Doctor says it's important to discuss the topic of suicide to prevent a tragedy

TEXAS (CBSNewsTexas.com) - There's one death every 11 minutes because of suicide. In any given day, it takes the lives of about 132 people and, on average, 12 are children.

Doctors, like Nicholas Westers, say this is a problem we need to talk about.

"If you're wondering if your child who is struggling is maybe thinking about suicide, it's okay to ask," he said. "We know that even asking and talking about it can actually decrease the risk of attempting suicide if they're thinking about suicide and it's not going to put the idea in their head."

Westers shared advice on how to handle the sensitive topic.

"One of the things I discuss with parents here at Children's Health is how to bring these conversations up in a natural way and not the, 'Hey, I need to sit down, and we need to sit down and talk,'" he said. "I encourage parents to look for everyday opportunities to bring these kinds of things up. For instance, it's National Suicide Prevention Week. You can acknowledge that ... or finding that maybe there's a a new suicide prevention program at school or suicide is depicted in a common TV show or movie that you that you watch together as a family. So those are natural ways to bring it up without being awkward."

Westers also shared some of the warning signs parents need to be looking for.

"One thing that's gonna be hard to say right now is suicide does occur under age 10—and it's not common, but it's typically related to abuse or bullying," he said. "Most often, if we're thinking about suicide between ages 10-to-14, there's often the conflict between parents. And then ages 15 and above, there's typically peer conflict. And so when we're looking at warning signs, we're gonna wanna know are they talking about being a burden on their family or the world being better off without them? That they're isolated, disconnected and maybe socially isolating from their friends and family and not connecting when they normally? ... Significant change in typical behavioral functioning for them: maybe sudden decline in grades, they might be talking more about suicide or researching it, maybe online and looking at their search history there or in the writing assignments at school being really dark. Now, that doesn't mean that they're actually thinking about suicide. But that can be a warning sign that parents can look out for."

If you or someone you know is struggling, help is available 24/7. You can call or text the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988.