The 2012 Surgeon General’s National Strategy for Suicide Prevention describes salient risk factors, prevention opportunities, and existing resources to help those at increased risk for suicide (10). Suicide prevention strategies such as those that enhance social support, community connectedness, and access to mental health and preventive services, as well as efforts to reduce stigma and barriers associated with seeking help, are important for addressing suicide risk across the lifespan. Other strategies are likely to be particularly critical for addressing the needs of middle-aged adults, such as those that help persons overcome risk factors, which include economic challenges, job loss, intimate partner problems or violence, the stress of caregiver responsibilities (often for children and aging parents), substance abuse, and declining health or chronic health problems (7,8,10).
