If elected, gubernatorial candidate Jon Huntsman Jr. pledges to address Utah’s suicide epidemic by making treatment for mental illness more available and affordable statewide.
LOGAN – Amid all the rhetoric about COVID-19 and the economy in the GOP gubernatorial race, candidate Jon M. Huntsman Jr. has a personal agenda.
He wants to do something about the seldom-discussed problem of suicide in Utah.
Huntsman calls Utah “the buckle of the suicide belt in the United States of America” and there is no hint of pride in his voice when he says that.
“I didn’t know anyone who committed suicide when I was growing up,” he recalls. “Not a soul. But my sons had a half-dozen friends who have taken their own lives.”
The suicide epidemic is by no means confined to Utah. Nationwide, 132 Americans take their own lives each day. That computes to a national suicide rate of 14.5 deaths per 100,000 residents, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
But Utah’s suicide rate is 22 deaths per 100,000 residents, making suicide the second leading cause of death among Utahns in the 10- to 34-year age group. According to the Utah Department of Health, two residents take their lives every day and another 13 are treated for suicide attempts.
“My sister lost her life to suicide,” Huntsman confides, referring to the death of Kathleen Ann Huntsman in 2010, when he was serving as ambassador to China. “Were we as a family willing to talk about it? No, we were embarrassed. We didn’t want anyone to know. I wrote my sister’s obituary 10 years ago and I made no mention of the way in which she passed. That how raw her loss was to my family.
“So is this issue personal to me? You’re darn right it is.”
The former governor says that he draws nods and tears from strangers whenever discusses Utah’s suicide problem as he travels throughout the state. Mental illness is a common thread when still-grieving relations and friends reveal their stories of loss.
“Was my sister’s death due to an overdose, preceded by mental illness problems? You bet it was,” Huntsman admits.
In Utah, males are about three times more likely than females to commit suicide, usually after some personal crisis within two weeks of their deaths.
But the state Health Department adds that Utah females have significantly higher rates of hospitalization for suicide attempts than Utah males.
Female victims of suicide were also more likely to have a current mental illness or history of diagnosed mental illness, have left a suicide note and have a history of previous suicide attempts compared to males.
“I’d use the power of the governor’s office as a bully pulpit to start a serious conversation about where we are and what we can do about suicide,” Huntsman says. “We need to start looking at mental health like we do energy and water and economic development … We need to figure out what kind of mental health infrastructure we need to address our problem.”
The obvious first step, the former governor, is to make treatment for mental illness more available and more affordable in Utah.
“We especially need to deal with the availability problem out in rural areas,’ he adds, “because in some of Utah’s counties, we don’t even have a single psychiatrist.”
If elected, Huntsman also pledges to address the issue of the affordability by working toward regulatory changes to ensure that insurance providers reimburse for mental health treatment on a par with physical health care.