Frederica Freyberg:
We move now away from the political arena and into mental health news in our state. This weekend, the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism will release a report on suicide rates here. There were 6,513 people that took their own lives in Wisconsin from 1999 through 2008. The center found the rate of suicide here continues to rise. And exceeds those of our neighboring states. Wisconsin's rate has remained higher than the national rate for about a decade. The center also found factors that may help explain these rates including Wisconsin's economy as well as our state's binge drinking rate. In anticipation of newspapers around the state publishing these findings on Sunday, we asked Eric Garland to join us. Mr. Garland volunteers and serves on several suicide prevention boards including Hopes and the National Association of Mental Illness Wisconsin. His son, Brandon, took his own life four years ago this week. He was 18. Mr. Garland, thanks for being here.

Eric Garland:
Thank you.

Frederica Freyberg:
Let me first express how sorry we are for that kind of devastating loss.

Eric Garland:
Thank you.

Frederica Freyberg:
So you've been helping others since.

Eric Garland:
Yes.

Frederica Freyberg:
What do you do?

Eric Garland:
There's a huge stigma associated with suicide. The stigma is real, it exists. I believe I personally was part of that stigma. When our son died, I had to make a decision immediately. We had to make a decision as soon as we wrote his obituary. What do you say? Do you say he died by suicide? Do you say he died unexpectedly? What do you say? We chose to be open. We shared that he suffered from depression and died by suicide. At that point, you have a funeral. You go home. Your normal is not there anymore. The normal we had no longer existed. What do you do with this feeling, this information? This grief? And the mission we set out upon was to do whatever possible to make sure others didn't have to go through the same tragedy that happened in my home.

Frederica Freyberg:
You talked about the stigma. Why do you think there is the stigma?

Eric Garland:
Because mental health can't be seen. That's my own personal opinion. We can see a broken arm, we can see a broken leg, we can see a scar. But we can't see a hurt that is inside of someone. Mental illness is an illness that is inside of us. It's as real as cancer, diabetes or anything else. But it's not able to be seen. And therefore many people don't like to talk about it.

Frederica Freyberg:
So what should we do about that? Is awareness important towards prevention?

Eric Garland:
To me, the keys to prevention are education and awareness. That simple. The more people know, the more the stigma goes away, the more people are willing to accept treatment.

Frederica Freyberg:
Do these statistics that will be released Sunday from this comprehensive survey, does it surprise you?

Eric Garland:
Yes and no. They're very disheartening. We put a great deal of time and work into suicide prevention. In spite of our best efforts, some of the numbers continue to rise. Alarmingly, it's the second leading cause of death in Wisconsin for high school and college-age students. My son was a high school student. To me, it's scary. Scary to be a parent and know it’s the second leading cause of death behind automobile accidents. So yeah, it's alarming, concerning that the numbers do continue to rise. What do we do to get them to go down?

Frederica Freyberg:
What do you think? All of us are scared about these and shocked by them. What should we as a community, as parents, as individuals do?

Eric Garland:
We need to know what the warning signs are. We need to be able to recognize them. If we see them, we need to get the person the treatment they need. If it's ourselves, we have to realize that we don't have to feel that way. There's help available. If we have a broken leg, we go to the doctor. If we're broken inside, we should see the doctor, too. In my son's case, we knew he suffered depression. He didn't want to be broken. He treated for a while, he stopped. He ultimately lost his life because he stopped treatment.

Frederica Freyberg:
You just suggested that we should be aware of the warning signs. What are they?

Eric Garland:
There are so many warning signs. They're very difficult to identify especially when we talk with teenagers because many can be considered normal teenage tendencies. There can be minor things like a change in sleeping habits. Whether sleeplessness, or a lot of sleep. Could be a change in eating habits where someone that ate a lot now eats nothing. Vice versa. Could be a change in school habits. Go from As to Ds. Could be a change in religion. Someone that was not religious all of a sudden is very religious or vice versa. Someone that turns their back on their faith. Anger can be a huge warning sign. What we do know is most people that die by suicide suffer from mental illness or substance or drug abuse. Sixty percent to 90 percent of the suicides are associated with depression that is either untreated or in the process of being treated. It's important to seek out and get the help and continue with the help.

Frederica Freyberg:
All right. So that would be the information for people who right now are in that place? Who are feeling as though they have suicidal thoughts?

Eric Garland:
If you’re feeling suicidal, you need to reach out, get the help, accept the help. The problem is many people who may be suffering depression don't always realize they're depressed. They don't realize.

Frederica Freyberg:
Very difficult. Eric, thank you.

Eric Garland:
You're welcome.

Frederica Freyberg:
We want to leave you now with one more look at the National Suicide Hotline phone numbers. Also look for these numbers as well as links to Wisconsin and national suicide mental health agencies on the "Here and Now" web page at wpt.org.