possess, nor a random collection of matter in a silent cosmos,” he noted, emphasizing the “special dignity” inherent in every person. “We are a desire, not an algorithm!” the pontiff insisted.
This concern for the mental health of people of all ages is properly a concern of the Church, from its bishops to each of us in the pew, though we sometimes need reminding.
This month, Bishop Keith J. Chylinski of Philadelphia, who has studied clinical psychology, recorded a video urging all Catholics to end the stigma surrounding mental illness, and to reach out to those in our midst who are struggling. He said:
There is a great hope in the Lord. There is great hope in the gifts of medical science that the Lord has given us and great hope in all of the developments in psychotherapy over the last 50 years. So as we gain greater awareness the importance of mental health, please know there's so much that the Church offers and so much that the profession of psychotherapy offers to you. There is no shame in asking for help. Because the Lord wants us to be healthy mind, body, and soul.
Bishop Chylinski's video is just one part of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops' mental health outreach, to which the bishops are newly committed. For a wealth of resources on the national, state, and local level -- including organizing suggestions, fact sheets, and prayer cards, visit Healing and Hope, the website of the USCCB's National Catholic Mental Health Campaign.
And let's remember that our awareness of and commitment to those struggling with mental illness doesn't end on May 31.
