On its “Morning Edition” program and in its “Shots” blog, NPR (11/2, Silberner) reported that “nearly three times as many Americans die from suicide as from homicide” annually. Last month, as Thomas Insel, MD, “prepared to step down from his job” as director of the National Institute of Mental Health, “he cited the lack of progress in reducing the number of suicides as his biggest disappointment.” Even though the US “homicide rate…has dropped 50 percent since the early 1990s, the suicide rate is higher than it was” 10 years ago.

Related Links:

— “What Happens If You Try To Prevent Every Single Suicide?,” Joanne Silberner, NPR, November 2, 2015.

On the front of its Science Times section, the New York Times (11/3, D1, Beil, Subscription Publication) reports that “rural adolescents commit suicide at roughly twice the rate of their urban peers, according to a study published in the May issue of the journal JAMA Pediatrics.” Unfortunately, not only young people are experiencing an increase in suicide rates. In fact, “rates over all rose 7 percent in metropolitan counties from 2004 to 2013, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” but “in rural counties, the increase was 20 percent.” Isolation and exposure to firearms factor into the increased rates, as does an acute shortage of mental healthcare professionals, including psychiatrists, in rural areas.

Related Links:

— “Small Towns Face Rising Suicide Rates,” New York Times, November 3, 2015.

In a nearly 1,300-word article, the NPR (11/1) “Shots” blog and “Weekend Edition” program examined the experience of postpartum depression from the perspective of Paige and Bjorn Bellenbaum. The definition of postpartum depression is “broad,” but, according to the CDC, between eight and 19 percent of women experience postpartum depression. In recent years, awareness has increased as more public figures have come forth with their experiences.

Related Links:

— “Know The Signs: For Some, Post-Pregnancy Is Anything But Magical,” NPR, November 1, 2015.

MedPage Today (10/31, Bender) reported that a research letter published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that “increasing numbers of people with opioid dependence use both prescription opiates and heroin concurrently, and shift between them depending on availability.” Investigators found, “in a study of more than 15,000 individuals diagnosed with opioid dependence, the percentage using prescription opioids and heroin together peaked at nearly 42%” last year, “up from 24% in 2008.”

Related Links:

— “Heroin, Prescription Opioids Interchangeable for Abusers,” Eve Bender, MedPage Today, October 30, 2015.

In a 2,500-word article on its front page, the New York Times (10/31, A1, Seelye, Subscription Publication) discussed how the usage of heroin “has skyrocketed among whites” and prompted a “growing army of families of those lost to heroin” to unite “their influence, anger and grief to cushion the country’s approach to drugs, from altering the language around addiction to prodding government to treat it not as a crime, but as a disease.”

Related Links:

— “In Heroin Crisis, White Families Seek Gentler War on Drugs,” Katherine Q. Seeleye, New York Times, October 30, 2015.