The suicide rate of people under the age of 25 in Wisconsin is 36 percent higher than the national average, according to a recent study conducted by Dr. Stephen Hargarten, Richard Withers and Dr. Thomas Shiffler of the Medical College of Wisconsin.
Also contrary to national statistics, Wisconsin's suicide rate is higher than its homicide rate for individuals under the age of 25.
UW-Madison senior Nick Thanos is from Marinette, Wis., a city with one of the highest teenage suicide rates in the country.
Thanos said during the time he was in high school, nine students committed suicide. Most of these suicides were performed by people who were seemingly doing fine, he said.
The study, published by the Wisconsin Medical Journal, shows alcohol was a factor in 27 percent of the homicide and suicide deaths.
Yet Thanos said while some of the students who ended their lives were partiers, it was more often personal conflicts with girlfriends and parents that were contributory factors in their deaths.
\Two of them were drug related and the rest were just flukes,"" Thanos said.
However, Senior Director of Mental Health Services for the National Mental Health Association Sara Thompson agreed with the results found by the study; she believes alcohol is often a strong contributory factor.
Whatever the cause of suicide, much concern exists over how to prevent it.
Thompson said some colleges have resources for students who are suffering mentally.
""In college there should be services available. That's not always the case,"" she said.
Thanos said the support system set up for students in his high school was extremely lacking.
""They had counseling we could go to, but that really didn't help,"" he said. ""They didn't have a class or something along the lines of an awareness thing.""
Thompson agreed counseling is not always the solution for teenagers, who may not have a strong willingness to talk about their problems.
""Youth sometimes forget to use their existing support system,"" Thompson said.
The Medical College of Wisconsin hopes its study will prompt the search for better outlets to help decrease the number of violent deaths in Wisconsin.
