How Suicide Intersects with Schizophrenia

Inside Schizophrenia

People with schizophrenia have a 10% rate of suicide compared with the general population population’s 1.3% rate of suicide.

Suicide is the biggest reason for the decreased life expectancy of people with schizophrenia.

Around 40–79% of people with schizophrenia have reported having suicidal thoughts.

Why is the rate of suicide higher among people with schizophrenia?

Are there specific risk factors that have been identified for our population?

And most important, how can we prevent suicide and keep going?

Host Rachel Star Withers, who has schizophrenia, and co-host Gabe Howard discuss suicide in relation to schizophrenia in this episode of Inside Schizophrenia. Rachel shares her chronic struggles with the desire to end her life and how she has learned to keep going.

Guest Tim “The Sack Man” from SackLifeOfficial joins to share his journey of finding an interesting way to cope with his depression and suicidal ideation through punching bag training. He now travels the country in a VW bus, providing free training for communities.

A warning about this episode of Inside Schizophrenia. It involves a frank discussion about the topic of suicide.

To learn more -- or read the transcript -- visit the official episode page.

Today's guest, "Tim “The Sack Man” from www.sacklifeofficial.com:

My name is Tim The Sack Man, and punching bag training has allowed me to overcome clinical depression and suicidal ideation, come off medication, and out of therapy with approval from my doctors. I travel the country in a VW Bus with a punching bag attached, providing free training for communities, and I host a free virtual class every day. I donate a portion of the profits to The National Alliance on Mental Illness. I would like to create free public-access punching bags around the world. By following @sacklifeofficial, together we can leverage our numbers to advertising companies so the ads you see will fund free mental health care for all.

Our host, Rachel Star Withers, creates videos documenting her schizophrenia, ways to manage and let others like her know they are not alone and can still live an amazing life. She has written Lil Broken Star: Understanding Schizophrenia for Kids and a tool for schizophrenics, To See in the Dark: Hallucination and Delusion Journal. Fun Fact: She has wrestled alligators. To learn more about Rachel, please visit her website, RachelStarLive.comm.

Our co-host, Gabe Howard, is an award-winning writer and speaker who lives with bipolar disorder. He is the author of the popular book, "Mental Illness is an Asshole and other Observations," available from Amazon; signed copies are also available directly from the author.

Gabe makes his home in the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio. He lives with his supportive wife, Kendall, and a Miniature Schnauzer dog that he never wanted, but now can’t imagine life without. To learn more about Gabe, please visit his website, gabehoward.com.

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