I grew up in Wyoming and now live in Colorado. Both states have a high teen suicide rate. I have friends and acquaintances that have died or know people who died. Not all are teens. I have spent years trying to figure this out. Years researching and studying this. The experts say it is isolation. I felt isolated in Wyoming but not Colorado. There are people everywhere. I cannot get away from the people. What I realized last night is what real isolation is.
My friend is hosting an exchange student from Spain. He finds our culture odd. We do not have dinners and outings with extended family. We are all spread across the country. Our holidays are spent with our nuclear family because extended families are spread far across our nation and sometimes it is tough to travel or people cannot get enough time off work. Eventually the kids grow up and move away and have their own lives. That is our culture – independence and isolation. This causes anxiety, fear and desperation. I believe our country’s mental health crises could be avoided if we valued family and connectedness instead of independence and isolation.
