GARDEN CITY, Kan. (AP) - The number of suicides in Kansas has increased by more than half in recent years, particularly in the northwest rural areas of the state.
Mental health professionals say the geographical isolation, low population and struggling economy in rural parts of Kansas are challenges increasing suicide risk, according to the Kansas News Service.
Twenty counties in the region saw suicides climb by 57% from 2014 through 2018. Overall, Kansas had 555 suicides in 2018 - up 2% from the previous year. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment said the 2018 rate was the highest in 20 years.
The jump comes in a part of the state where people already die by suicide at a higher rate than in the rest of Kansas.
“Suicide risk is highest when people feel like they are a burden on others, feel outcast or isolated from others and have ready access to lethal means,” said Andy Brown, commissioner of behavioral health services with Kansas Department of Aging and Disability Services.
In 2018, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention retracted a report suggesting suicide is higher among farmers than any other occupation, but still concludes that farmers suffer a higher suicide rate than most workers.
Nationally, suicide has been on the rise since 1999.
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