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Suicide Risk High Among Seniors, Health Officials Say

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By SARAH SKIDMORE, The Associated Press

Published: September 21, 2007

Eight years ago, not long after 72-year-old Anne Beale Golsan had retired on disability from her job as a librarian, she put a stack of paid bills out for the mail, hung up a freshly pressed outfit and taped a note to the front of the house.

'Don't come in by yourself. Get somebody to come with you. Sorry, Love Beale.'

Her niece arrived at the house they shared in Baton Rouge, La., to find police already there. Golsan had killed herself with a gunshot to the head.

The elderly are the highest risk population in the country for suicide. Few suicide-prevention programs, however, target them - a result, advocates say, of a lack of funding and concern for older Americans. Also, mental heath experts say the number of elderly suicides is likely to climb as baby boomers enter their twilight years.

The overall U.S. suicide rate is 11 per 100,000 people. For those 65 and older, however, that figure rises to 14 per 100,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which based its findings on 2004 data, the most recent available.
Older adults are less likely to seek help and are more lethal in their suicide attempts. So experts say special care is needed to reach out.

Ten states passed laws last year intended to curb suicide among children and young adults. Only two - New Jersey and New Mexico - passed laws addressing suicide among the elderly, according to Suicide Prevention Action Network USA, a national advocacy group based in Washington.

Depression is underdetected at all ages, mental health groups say. Much more funding is available for treating younger people, including $82 million in federal money approved in 2004.

Some advocates and mental health workers say they also have to battle a prevailing notion that depression is a normal part of aging.

'It is not natural and should be treated at all times,' said Paula Clayton, a psychiatrist and medical director for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

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