depression

Sammus’s Story

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The Ithaca rapper (and Cornell University grad student) known as Sammus has opened up about her struggle with depression in an article by Dexter Thomas in the Los Angeles Times. The article gives the background to Sammus’ recent single and video, “1080p.” As Thomas explains, “‘1080p’ is about relationships, school and life, but it’s mostly about Sammus’ battle with depression, pills and thoughts of suicide.” Watch the video, it’s powerful.

Thomas was moved to tears by the song. He and Sammus (Enongo Lumumba-Kasongo) were close friends at Cornell, but she had hidden her pain:

“I’ve had a lot of people tell me they feel guilty for not realizing what was happening to me,” she said. “But that just shows the lengths I took to insulate myself. I did a lot of work to make sure that nobody knew what I was struggling with. I knew you would never judge me. But I just wasn’t ready to have those conversations. Not with you, not with anybody. I was very intentional about projecting myself as a very happy-go-lucky person.”

Thomas asks himself: “Do I have other friends who are struggling without my realizing it?”

Check out Sammus’ website for more about her story and her music.

Sammus has two upcoming gigs in Ithaca:

July 20: CFCU Summer Concert Series on the Bernie Milton Pavilion stage in the Ithaca Commons.

August 4: Ithaca Underground concert at the Sacred Root Kava Lounge and Tea Bar.

1080p by Sammus

Verse 1
I’m kind of scared of the academy
I think that my parents are proud of me
I just wish I knew how to be comfortable here —
I never feel like I’m allowed to breathe
Rubbing shoulders with these old nerds
Rockin’ sweater vests in they office hours
Eatin’ hors d’œuvres while I soul search
Tryna make some sense of the ivory tower
Feelin sober
Am I just a coward?
Or a poser?
I don’t really doubt it
Or a soldier?
Books in holsters
But the setting sucks I can’t fight the power
Cuz they write books nobody reads
For these white folks that they tryna please
Recycle all the right quotes tryna cite blokes ain’t my cup of tea
Eatin’ chex mix
Feelin’ helpless
I really miss my fuckin’ ex it’s
Such mindfuck
Cuz we never talk
Yet we still share a fuckin’ Netflix
And every day I apologize
To the poor kid that we never had
The emotion of the whole thing
Make me so sick
It’s fucking sad
What you don’t get is how focused
That I had to be cuz you couldn’t provide
Mad at me cuz I’m losing my mind
Had to leave at a terrible time
Prednisone — I can barely breathe
Now the pressure gone but I barely sleep
So I ring your phone but you don’t respond
Had to put myself in some therapy
Now my Therapist she take care of me
Like Sierra mist things are clear to see
Now I’m seeing the world in 1080p x2

Chorus: Voicemail Message

Verse 2
Been a few months since the last verse
Since I called you bad words
I went ahead and got my masters
I trimmed the last of my relaxer
So my fro big
Got some mo’ gigs
My cell phone says I’m roaming
Cuz I’m on tour
I want more
Forget home so I go big
I was taking pills up in the bathroom
— ended up alone in grad school
I’m Mario I busted ass but
My prize is sitting in another castle
In a tight spot trying to disappear
I would write songs for my friends to hear
—-I’m tryna keep my lights on
I’m a Nikon now it’s crystal clear
Opportunity is at my doorstep
So I’m moving back up on the horse like
It’s the first time I ever wore specks
Now I do my thing like life’s a Rorschach
I see things nobody sees
Since my bee stings turned to double ds
I’m conceding
That my feelings
Is amazing
Now I’m lovin’ me!
I could give it up where’s the fun in that?
Gotta live it up or you will never laugh
Life’s a box of chocolates with a lot of options
Gotta keep it rocking life’s a rumble pack
The first letter of your first name
Makes your name emerge when I search things
And it hurts me but I guarantee
That without you I’m a better me
Now I see the past with some clarity
Glad I took my ass to some therapy
Now I’m seeing the world in 1080p x2

Chorus: Voicemail

Facebook’s New Suicide Prevention Tools

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Facebook has enhanced and expanded the geographical reach of tools designed to rescue people whose social media behavior signals a possible intention to commit suicide. Facebook users can report a worrying post, receive guidance from trained experts on how to help their friend, and if evaluated as an immediate threat get instructions on how to alert emergency services. If deemed serious, the reporting will also trigger a stream of suggestions for getting help into the distressed person’s Facebook news feed.

Given the intense connection that many people have with social media—Facebook has about 1.4 billion users—some experts believe the new tools can have a tangible impact.

The Mighty has a good illustrated guide on how it works here.

mighty

The New York Times had a story on June 15 explaining how the new tools work.

Also read the report from the website of the University of Washington, whose Forefront: Innovations in Suicide Prevention organization collaborated with Facebook on the tools. The new tools were announced at Compassion Research Day at Facebook headquarters on February 25.

[If you or someone you know feels the need to speak with a mental health professional, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741-741.]

 

Occupational Hazards

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A report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control lists farming, fishing and forestry as professions with the high rates of suicide. The report, released July 1, analyzed 12,312 suicides in 17 states in 2012 by occupation, sex, and age.

occupational

The report found that rates of suicide were highest in farming, fishing, and forestry, with 84.5 suicides per 100,000 persons, compared to only 13.3 per 100,000 in the general population. The next highest group was construction and extraction (53.3); and installation, maintenance, and repair (47.9).

Among females, the report said, the highest suicide rates occurred among persons in protective service occupations such as law enforcement and firefighting (14.1); legal (13.9); and healthcare practitioners and technical (13.3).

The report speculated that the reasons for the higher suicide rates could include “job-related isolation and demands, stressful work environments, and work-home imbalance, as well as socioeconomic inequities, including lower income, lower education level, and lack of access to health services.” The report added that females in protective service occupations might also experience additional stress because they work in traditionally male-dominated occupations.

The CDC report, “Suicide Rates by Occupational Group — 17 States, 2012,” calls for workplace suicide prevention efforts:

Suicide prevention activities directed toward persons aged more than16 years include enhancing connectedness to family and friends, encouraging help-seeking for persons exhibiting signs of distress or suicidality, and supporting efforts to reduce stigma associated with help-seeking and mental illness. Some potential suicide prevention strategies include workplace approaches, such as employee assistance programs, which might serve as gateways to behavioral health treatment. Workplace wellness programs can provide education and training for staff members and supervisors to aid in recognition of suicide warning signs (e.g., withdrawal, increased substance abuse, agitation, and putting affairs in order). Employers also can use technology to provide online mental health screenings, web-based tools for mental health information, and mental health screening kiosks for their employees, as well as ensure that employees are aware of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline; 1-800-273-8255).

The National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention (NAASP) Workplace Task Force has developed a Comprehensive Blueprint for Workplace Suicide Prevention that addresses suicide prevention strategies, such as screening, mental health services and resources, suicide prevention training, life skills and social network promotion, and education and advocacy.

The NAASP online site has resources targeted specifically to the construction and law enforcement industries. Evidence-based suicide prevention strategies implemented in the workplace have the potential to reduce the number of suicides among all occupational groups.

The Violence Myth

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A new study published by the leading health policy journal Health Affairs says that the news media’s misrepresentation of the connection between mental illness and violence may undermine public support for mental health policies.

The study, “Trends In News Media Coverage Of Mental Illness In The United States: 1995–2014,” sampled 400 news stories about mental illness, and found that 55 percent of them mentioned violence. By contrast, only 14 percent described successful treatment for or recovery from mental illness.

The study provides some context to the media reporting on whether mental illness was a factor in the mass murder of 49 people at an Orlando gay night club on June 12 by a 29-year-old man, Omar Mateen. In the New York Times, security expert Peter Bergen writes that a New America study found that only one in ten terrorists—below the incidence in the general population—had mental health problems.

atlantic

Here’s the full abstract of the study:

The United States is engaged in ongoing dialogue around mental illness. To assess trends in this national discourse, we studied the volume and content of a random sample of 400 news stories about mental illness from the period 1995–2014. Compared to news stories in the first decade of the study period, those in the second decade were more likely to mention mass shootings by people with mental illnesses. The most frequently mentioned topic across the study period was violence (55 percent overall) divided into categories of interpersonal violence or self-directed (suicide) violence, followed by stories about any type of treatment for mental illness (47 percent). Fewer news stories, only 14 percent, described successful treatment for or recovery from mental illness. The news media’s continued emphasis on interpersonal violence is highly disproportionate to actual rates of violence among those with mental illnesses. Research suggests that this focus may exacerbate social stigma and decrease support for public policies that benefit people with mental illnesses.

The Atlantic has a good review of the study here.

An extract:

…[A] consistent and dangerous narrative has emerged—an explanation all-too-readily at hand when a mass shooting or other violent tragedy occurs: The perpetrator must have been mentally ill.

“We have a strong responsibility as researchers who study mental illness to try to debunk that myth,” says Jeffrey Swanson, a professor of psychiatry at Duke University. “I say as loudly and as strongly and as frequently as I can, that mental illness is not a very big part of the problem of gun violence in the United States.”

The overwhelming majority of people with mental illnesses are not violent, just like the overwhelming majority of all people are not violent. Only 4 percent of the violence—not just gun violence, but any kind—in the United States is attributable to schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or depression (the three most-cited mental illnesses in conjunction with violence). In other words, 96 percent of the violence in America has nothing to do with mental illness.

“Overwhelming anxiety” On Campus

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The online publication Inside Higher Ed has a story about students demanding better access to mental health services. In response, colleges and universities are creating 24-hour hotlines and embedding counselors in residence halls.

highered

At Pennsylvania State University, where demand for counseling increased 32 percent in the past five years, students took matters into their own hands. The Class of 2016 raised about $400,000 to create an endowment for the university’s Center for Counseling and Psychological Services.

Read the full story here.

IHE‘s snapshot of the challenges:

The mental and emotional health of students has been of increasing concern to colleges in recent years, even as many institutions struggle to find the resources to better address those concerns. More than half of college students say they have experienced “overwhelming anxiety” in the last year, according to the American College Health Association, and 32 percent say they have felt so depressed “that it was difficult to function.”

Nearly 10 percent incoming freshmen who responded to last year’s American Freshman survey reported that they “frequently felt depressed.” It was the highest percentage of students reporting feeling that level of depression since 1988, and 3.4 percentage points higher than in 2009, when the survey found the rate of frequently depressed freshmen to be at its lowest.

The story notes the work of The Jed Foundation, which created a national project called  the Campus Program to help colleges and universities promote emotional and mental well-being. More than one hundred are participating, including Cornell University and SUNY Cortland.