Should the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints be to blame for Utah's High Suicide Rate?

For years, a battle has been going on in Utah against suicide, which turns out, we are fifth in the country for the highest suicide rate. As the years progress, so does the self harm of our neighbor’s children and our coworkers. The repetition of mistakes here is done by the boomers of our state. Their control is part of our culture. Are the LDS leaders partly to blame? Or is it the home life? Maybe it is both. All that we know for sure is that there is a problem that needs immediate attention and action. “Suicide is a complex public health issue where victims may be blamed and family members stigmatized. Consequently, suicide is not openly discussed making it difficult to collect meaningful data that is vital to suicide prevention efforts” (IBIS, 2019).

 

A major vunerable group in this situation is the LGBTQ group. The LDS Church, and most religions, is not the most acceptable when it comes to different sexualities, and because of this, unfortunately, many young vulnerable teenagers or adults will see no other solution or end to their feelings of outcasted and rejected. I do not think it helps a person who is already struggling with hormones and figuring out themselves, to fear coming out or being rejected by God, because someone said they would go to hell for it. What makes it even more gross for them is the fact that gay conversion camps still exist and are still being discussed to be taken away, which is a step in the right direction. When your community or religion turns against you, a person is surely to feel the heavy weight of loneliness, which can be deadly. Now there is not affirmative statistic that says this is all true, but all we have are the countless stories and LGBTQ suicides here in Utah. An unfortunate addition to this is that there is no eligible proof for these statements due to the CDC not including sexual orientation, but what I pull my evidence from is the words and allegations of young people being rejected by the church due to their sexual orientation. 

 

Another controversial topic within and outside the Church, is the disbandment of the one-on-one interviews that bishops conduct with the youth. Stories are coming out about how damaging and crude it is for a child to discuss rather sexual topics alone with a bishop at such a young age. Sam Young, excommunicated bishop, has been fighting against this policy within the church for years due to his past experiences with sexual abuse at his church. Mormons and non Mormons are banding together to outlaw such a policy, but the church fights against them with their comeback being that it is a child’s or young adult’s time to confess their sins to their bishop in order for them to refrain from sin and get back on the righteous path. Whether that is true or not is up in the air, but what is true is the countless reports of child abuse, which have been unearthed from 2012 when 7 cases of sexual abuse were hushed by the church in order to not damage the church’s image. These interviews can cause potential harm in the aftermath of a prepubescent child who is being forced into these sexual conversations that are overly personal, even if the children have not experienced those feelings yet. Feelings of self loath and disgust could be aroused from such conversations discouraging or humiliating a person, which later on, leads to more psychiatric problems. Mental health is such a big problem here in Utah, whether it be from drug abuse, another giant problem, or traumatic experiences to cause these eruptions in a person. Suicide is such a bof problem here in Utah that we had to create Hope Squad and Safe UT in order to teach students how to help others and learn the warning signs, because it happens so often. Although the church is making progress, it is not enough. It will never be enough until that number goes down.

Just look at Herriman and the 6 suicides that took place last year.  Now I would like to add that all of the suicides in Herriman were not linked together, which makes it even worse, since they were all random at the same time. Nobody knew each other, but they all decided their fates. My aunt had a friend whose nephew was one of those victims. He was a popular athlete, always being pushed to be the best and win the game, but when his girlfriend he had been dating for a short period broke up with him, he ended his life. This is another side to the coin of Utah, or mormon culture. The speculation from his aunt was that his parents were partly to blame because they would push and push until there was nothing left but a controlled and stressed child on the brink of a meltdown. Toxic Utah/ mormon culture is what I like to call: the perfect family. How the young man who took his own life plays into this is real simple. Pressure from his father to win, win, win has been drilled into him since he could remember, but when a girl leaves him because of his treatment of her, his ego and mind breaks. He did not win this time. He lost. The game has ended. That constant push to be the best and end up losing will drive anyone crazy, I would know. That is part of the toxic culture that has seeped its way into families who want the world to see how good their child is at this thing or how beautiful and well off they are.

 

Everything is too perfect until a kid dies, but nobody ever knows what went wrong. That is the real problem. We do not have enough evidence to ever know, we just have the warning signs, and even when those warning signs fail us, all we have is he said she said of people who have known them. Pray to God and tell him your problems and he will fix them. That is the message given to these delicate minds in a time where there in complete crisis in their heads. 

 

https://kutv.com/news/local/6-students-committed-suicide-this-year-at-herriman-high

https://protectldschildren.org/

https://www.governing.com/topics/health-human-services/gov-teen-suicide.html

https://www.genesisrecovery.com/national-opioid-epidemic/utah/

Health, Department of. “Complete Health Indicator Report of Suicide.” IBIS, https://ibis.health.utah.gov/ibisph-view/indicator/complete_profile/SuicDth.html.

Flores, Cristina. “MormonLeaks: Leaked Document Sheds Light on LDS Church's Handling of Seven Sex Abuse Cases.” KUTV, KUTV, 12 Sept. 2018, https://kutv.com/news/local/mormonleaks-leaked-document-sheds-light-on-lds-churchs-handling-of-seven-sex-abuse-cases.