Regarding the Aug. 1 Style article “The Puzzling, Tragic End of a Golden Couple”:
Suicide is indeed puzzling and tragic. Suicide also is complicated. It is not the result of a single life event. In fact, more than 90 percent of people who die by suicide have an underlying, although not always diagnosed, psychiatric illness at the time of their deaths.
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention maintains that understanding suicide through research and education is key to helping us prevent deaths. We know that the most effective way to prevent suicide is through early detection and treatment of depression and other mood disorders, but stigma and misconceptions about mental illness and suicide continue to be barriers to seeking help.
Another barrier is that many states and the federal government have yet to pass comprehensive parity laws that would make insurance coverage for the treatment of mental illnesses and addiction equal to coverage for physical illnesses.
More needs to be done to prevent suicide, a national health problem that takes a life every 16 minutes.
PAULA CLAYTON
Medical Director
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention