St. Tammany recorded 47 suicides in '14

St. Tammany Parish, La. has a remarkably high suicide rate, with 47 suicides in 2014 alone. Dr. Charles Preston, the St. Tammany Parish Coroner, did a study that found that the parish had a suicide rate of 19.4 per 100,000 residents, while the national average was 12.3 per 100,000. Thirty of the suicides involved a person who had “expressed mental health concerns or had a history of psychiatric treatment. (While) twenty-seven included an inciting event such as the loss of a job or relationship. Twenty-four involved alcohol use, and fourteen involved illicit drugs,” says James Hartman, a spokesman for Preston. Forty-five of the cases involved Caucasians, 33 being males at a median age of 51. Dr. Preston stated that “we need to continue this public dialogue and do everything we can to curb suicide in St. Tammany Parish.”