Today is World Suicide Prevention Day, part of National Suicide Prevention Week. Suicide among high school students has been a high-profile issue lately, but college students actually are more at risk than adolescents. Learning a few simple signs and familiarizing yourself with campus resources could save the life of yourself or a friend.

If you’ve never had personal experiences with suicide, it may be difficult to understand how anyone could take their own life. But the numbers are clear: On average, a person commits suicide in the U.S. every 15 minutes, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

While suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the nation — homicide is number 15 — it is the third most common cause of death among people ages 15-24. And the suicides peak around ages 20-24.

The CDC also reports that among that age group, more young people die from suicide than from all diseases combined. At the time of their suicides, 90 percent of those young people are suffering from a diagnosable and treatable mental illness.

Students at OU are particularly at risk. Oklahoma ranks 12th in the nation for suicides. And while the college age group is particularly at risk, those who actually attend college are even more so, with 9 percent of college students seriously considering suicide, according to data from the American College Health Association.

With such a high risk for OU students and their peers, all Sooners should make it a priority to learn the warning signs and know about the local resources that can help.

Recognize the signs

The American Association of Suicidology has developed a mnemonic to help you remember the warning signs of suicidal behavior: IS PATH WARM.

Ideation — talking about or threatening to hurt or kill oneself, or gathering the tools to do so

Substance Abuse — an increased reliance on drugs or alcohol

Purposelessness — lacking purpose or direction

Anxiety — anxious or agitated behavior; the inability to sleep or a need to sleep all the time

Trapped — feeling like there’s no way out of a situation

Hopelessness — feeling like a situation never can improve or never will end

Withdrawal — isolation from friends and family, or anti-social behavior

Anger — uncontrolled feelings of rage or revenge-seeking behavior

Recklessness — acting recklessly or engaging in unusually dangerous behavior

Mood Changes — Swift, dramatic shifts in mood, seemingly without provocation

If you recognize any of those signs in yourself or your loved ones, consider seeking help.

How to help

Get involved with your loved one and make your time available. Show interest and support.

Ask directly if he or she is thinking about suicide. Talk openly about it.

Listen. Accept any emotions your loved one expresses. Don’t tell him or her the feelings are wrong. Don’t debate and don’t lecture.

Don’t ask why or act shocked. That will only create distance and breed defensiveness.

Be empathetic, not sympathetic. Don’t offer glib reassurance or pity. Assure your loved one you understand what it is like to feel helpless, anxious, etc.

No matter what your loved one makes you promise, don’t keep this a secret.

Take action. Seek out help from local resources, encourage your loved one to seek help themselves and try to remove any easy means your loved one may have to harm him- or herself.

How to get help

For emergencies, you can contact a counselor confidentially from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. on the campus Number Nyne Crisis Hotline, 405-325-NYNE, or 24/7 on the national hotline, 1-800-273-TALK.

If the situation is less dire, you can sign up for a counseling session with Goddard Health Center counseling services. Sooners can call 405-325-2911 to schedule an appointment.

All services through Goddard Health Center are confidential and affordable. The center even has a discrete side entrance for counseling services.

If there is an immediate medical emergency or a serious threat, never hesitate to call 911.

If you are unsure if your or your loved one’s symptoms warrant counseling, ULifeline (an online resource library of mental health information for college students) has created a self-evaluation tool. This simple online quiz indicates whether your symptoms indicate a potential mental health problem. You can access the test on OUDaily.com.

In the end, knowing the facts is only half the battle. It may be difficult to tell a friend he or she needs help or to admit you need help yourself, but breaking the silence and stigma surrounding suicide and mental health issues is the only way to ensure you or a loved one don’t become part of these dire statistics.