There are even fewer resources spe-
cifically directed at children. If insur-
ance companies are not forced to offer
better mental-health coverage in their
plans, then our society will be poorly
equipped to tackle the problem of
child suicide.
Michelle Bisson
The Bronx, N.Y.Solomon notes that data on suicide
among youths and adolescents are
sorely lacking. Indeed, leading sui-
cide theories and most empirical stud-
ies have largely focussed on adults,
even though rates of suicidal ide-
ation and suicide attempts are high
during late childhood and escalate
dramatically in adolescence. But ac-
ademics and clinicians are pursuing
promising research to understand
suicidal thoughts and behaviors in
young people. Clinical-psychology
researchers are designing and test-
ing technology-assisted tools, in ap-
plied settings such as pediatric emer-
gency departments, that may aid in
suicide-risk assessment and prediction.
Other studies collect data from young
people in real time, using cell phones
or wearable technology to better un-
derstand the temporal and contextual
dynamics of suicidal thoughts in ev-
eryday situations. I hope that nar-
rative pieces such as Solomon’s will
continue to boost awareness of youth
suicide, and highlight advances in
medical and psychological science
that, through rigorous empirical work,
provide nuance to our understand-
ing of this complex, and tragic, clin-
ical outcome.
Olivia Pollak
Doctoral Student in
Clinical Psychology
University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, N.C.ADDRESSING CHILD SUICIDE
As a mental-health professional, I
found Andrew Solomon’s piece heart-
breakingly accurate in its portrayal of
the impact on families when a child
dies by suicide (“The Unthinkable,”
April 11th). I hope that readers will
not conclude, based on the stark il-
lustration of the hopelessness and
frustration that the featured families
experienced, that nothing can be done
to alter a child’s trajectory. Profes-
sional mental-health-care providers
have succeeded in guiding children
away from suicide and self-harm
through a continuum of services—
from hospital-based crisis interven-
tion to school-based and community
outpatient programs to innovations
like my organization’s TeenCentral.com
therapeutic-support Web site. In the
past, such efforts had to combat the
stigma surrounding mental-health
issues, but, ironically, the clear emo-
tional impact of the COVID-19 pan-
demic on kids has helped to break
down that stigma among American
families. It’s true that not every in-
tervention results in an intended out-
come, and that our society needs to
do more to help providers address
long-standing funding and workforce
issues; but it’s important to remem-
ber that effective forms of help are
available to many children.
Michael W. Slack
President and C.E.O., KidsPeace
Schnecksville, Pa.
Thank you so much for publishing
Solomon’s remarkable, necessary ar-
ticle on child suicide—an often over-
looked and unrecognized phenome-
non. Although Solomon talks about
how expensive mental-health treat-
ment can be, he elides one crucial el-
ement of those expenses: it can be
very difficult to find a psychiatrist,
psychologist, or hospital psychiatric
group that takes insurance, including
Medicare or Medicaid. Those that do
frequently aren’t taking new patients,
because, of course, they are overloaded.
•
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