Fatal Mistakes: Families Shattered By Suicide
- Producing Organization
- Kingsley Communications
- KUHT-TV (Television station : Houston, Tex.)
- Contributing Organization
- The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia (Athens, Georgia)
- AAPB ID
- cpb-aacip-526-1n7xk85k08
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- Description
- Program Description
- "The objective of Fatal Mistakes: Families Shattered by Suicide is to help prevent needless deaths by suicide by alerting viewers -- both the general public and the healthcare community -- to risk factors, warning signs, and intervention strategies. Suicide, one of our nation's most devastating public health problems, is the ninth leading cause of death in America, claiming over 30,000 lives a year. Scientists believe that over 90 percent of suicides are the result of depression or another serious psychiatric disorder, with alcohol abuse a potent precipitating factor. They also believe that suicide can be prevented if physicians, families, and friends recognized the warning signs and intervened. Improvements in recognition and treatment of high risk patients by primary care physicians is especially critical to prevention; a third of all suicide victims see their family doctors within a month of their deaths. "This documentary explores the psychobiology of suicide through the compelling, real life stories of three families that have lost loved ones to suicide. It shatters long held myths about suicide that stand in the way of effective prevention and care. Through these families we learn that contrary to popular belief, teenagers are not at highest risk of suicide. Rather, suicide is most prevalent among older white males -- particularly if they are abusing alcohol and socially isolated in addition to being depressed. Intractable pain is another extreme risk factor because it induces both depression and a sense of hopelessness. And while teenage girls attempt suicide more often than boys, it is boys who are three times more likely to complete suicide. Typically, boys at highest risk of suicide have a history not only of depression, but of clinically significant oppositional-defiant disorder which often includes prolonged substance abuse. Depressed people who are also alcoholics are at higher risk than any other group. "Even so, fewer than 20 percent of people with a serious clinical depression will attempt or complete suicide, and the reasons they do while other depressed people do not may have to do with their genetic make-up. Deficiencies in the brain chemical serotonin seem to play a role. Scientists have found physiologic differences in the serotonin centers of the brains of depressed people who commit suicide, as opposed to those of depressed people who die of other causes. And the population studies have found that twin pairs who attempt to commit suicide are far more likely to be identical than fraternal. These and other exciting scientific findings soon may lead to effective prevention and treatment modalities. "In addition to featuring families who have experienced suicide, the documentary includes leading clinicians and researchers such as former National Institute of Mental Health director Fred Goodwin, MD.; Jan Fawcett, M.D. of Chicago's Rush Presbyterian St. Luke's Hospital; and John Mann, M.D., of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Hosted by the actress Mariette Hartley, who lost her own father to suicide in 1963, the documentary also offers hope to America's suicide 'survivors' who have lost their parents, children, spouses and others close to them. It is particularly difficult to recover from a suicide loss because one must deal not only with grief, but also with guilt, anger, and shame. With specialized therapies and supportive care, suicide survivors can and do recover -- in part by understanding what suicide really is: the tragic result of a life-threatening illness."--1998 Peabody Awards entry form
- Broadcast Date
- 1998-04-03
- Asset type
- Program
- Media type
- Moving Image
- Duration
- 00:45:35.633
- Credits
-
-
Producing Organization: Kingsley Communications
Producing Organization: KUHT-TV (Television station : Houston, Tex.)
- AAPB Contributor Holdings
-
The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection at the
University of Georgia
Identifier: cpb-aacip-513623d41a3 (Filename)
Format: VHS
Duration: 0:45:30
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- Citations
- Chicago: “Fatal Mistakes: Families Shattered By Suicide,” 1998-04-03, The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed April 19, 2025, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-526-1n7xk85k08.
- MLA: “Fatal Mistakes: Families Shattered By Suicide.” 1998-04-03. The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. April 19, 2025. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-526-1n7xk85k08>.
- APA: Fatal Mistakes: Families Shattered By Suicide. Boston, MA: The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-526-1n7xk85k08