This WSU Newsline Podcast is available at http://www.wichita.edu/newslinepodcast. See the transcript below:

You’re listening to the podcast edition of the Wichita State University audio newsline. Learn more about WSU — the home of Thinkers, Doers, Movers and Shockers — on the Web at wichita.edu.

For students, college can be the best of times or the worst of times. Certainly, the range of emotions can vary greatly among students on campus, according to Wichita State University psychologist Maureen Dasey-Morales.

Dasey-Morales: “Students start college with a real range of emotions from apprehension to excitement to feeling high expectations for themselves and so can often feel a combination of pressure and drive.”

Going to college is exciting for many, but for others it’s a time of hopelessness, and the result can be deadly. Every 100 minutes a teenager will commit suicide. And suicide is the second leading cause of death among people between the ages of 14 and 25 in the United States.

Dasey-Morales looks at some of the college students at risk for suicide.

Dasey-Morales: “Risk factors for college students with suicide can be not having enough supports or not being willing to access their supports, alcohol and drug use, recent impulsivity, previous attempts or plans, as well as recent losses or negative life experiences.”

And Dasey-Morales says we should be aware of the warning signs as well.

Dasey-Morales: “Warning signs can be withdrawal from others and from activities, moodiness, making a plan to hurt oneself, increase in use of alcohol or drugs, expressing a wish to die or to go away, and impulsivity.”

There are a number of myths surrounding suicide as Dasey-Morales explains.

Dasey-Morales: “One of the biggest myths about suicide is that asking somebody if they’re thinking about hurting themselves will increase the risk of it happening. And in fact, asking is one of the main things somebody can do to prevent suicide from happening.

“Another myth is that somebody who is thinking about hurting themselves is somehow weak or selfish. The reality is that most people who are thinking about hurting themselves feel like others would be better off without them or that somehow there isn’t a way out for them, and so part of helping them is to instill hope.”

And she says there are some ways we can help to prevent a suicide.

Dasey-Morales: “The number one thing that somebody can do to help prevent suicide is to talk openly about it and to not be afraid to ask about it. Also, to not promise to keep the information you get secret because it is being open about it that prevents it. To be realistic and know that the person may still have a tough road ahead of them, but that there’s hope and options for them.”

And for that person who may be struggling with suicidal thoughts, Dasey-Morales offers this encouragement.

Dasey-Morales: “For someone struggling with these thoughts and actions, the biggest thing is to know that there are options, even if you don’t see it. And that they don’t have to try and struggle with this on their own, that everybody who struggles with this needs help, and there’s no shame in getting that help. There’s no weakness in getting that help.”

The number of youth who commit suicide is disturbing to many adults, yet statistics only partially convey the tragedy of teen and young-adult suicide. Each and every victim leaves behind a void in the hearts of his or her friends and his or her school and an ongoing ache in the hearts of families and loved ones.

Thanks for listening. Until next time, this is Joe Kleinsasser for Wichita State University.