Mental Fitness Minute: Why do people in Wyoming have higher rates of suicide, depression and addiction?

On March 16, a grassroots committee hosted the Worland Mental Fitness Fair at the Worland Community Center.

Members of the panel were Dr. Ralph Louis, psychologist from Oxbow Counseling in Basin; Janae Harman, owner of Family Circle Counseling in Worland; Mary Johnson, CEO of Oxbow Counseling in Worland; and Carol Bell, provisionally licensed therapist at Foundations Counseling in Cody.

The panel answered prepared questions that came from the committee and from similar events in Shell, Greybull and Cowley.

The Northern Wyoming News will be covering the questions on a weekly basis throughout the next several weeks.

Why do people in Wyoming have higher rates of suicide, depression and addiction?

Louis: Well, we know statistically that’s true. And there’s been a lot of studies actually, to try to determine why that is. And some of the studies have pointed to our physical environment, like the altitude and the wind, that for some reason, that puts more pressure on people. I don’t know that anybody’s made any useful treatment out of that one, but that’s one of the things they suggest.

I tend to think it’s primarily because of isolation. I think that we live in communities where we are spread out. We don’t have easy access to services. If we want to go to the doctor for a regular physical, we have to plan that we can’t just like decide we’re going to go to the doctor, we, we often have to drive a long way for that. If we want to enter counseling, because we’re isolated, we don’t know where to go or who to talk to.

I want to remind everybody again that there’s a number you can call if you’re struggling, and it’s called 988. And if you use that number, they’ll help you find where to go. Or you can call your local counseling center, you can look them up online and Google it. You can also go and search up for their websites.

But getting back to why do people have more problems, nobody really knows when it comes to suicide. But we do know that it’s not just Wyoming, it’s a regional thing. And it probably has something to do, like I said, I believe, with the isolation, and it probably has something to do with the culture of being an individual and taking care of things on your own.

We haven’t really been taught to reach out to people to ask for help. We’ve been taught more than, you know, you just kind of buck up and get it done. And that’s probably one reason why we don’t reach out to people as easily as we could.

Bell: I think in small communities where we are often so close to one another.

I think in small communities, if you’re starting to feel like there’s something about you that’s different, it can be really scary to reach out, because you feel as if your way of existing is not going to be accepted, if you’re not going to be loved through this difficult identity crisis that you’re having.

I do think that one of the things that we can all do as members of small communities is be really careful about the language we use, so that people who are struggling, feel safe talking to us, we can make sure that we show ourselves as open loving people who want to support people who are struggling, even if they’re struggling with something we don’t understand.

Harman: Even if even if you do not agree with someone, you can still care for them and love them. They’re people, they’re humans. You don’t have to agree with them to still be kind.

Next week’s question: Can you get help for mental illness without taking medications