Teen suicide -- a case study from BG

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

November 12, 2007 -- A sudden string of teen suicides rocked the city of Bowling Green a few years ago, leaving parents wondering if they were facing a scary new epidemic. 13abc's Sashem Brey sat down with a family that knows the pain of losing a teen without warning.

From the outside, you wouldn't know the family in one Bowling Green home lived through a terrible heartbreak. Daun Sidle says of her son Derek, "I love to talk about him. I love people to mention his name because he did exist, he was a part of our life, part of our family and always will be. I mean, he's the first thing I think about in the morning, and the last thing at night."

On April 26, 2004, Daun Sidle's 16-year-old son Derek came home from baseball practice at BG high school and committed suicide. She said, "He put tobacco in his mouth and went to practice, thinking he wouldn't get in trouble. The coach caught him and said 'Get out of here. We'll deal with this tomorrow'."

But less than an hour later, Derek was dead, leaving his family stunned. Derek's father Stephen Sidel told us, "I thought I had misunderstood her on the phone. She was screaming and hollering. I dropped everything right there and jumped in my truck and flew home."

To this day, Daun and Stephen say they saw no warning signs. Daun said, "I tore his bedroom apart, went through everything I could possibly, any cubby holes, through his truck, everything. I tried to find a reason, and I couldn't find nothing."

Even Derek's best friend had no clue of what was to come. Clare Strange said, "We always knew that he was really impulsive, but a lot of teenage boys are that way, so it's not something that you would look at as a warning sign, and especially someone as happy-go-lucky as Derek."

But therein lies the mystery. Mark Haskins says, "Even the best adjusted kids go through major disappointments and when you're that age, disappointments tend to escalate." Haskins is clinical director of Behavioral Connections Wood County. He says when popular kids like Derek take their lives, people take notice. "Especially if it's someone who is prom queen or track star. When they hurt themselves, the community has a tendency to respond to that as if, 'Oh my god, what's wrong?'"

Adding to that panic, Derek's death was the first of four teen suicides in BG in a span of less than three years. Wood County officials say that matches national numbers which show that 2004 brought the first increase in youth suicides in 15 years. Despite that, Wood County leaders insist BG does not have an unusual problem.

Haskins told us, "I think BG is typical of most cities in the country, and that is the most at-risk group is middle-aged males, not teenagers." Still, Wood County officials established the Link crisis hotline and formed the Suicide Prevention Coalition which pushes awareness through billboard designs and presentations at area schools.

Dr. Bill Donnelly is with the Children's Resource Center in Wood County. "We have a group working on protocols for schools to use for how school staff at any level, from bus driver through a teacher through a guidance counselor can identify youth who are in need of some further assessment."

The Children's Resource Center also won a grant to run Columbia University Teen Screen at BG high school, a computerized questionnaire that screens kids for depression. Donnelly says that "50-90 % of suicides are thought to be associated with depression or some sort of mental illness."

Still, experts say the key is for parents to keep their eyes open at home. That means looking for sudden changes in behavior, eating or sleeping patterns - or if your teen picks up a totally new group of friends. Other red flags? If a child suddenly stops - or starts - communicating.

Haskins told us, "When that kid says 'I don't feel right', or 'I feel like hurting myself', every time it should be taken seriously or responded to as if it was serious."

The goal is simply to talk. Donnelly told us "A myth is if you talk about it, you make it more likely and in fact, if you don't talk about it, people don't have information about the disease."

It's information the Sidles wish they had a long time ago. Stephen Sidle says, "I'd just love to have him back. To tell him whatever we did, if we did anything, we're sorry, and I don't think we did, but I don't know. I'd just love to have the kid back."

Experts say suicide is the third leading cause of death among youth in the U.S. The key is to arm yourself with all the information you can get about depression and suicide warning signs.

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