Doctor Talks Suicide Prevention - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

Doctor Talks Suicide Prevention

One Minot area psychologist is reaching out to High School students to talk about suicide prevention.

Psychologist Bob Edwards addressed juniors at Magic City Campus about detecting the signs of suicide and how to prevent it.

Dr. Edwards says instances of suicides are down in North Dakota due to training and education, however, suicide remains an important issue to discuss with high school students and young adults.

Dr. Edwards says the second highest rate of death in America is suicide among 19 to 24 year olds.

When discussing suicide prevention Dr. Edwards says he targets high school students and young adults and teaches them about what to watch out for in others.

If I'm a great student, now I'm not; if I'm normally happy, now I'm sad; if I'm irritable, now I'm less irritable. It's not so much the signs as it is the difference

(Dr. Bob Edwards, Counseling Psychologist, Upward Living)"The biggest sign of depression, in my mind, is when your best friend is acting entirely differently than they normally do for a period of 2 or 3 weeks. Now, that could be anything. If I'm a great student, now I'm not; if I'm normally happy, now I'm sad; if I'm irritable, now I'm less irritable. It's not so much the signs as it is the difference."

Dr. Edwards will hold an hour-long suicide prevention training session that is open to the public this Thursday at 7 p-m in the Arvel Graving Theatre located at Magic City Campus.

The session is free and will offer information about what to do if you suspect someone is contemplating suicide.