September 17, 2024 • 37 mins
In 2023, the U.S. suicide rate reached the highest level ever recorded when 50,000 Americans lost their lives to suicide. Why is the suicide rate so high? Data suggests that trauma, COVID-19's lasting impact, a broken healthcare system, and rising loneliness play a key part. September is National Suicide Prevention Month and we were joined by Nazar Yasin founder of the holistic mental health app Sol, about the importance of mental health and how to tackle this crisis.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's Night with Dan Ray.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
I'm Deeli Feazy Boston Video All.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
I thank you very much, Dan Watkins, and did we
could move it at the ten o'clock hour here, And
I want to welcome back a guest that we had.
Gee was just a couple of weeks ago. We were
talking about suicide, and I thought the guest was so
interesting and informative that I asked him to come back
(00:30):
and so let me We re welcome, I should say
to the night side audience, my guest tonight talking about suicide.
His name is Nazar Yashen. He's the founder of a
holistic mental health app called soul s o l about
the importance of mental health and how to tackle this crisis.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
Welcome back, Nazar. How are you.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Hey, Dan, It's so good to be back. Thank you
so much for having me.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
Well.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
I found you to be really interesting guest, and I
felt that the information that you provided and the perspective
that you provided needed more than just a relatively brief
interview during our eight o'clock hour. And the statistics that
you presented is frightening. That suicide rate in the United
(01:22):
States reached a record high in twenty twenty two, as
we were coming out of the COVID crisis, but believe
it or not, it even rose higher last year when
fifty thousand Americans took their lives. If you just focus
on that number, fifty thousand may look like a relatively
(01:42):
small number in the perspective of say, I don't know
a country that has three hundred and thirty million people,
but fifty thousand would fill Fenway Park, the home of
the Red Sox, you know, overflow it. I mean, it's
a huge number of people who are taking their own lives.
(02:03):
And so let's start off with the broad question what's
going on.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Yeah, it's such a tragedy, and it's a really broad
based tragedy sadly that has been unfolding, you know, over
many years, but that has been really accelerated by the
COVID pandemic. And you know, a few behaviors that got
accelerated during the pandemic. You know, when you really kind
(02:29):
of back up and look at what's going on, you know,
suicide is now more prevalent than homicide, if you could
believe that, And so, for the first time in the
entire history of our species as humans, we take our
own lives more than we kill each other, and of
course killing one another is not good by any stretch
of the imagination. But you know, throughout history there been
(02:51):
wars and things like that which perhaps help to explain
some of that behavior. You know, now we're killing ourselves
more more more than we're killing one another. And it's
really bizarre because when you take a step back and
look at our species as a whole, you know, we
are richer now than we've ever been. We live longer,
(03:15):
thanks to advances in medicine and healthcare, than we've ever lived.
We are ostensibly more powerful.
Speaker 5 (03:21):
Than we've ever been.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Right, we have all these smartphones and AI and all
sorts of you know, things that we can use to
do things bigger, faster, better. But we're unhappier than we've
ever been. And you know, the main culprits really for
this increase and unhappiness, you know, have really led to
(03:43):
us feeling less purposeful and less connected to one another.
You know, we spend a lot less time in personnel,
a lot less meaningful time, and the two main drivers
of that, which really got accelerated during the pandemic are
social media and work.
Speaker 5 (04:01):
Right.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Isol you know, isolation is really the the umbrella term
for what you're talking about. There, people feel less connected
to other people.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
And so the suicide pandemic is not different than the
loneliness pandemic that you hear people talking about.
Speaker 5 (04:20):
Right, we use a lot of different terms.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
We're all trying to come to grips with this change
in how we're behaving and this change in our underlying happiness,
and so we're we're kind of grasping its straws and
trying to figure out what's the right way to describe this.
And you know, some people described it as a loneliness pandemic.
Other people you described it as a suicide epidemic. And
these are all related to the same underlying cause, which
(04:43):
is that we are feeling less purposeful and less connected
than we were before. And it's ironic because we have
all these technologies that you know, you'd think allows to
be more connected than ever before, right, like social networks,
like you're connecting, you have tons of and you know,
tons of people that you're connected with, but the quality
(05:03):
of those connections is you know, what's really what's really lacking.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
The other statistics that i'd like to point out, just
to kind of put this in perspective. You talked about
the fact that there are now more suicides in the
US than there are homicides. We hear about homicides every
day of the week, depending upon what part of the
country we live in. But there are also more suicides
(05:31):
than automobile deaths. There are about thirty thousand people who
die in automobile crashes around the country. And we have
spent billions and billions of dollars on car safeties, you know,
better braking systems, you know, bags that will prevent us
from going through.
Speaker 4 (05:51):
The windshield and a car crash.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Have we spended any amount of money, I guess we've
expended money on mental health resources. But it has improved
much great results. If that suicide rate continues.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
To go up, yeah, for sure. You know it's mental
health has really only recently, relatively speaking, you know, entered
a public discourse. It used to be so stigmatized. You know,
the idea of going to therapy, you know, just ten
years ago, was not something that you would admit to readily,
(06:26):
or most people would not admit to readily. And now
it's becoming less stugentatized, which is really good because you know,
the reality is is the same way that you you know,
to improve your physical health, there are certain activities you
should do. You should you know, have a decent sleep
schedule and do some you know, exercise and eat reasonably.
(06:47):
And to have good mental health, there are also certain
things you should do and the same way that you
go and see a doctor and maybe have you know,
a fitness instructor or a coach or something like that.
From a physical health perspective, well, you know, mental health
practitioners by the same function for for that aspect of
your of your well being. And so it's it's incredibly important,
(07:08):
and it's really good that it's far less stigmatized today
than it used to be. But there's still more, there's
still more work to be done. To your point, I can.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Remember when there was a US Senator named Thomas Eagleton
who was nominated by the Democrats were about to be
nominated as a vice presidential candidate in nineteen seventy two,
and it came out that he had sought some help
from either a psychiatrist or a psychologist, and he was
dumped from the ticket to be potentially the vice president
(07:39):
of the United States because it was seen as some
sort of a flaw that he actually sought some help
for what, you know, whatever the personal issues are. Thank
God that we were long past that. But I want
to continue. I got to take a break. I want
to continue to talk about suicide and how why is
it more prevalent today? And we talked a little bit
(08:01):
obviously about social isolation, but I want to drill.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
Down in that. I also want to drill down to
find out if there are.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Any breakdowns between men and women, young and old, different minorities,
who you know, if there's any anomalies or as each
group of Americans committing suicide at the same rate. So
we'll talk about that. My guest is Nazzar yasin Uh.
He is a He has a mental health app called Soul.
(08:30):
I want to talk about that, and I also want
to hear whatever questions you have. As I said, I
interviewed Nazarre during an eight o'clock hour but a week
and a half ago, and I just felt that it
would be important to make him available to all of
my listeners, So please take advantage of this opportunity. Six one, seven, two,
four ten thirty six one seven, nine three one ten
(08:52):
thirty Back on Night Side right after these messages.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Now back to Dan ray Line from the Window World
night Side Studios on w b Z Teams Radio.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
My guest is mental health expert Nazarre usine really quickly,
and I do want to get to phone calls, but
let me just if I can see if there's a breakdown.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
Is there any disparity either on gender, race, age?
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Is there a group of Americans who are committing suicide
at a higher rate or at a lower rate than
you might expect.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Yeah, you know a lot of the statistics out there
focus on, you know, completed suicides, and you know, I
think the most relevant thing to be measuring is actually
attempted suicides, right, because that's really indicative of the underlying problem, right,
(09:52):
And you oftentimes have people these are cries for help,
you know, quite candidly when somebody cants a suicide, even
if we're not sussful at it, you know, quote unquote
successful at it, you know, and and looking at looking
at the world through that lens, you do see that,
you know, women are more likely to attempt suicide than men.
(10:15):
And the biggest growth in suicide attempts is amongst you
young people and particularly young women. And you know, there's
there's some evidence that this is correlated with social media usage,
(10:36):
and and when you think about it, it makes sense,
right because you know, young people, I mean all of
us spend some time on social media. It's where we
connect with friends and stay in touch with people and
things like that. But if you're a young person and
you're on social media and you have to be there,
(10:56):
you know, we're we're my wife and I are parents
of two to young teams, and you know, our kids
kind of have to be on some social media otherwise
they're left out of their peer group. But while they're there,
they're bombarded with a lot of really negative signal, right,
and all that signal just communicates to them that they're
(11:19):
just not good enough, really, And that's the message that
a lot of teams, particularly female teams get on social media.
Is you might feel like you're looking particularly pretty, stay,
you might feel like you're having a good day. You
might feel like you're doing really good in your classes,
or you're learning some cool stuff, and then lo and behold,
(11:39):
while you're on Instagram, while you're on TikTok, there's a
bunch of people who are prettier, you know, having a
better day than you eating a fancier restaurants or in
nicer locations and doing cool tricks that you don't know
how to do, or cool dances that you don't know
how to do. And so you come away from that thinking, man, I.
Speaker 5 (11:57):
Thought I was having a good day.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
I thought I was looking for I thought I was,
you know, doing pretty well and learning some interesting stuff.
Speaker 5 (12:05):
And I guess it's just not good enough.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
And that's that's kind of the message that you know,
teens and younger folks get when they're on social media
while they're just they're trying to engage with their friends. Really,
you know, they're getting that message in the background, and
so so you know, that's that's likely one of the
causes of this sad increase in suicide attempts that we're seeing.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
As a parent, and you're a parent of teenagers, my
understanding is that suicide is not uncommon amongst teenagers and
and and I'd love to focus on that for the
parents in the audience. Why is that Obviously teenagers were
a time of a lot of confusion, but there are
also time for I think great dreams and hopes and aspirations.
(12:57):
You have your you know the phrase you have your
whole life in front of our teams more susceptible to
suicidal impulses than people who are in different other age brackets.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
You know, I suppose from a biological perspective, the answer
is no, right, I mean, like you said, it is.
You know, there's nothing biologically that would make a team
more susceptible to suicide. The issue is, and this is
the issue with suicide in general, is it's really correlated
(13:33):
to these emotions of feeling purposeful and connected to something
that's meaningful, and the same part of our brains, the
varietal cortex in our brains, you know, acts like it's
like a two sided coin, right, And you know, on
one side of that coin, the same part of our brain.
(13:54):
If we feel purposeful and connected, we tend to feel
fulfilled and happy and healthy. If we don't feel purposeful
and connected, that part of your brain actually shrinks. And
you know, when that part of your brain is is shrunken,
you tend to feel more depressed and anxious and addicted.
(14:16):
You know, incidents of addiction increases and incidents of suicide
increases by a factor of you know, sixty to eighty
percent higher. When when that part of your brain is
is is not exercised really when you're not feeling purposeful
and connected. And so, you know, the issue seems to
be that young people are just feeling less purposeful and
(14:37):
less connected to something meaningful these days. They're adrift, they're lonely,
they feel like they're not good enough. They are valuing
themselves based on how they look and what they're wearing
and a lot of other things like that rather than
on their inherent on their inherent worth as an individual,
as a human. And so, you know, we built this
(14:58):
kind of sixth sidal machine, you know that's been amplified
by social media that reinforces you know, that dynamic and
so so this is this is not like a natural
biological thing by any streatch of imagination.
Speaker 5 (15:15):
This is a.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Yeah, go ahead, No, I just.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
Think I'm sure that no parent.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Wants to even think about the possibility of their teenager
taking his or her own life, but we know that
it happens. I have the warning signs that parents can
be on the lookout for for for teenagers who might
might be inclined for whatever reason, uh and out of
(15:47):
an active disperation to not share it with their parents,
but to I mean to me, it's the you know,
it's it's the ultimate fear of any parent, the idea
of a parent burying a child.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
That it's not supposed to happen that way, it's unnatural.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
And you do know that there are a lot of
teenagers who every year die in automobile accidents, and it's
oftentimes three three or four, three or four at a time.
But are there any signs that parents should be looking
for or is it just the contrary and that the
people that the teenagers who decide they want to end
(16:28):
it are going to make sure that they don't tip
off to their parents what their what their plan is.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Well, Dan, I think I think you framed it so well.
And the same way that you know, the best way
to prevent your team from having a car accident is
to prepare them before they get in the car alone.
Right while you're there with them, you're telling them how
(16:56):
to drive and how to pay the attention to other
drivers and to not drink. And you're spending time with
them preparing them for the day that you hand over
the keys to them to drive it by themselves. And
that is the best thing that you can do to
prevent you know, a tragic car accident, and it works
the same with you know, things like suicide. There are
things that we can do. The good news is there
(17:17):
are very clear things we can do to help our
teams and to help ourselves not feel anxious and depressed
or suicidal. And you know, there's a really three things
that you could do, and they're all about fostering a
greater sense of purpose and connection. The first thing that
you can do is to really try to better understand
(17:42):
your own thoughts and emotions. Help your son or daughter
better understand and process their own thoughts and emotions. And
this can be done through very concrete activities like meditation
or journaling, or art or music or physical exercise. All
of these things are ways that they can process and
(18:04):
understand their own thoughts and emotions.
Speaker 5 (18:06):
That's number one.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Number two is is to help them connect meaningfully with
other humans around them. And this is through I'm not
talking about spending more time on social networks. I'm talking
about doing acts of kindness or compassion or empathy or charity.
Go volunteer at Soup Kitchen and have your kids join you,
(18:28):
and the act of helping other humans is an amazing
way to foster a greater sense of purpose and connection
with somebody. Number three is try to reinforce some sense
of connection in them in something bigger than themselves. This
could be spending time in nature. This could be just
(18:49):
expressing gratitude on a regular basis. This could be religious
rituals if you're in a religious oriented family. This could
be again volunteering for you know, good causes like human
rights or assess those are.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
All great ideas. My guest is a Nazar Yasin. He
is a mental health expert. He has an app called Soul.
I want to talk about that, but I also want
to give you folks a chance to talk. Most of
you out there know some family that has been touched
by suicide. So this is your opportunity to answer ask
(19:28):
whatever question you want of somebody who deals with it professionally.
As I mentioned, he has been a guest of mine
during the eight o'clock hour, and I specifically wanted Nazar
to join me during one of our hours with phone
call phone opportunities. Phone call opportunity, So I'm going to
give you the number. We're going to break away for
(19:48):
news and we'll be right back. Six one, seven, two, five,
four ten thirty six one seven nine thirty. I've got
some open lines. Feel free to join the conversation. This
is so important and again, we don't deal with issues
like this a lot, but this is one that I
feel is really critical, So feel free to join us.
(20:09):
There is no question that would be a dumb question here,
because whatever your questions are, I think Nazarre will have
an answer which might not only help you but help others.
Back on Nightside, my name is Dan Ray. We will
be back right after the news at the bottom of
the hour.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
It's Nightside with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
Doah mcguest is bizarre You seen mental health expert? He
has a an app easy to find. I assume that
you just download the app. It's simply s o L.
Speaker 4 (20:45):
Is that? Am I reading that correctly?
Speaker 6 (20:50):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (20:50):
You got it.
Speaker 6 (20:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
If you search for Soul on the App Store or
on the Google Play store so o L, you'll you'll
find us there and can download the app.
Speaker 4 (21:01):
Is there a double on taundre soul? I think of
soul so o L as as the sun? What what
is the is it an acronym? Tell us the background
of of how how this was named?
Speaker 5 (21:16):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (21:17):
You know, it's it's uh, there's no acronym, but it's
you know, kind of a cute word that means many things,
including sun like you mentioned. You know, it's also uh,
you know do re fa sol I's a musical uh term.
It's refers to the length of the day on any
other planet in the universe besides Earth. And so there's
(21:38):
a lot of fun meaning that, you know, just help
you feel this, hopefully, you know, help you feel a
little bit brighter and a little bit more connected to
something bigger than yourself when you when you hear the word.
Speaker 5 (21:49):
And so that's the whole idea.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
Of one the app excellent. Let's go to the phone.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
It's gonna start it off with Jack and Newton. Jack, welcome,
you were first tonight with my guest this hour.
Speaker 6 (21:58):
Naja, Yes, yeah, Jack Porter. I'm a sociologist and one
of the classic books was Suicide by Emil dirkhim.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
But he.
Speaker 4 (22:14):
Hello, yep, we're right here, Jack, we're just listening right ahead.
Speaker 6 (22:19):
His findings one hundred and twenty five years ago actually
were different, a little different than yours. He said that
older people committed suicide more than youngers, men more than women,
and Protestants more than Catholics and Jews. Basically because they
were Protestants, were isolated, They depended on their own abilities,
(22:43):
and if that those broke down, they blamed themselves more.
But Catholics and Jews had stronger family ties and kinship, which,
as you pointed out, is so important. But now you're
pointing out different than Dr Khime, And it's the young
people with so much pressure on them to succeed by
(23:06):
their parents and everybody, and if they don't live up
to it, you know, they can commit.
Speaker 4 (23:13):
What's your question? What is your question? Jack? And I
know there's a question here.
Speaker 6 (23:17):
Well, the question is that maybe it has the suicides
rates changed since you know, Emil Durkhime's time, and now
it's younger people more than older people committing.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Okaysical you said that the book you're referring to was
written one hundred and twenty five years ago, so it
should have been the would have been the turn of
the twentieth century, nineteen.
Speaker 6 (23:39):
Hundred, Emil Dirkheim. Everybody's read it in sociology classes.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
Okay, just trying to place the time you said one
hundred and twenty five years ago, Jack, I'm not a sociologist.
Speaker 4 (23:50):
I've never read his book.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
I'm saying there may be some people in my audience
also who are not sociologists and haven't read his book.
It's a it's a book that was written you said,
one hundred and twenty five years ago. I'm enough of
a mathematician that would take us back to about nineteen hundred.
Speaker 6 (24:04):
Right, Well, it's a cross book. I'm sure.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
It's kind of a simple question. Jack, Let's let me
get I'm not sure why you're fighting me in the question.
I'm simply trying to place it chronologically around nineteen hundred,
and is there you want to comment on, Jack, Times
to change and studies changed. Jack seems to be surprised
that things have changed in one hundred and twenty five years.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Yeah, no, I appreciate the spirit of the inquiry, but man,
the world has really changed in the last one hundred
and twenty five years, hasn't it.
Speaker 5 (24:39):
I mean, you know, in nineteen hundred, there was no electricity.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
You know, we're you know, riding horses around. There were
no cars, right, and the average you know, human lifespan
on averages you know, in the forties, not in the seventies,
and so you know, we're living in a really different
world back then. And and sadly the world's become you know,
I mean, in many ways, the world has become a
(25:05):
lot more prosperous and a lot good, but it's also
become more challenging for younger people. In many ways, it's
just a confusing world, you know. Uh, You're presented with
so many options, is so much information, and so much
pressure as as you mentioned, Jack, and uh, it can
be really overwhelming for you know, younger minds. And keep
(25:27):
in mind, like you know, we change physically while we're tines,
we change mentally, but we also change you know, emotionally massively.
And so you know, while all these changes are happening,
and all this pressure is on you to be a
certain way, to look a certain way, to have certain things,
you know, sadly, sadly that that can that can really
(25:50):
you know, flip the script in a in a very
bad way, you know, from a from a suicide suicidal
tendencies perspective.
Speaker 4 (25:58):
Well, I agree, go ahead.
Speaker 6 (25:59):
I think older people are also committing suicide more often,
the seniors as well. All these thoughts of suicide, and
I think you started with COVID. Well, good, nineteen and
h you know, toutched off a lot of those thoughts
(26:21):
as well.
Speaker 4 (26:22):
Okay, Jack, go ahead and there.
Speaker 5 (26:26):
Yeah, I was just gonna say, I don't doubt it
at all.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
I mean, sadly, you know, the prevalence suicide, attents and
symptoms and and just all increased dramatically over here, So
I would not be surprised if that cuts across you know,
every single demographic.
Speaker 6 (26:45):
Really so important to talk about it.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
That's the that's what we're trying to do. Jack, appreciate
you call very much, and thanks for joining the conversation.
I think it's it's one of those subjects that a
lot of people are not comfortable talking about. Six seven, four, nine, nine,
ten thirty. Eugene Eugene is calling in from the Philippines. Eugene,
you were next on that side with my guest Nazzari. Eugene.
Speaker 7 (27:10):
Well, thank you, Good morning Dan to you and your guest,
and just a correct comment as usual, you're covering a
topic that is critically important. But my question to your
guests would be, have you noticed any difference in suicide
(27:30):
rates from the US compared with third world countries.
Speaker 4 (27:35):
That's a great question.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
That's I wish I thought of that question, Eugene, this,
are are there any comparable studies available in other parts
of the world.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
Yeah, you know, I have seen some statistics for Europe,
you know, sadly not really for you know, emerging markets
or the developing world. I'm not aware of. I'd love
to come across some data so that, you know, you
can kind of form a more global picture of this.
(28:08):
But but yeah, I think it's a great question.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
What about our rates compared to say Europe, if there
are other you know, Western countries, Western European countries that
have those statistics.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
Yeah, My understanding is that you know, there's an increase,
that there is an increase globally. There has been an
increase in Europe as well, you know, but the incidents
is higher in the United States, so it's it's just
a higher percentage in the United States. But there has
been an increase around the world. Really from from the
(28:45):
data that I've seen, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (28:47):
It's interesting.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
Why why here in the US where we have probably
more creature comforts than most most countries around the world. Again,
I guess creature comforts are not necessarily what moate or
demotivate people.
Speaker 4 (29:01):
Eugene that was a really good question. Any follow up
or no?
Speaker 7 (29:06):
Well, yeah, and thanks Dan. I was thinking about that
and the reason I was asking because typically the more
developed nations such as the US, UK and all, there
is tons and tons of social pressure on those people,
(29:29):
whereas in some of the third world countries like here,
they don't have that pressure on them.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
Well, a lot of the pressures in some of the
third world countries are either disease or poverty.
Speaker 4 (29:44):
So I guess your focus is in third world countries
is survival and maybe.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
Maybe maybe that focus on survival keeps them away from
thinking about anything other than survival.
Speaker 6 (30:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (30:02):
Well, see over here, family connections is critically important to people,
you know, would whether it be parents, siblings and all.
As a matter of fact, they spend two days a
week the family all getting together, discussing things and all.
Speaker 4 (30:25):
And yeah.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
The other thing too is you have your sort of
extended families, your nuclear families.
Speaker 4 (30:33):
There's less mobility.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
We've talked about that before as a matter of fact
this week, Eugene, and that is that it's not uncommon
for a kid to grow up in Boston and in
this day and age, his are her first jobs on
the West coast and those connections are you know, somewhat
fraid once they once they are are are three thousand
(30:55):
miles away. Your thoughts on that phenomenon, which is some
thing that is interesting, uh, Nasar.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
Yeah, that's exactly right. You know, is you know, if
if you do not have you know, a sort of
social safety net that's comprised by family and community, then
you're much more likely to feel alone, and you're much
more likely to feel like you're disconnected from anything meaningful.
(31:25):
And that's really when you know that part of your
brain I mentioned before, your pridal cortex, does not get exercised,
so to speak, and when you're more likely to experience
emotions like anxiety, depression, and you know, thinking suicidal thoughts
and so, you know, communities and societies that have a
much stronger, you know, family centric orientation, not a sort
(31:48):
of super individualistic orientation. You know it are much likelier
to have lower suicide incidents.
Speaker 4 (31:56):
Right, it's for that reason, right, Degene, thanks for checking
into the Philippines.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
I'm hoping it's cooling off over there a little bit
for you as I don't know if you get fall
or not, but I know you've had a very hot,
hot period of time in the.
Speaker 7 (32:09):
Last a well a. We are currently in day number
two of our third typhoon, coming back to back.
Speaker 4 (32:17):
God, you guys can't catch a break. Thanks you, Jean.
We'll talk soon. Be well. Stay safe, all.
Speaker 7 (32:24):
Right, Thank you. Thank you to your guests. Good job, guys,
keep it up all right.
Speaker 4 (32:29):
Thanks you, Jean.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
One of our longer distance callers are in this hour.
We'll wrap it up with my guests. Feel free to
join the conversation if you like. We'll try to get
you in six, one, seven to five, four, ten thirty.
We'll get you on the air real quickly. We're going
to talk about mental health. This mental health app called Soul,
which I hope some of you might go to in
the next few days and familiarize yourself with it. Don't
(32:53):
think that suicide is something that will not impact you
or thoughts of it or your family, because I think
it is much more prevalent and it gets very little attention.
I can tell you that because one of the things
when I learned when I worked in television here in
Boston is we covered every murder, We covered all homicides
in the city. But the one thing that was never
(33:14):
covered was a suicide. It just once we found out
it was a suicide, we walked away unless it was
some really famous person and that would be the exception
to the rollback on night Side right after this.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Nightside Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 3 (33:34):
Well, it looks like everybody in my audiences are surprisingly
has figured out suicide and suicide ology.
Speaker 4 (33:41):
So we have covered the waterfront on this.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
It's funny how different topics sometimes surprised me pleasantly and
sometimes surprised me unpleasantly. I was convinced that there'd be
a lot of people, which is why I invited you,
and I apologized that more people weren't anxious to call
and have the courage to a questions.
Speaker 4 (34:00):
Or to share experiences.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
But I guess we will keep, at least with my
audience the discussion about suicide in the in the back room,
so that it's it's it's somewhat disappointing. Tell us about
the mental health app. First of all, you can you
can pull it down I assume on your cell phone.
(34:24):
You can get it on websites as well. I'm hoping
or tell us tell us about how people find it
and what they can learn from it.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
Yeah, and I mean just just just to say thank
you Dan, by the way, from bringing visibility to this
important topic, it's, you know, somewhat natural. I suppose people
be a little bit shy to lean in and talk
about it. It's sort of an uncomfortable subject for many people.
But I really appreciate the work you're doing to make
it visible and and talked about. So our app, Soul
(34:55):
is you can find it on on the App Store
if you have a you know, iPhone, or you can
find it on the Google play Store if you have
an Android device to Samsung or what have you, and
you can just look for Soul sol on either app
store and you'll find it. And the way Soul works
is really you know, we try to start with, you know,
who are you as a person, so you know what
(35:16):
inspires you, what makes you happy? And then we ask
you how are you feeling? And then the intersection of
those two things allows us to present you with activities
and groups of people that you can connect with that
inspire you, make you happy, and that reflect how you're feeling.
So let's say you're feeling anxious, you know, maybe there's
(35:36):
a breathing exercise that you can do on solar, a
meditation or a group of other people who are feeling
anxious right now that you can share your feelings with.
Speaker 5 (35:45):
And so it's all about meeting the user.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
Where they are at their core and trying to provide
them with tools and resources so that they can feel
better no matter what it is they're feeling or what
they're going through.
Speaker 3 (35:57):
Now, is there a cost associated with this? To mean
like it might be a free app? I'm hoping tell
us about that.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
Yeah, it's it's it's a free app.
Speaker 5 (36:06):
Anybody can use it. It's free.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
There there are some premium features that you could subscribe to.
You can also you know, book paid sessions with you know,
different practitioners. You know, meditation coaches, yoga coaches, uh you know,
spiritual guides and you know, whatever it is you're into
that helps you feel purpose and meaning, there are practitioners
(36:31):
out there who we can connect you with and you
can book sessions with them, and and and and you
know you can do all that through our website, our
websites uh at getsoul dot app, g E T s
O L dot app. So you'll be able to download
the app from there or book book experiences from there.
Speaker 3 (36:50):
Thanks thanks so get sold g E T s O
l all one word dot app a p p uh
the Zar, thank you so much tonight. This is so
important and as they say, I know there were a
lot of people who chose to listen, and hopefully some
of them. Actually a couple of calling in right now,
a little late, but that's that's what happens. People summon
(37:12):
the courage and then we have to move on. So Nazza,
thank you very much. I'll keep in touch and maybe
we'll have you back.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
Thank you so much, my friend Chian great Dan, thanks
so much.
Speaker 3 (37:23):
Be well, good night, good night Nizzar. Yes, sir, they
get soul, g E T s ol dot app app.
We're gonna come back for the eleven o'clock hour, the
fourth and final hour tonight or nightside. And I gotta
be honest with you, I'm not sure we're gonna do.
I'm gonna figure it out during the newscast. Hope you
stick with us.
It's Night with Dan Ray.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
I'm Deeli Feazy Boston Video All.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
I thank you very much, Dan Watkins, and did we
could move it at the ten o'clock hour here, And
I want to welcome back a guest that we had.
Gee was just a couple of weeks ago. We were
talking about suicide, and I thought the guest was so
interesting and informative that I asked him to come back
(00:30):
and so let me We re welcome, I should say
to the night side audience, my guest tonight talking about suicide.
His name is Nazar Yashen. He's the founder of a
holistic mental health app called soul s o l about
the importance of mental health and how to tackle this crisis.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
Welcome back, Nazar. How are you.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Hey, Dan, It's so good to be back. Thank you
so much for having me.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
Well.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
I found you to be really interesting guest, and I
felt that the information that you provided and the perspective
that you provided needed more than just a relatively brief
interview during our eight o'clock hour. And the statistics that
you presented is frightening. That suicide rate in the United
(01:22):
States reached a record high in twenty twenty two, as
we were coming out of the COVID crisis, but believe
it or not, it even rose higher last year when
fifty thousand Americans took their lives. If you just focus
on that number, fifty thousand may look like a relatively
(01:42):
small number in the perspective of say, I don't know
a country that has three hundred and thirty million people,
but fifty thousand would fill Fenway Park, the home of
the Red Sox, you know, overflow it. I mean, it's
a huge number of people who are taking their own lives.
(02:03):
And so let's start off with the broad question what's
going on.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Yeah, it's such a tragedy, and it's a really broad
based tragedy sadly that has been unfolding, you know, over
many years, but that has been really accelerated by the
COVID pandemic. And you know, a few behaviors that got
accelerated during the pandemic. You know, when you really kind
(02:29):
of back up and look at what's going on, you know,
suicide is now more prevalent than homicide, if you could
believe that, And so, for the first time in the
entire history of our species as humans, we take our
own lives more than we kill each other, and of
course killing one another is not good by any stretch
of the imagination. But you know, throughout history there been
(02:51):
wars and things like that which perhaps help to explain
some of that behavior. You know, now we're killing ourselves
more more more than we're killing one another. And it's
really bizarre because when you take a step back and
look at our species as a whole, you know, we
are richer now than we've ever been. We live longer,
(03:15):
thanks to advances in medicine and healthcare, than we've ever lived.
We are ostensibly more powerful.
Speaker 5 (03:21):
Than we've ever been.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Right, we have all these smartphones and AI and all
sorts of you know, things that we can use to
do things bigger, faster, better. But we're unhappier than we've
ever been. And you know, the main culprits really for
this increase and unhappiness, you know, have really led to
(03:43):
us feeling less purposeful and less connected to one another.
You know, we spend a lot less time in personnel,
a lot less meaningful time, and the two main drivers
of that, which really got accelerated during the pandemic are
social media and work.
Speaker 5 (04:01):
Right.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Isol you know, isolation is really the the umbrella term
for what you're talking about. There, people feel less connected
to other people.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
And so the suicide pandemic is not different than the
loneliness pandemic that you hear people talking about.
Speaker 5 (04:20):
Right, we use a lot of different terms.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
We're all trying to come to grips with this change
in how we're behaving and this change in our underlying happiness,
and so we're we're kind of grasping its straws and
trying to figure out what's the right way to describe this.
And you know, some people described it as a loneliness pandemic.
Other people you described it as a suicide epidemic. And
these are all related to the same underlying cause, which
(04:43):
is that we are feeling less purposeful and less connected
than we were before. And it's ironic because we have
all these technologies that you know, you'd think allows to
be more connected than ever before, right, like social networks,
like you're connecting, you have tons of and you know,
tons of people that you're connected with, but the quality
(05:03):
of those connections is you know, what's really what's really lacking.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
The other statistics that i'd like to point out, just
to kind of put this in perspective. You talked about
the fact that there are now more suicides in the
US than there are homicides. We hear about homicides every
day of the week, depending upon what part of the
country we live in. But there are also more suicides
(05:31):
than automobile deaths. There are about thirty thousand people who
die in automobile crashes around the country. And we have
spent billions and billions of dollars on car safeties, you know,
better braking systems, you know, bags that will prevent us
from going through.
Speaker 4 (05:51):
The windshield and a car crash.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Have we spended any amount of money, I guess we've
expended money on mental health resources. But it has improved
much great results. If that suicide rate continues.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
To go up, yeah, for sure. You know it's mental
health has really only recently, relatively speaking, you know, entered
a public discourse. It used to be so stigmatized. You know,
the idea of going to therapy, you know, just ten
years ago, was not something that you would admit to readily,
(06:26):
or most people would not admit to readily. And now
it's becoming less stugentatized, which is really good because you know,
the reality is is the same way that you you know,
to improve your physical health, there are certain activities you
should do. You should you know, have a decent sleep
schedule and do some you know, exercise and eat reasonably.
(06:47):
And to have good mental health, there are also certain
things you should do and the same way that you
go and see a doctor and maybe have you know,
a fitness instructor or a coach or something like that.
From a physical health perspective, well, you know, mental health
practitioners by the same function for for that aspect of
your of your well being. And so it's it's incredibly important,
(07:08):
and it's really good that it's far less stigmatized today
than it used to be. But there's still more, there's
still more work to be done. To your point, I can.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Remember when there was a US Senator named Thomas Eagleton
who was nominated by the Democrats were about to be
nominated as a vice presidential candidate in nineteen seventy two,
and it came out that he had sought some help
from either a psychiatrist or a psychologist, and he was
dumped from the ticket to be potentially the vice president
(07:39):
of the United States because it was seen as some
sort of a flaw that he actually sought some help
for what, you know, whatever the personal issues are. Thank
God that we were long past that. But I want
to continue. I got to take a break. I want
to continue to talk about suicide and how why is
it more prevalent today? And we talked a little bit
(08:01):
obviously about social isolation, but I want to drill.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
Down in that. I also want to drill down to
find out if there are.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Any breakdowns between men and women, young and old, different minorities,
who you know, if there's any anomalies or as each
group of Americans committing suicide at the same rate. So
we'll talk about that. My guest is Nazzar yasin Uh.
He is a He has a mental health app called Soul.
(08:30):
I want to talk about that, and I also want
to hear whatever questions you have. As I said, I
interviewed Nazarre during an eight o'clock hour but a week
and a half ago, and I just felt that it
would be important to make him available to all of
my listeners, So please take advantage of this opportunity. Six one, seven, two,
four ten thirty six one seven, nine three one ten
(08:52):
thirty Back on Night Side right after these messages.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Now back to Dan ray Line from the Window World
night Side Studios on w b Z Teams Radio.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
My guest is mental health expert Nazarre usine really quickly,
and I do want to get to phone calls, but
let me just if I can see if there's a breakdown.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
Is there any disparity either on gender, race, age?
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Is there a group of Americans who are committing suicide
at a higher rate or at a lower rate than
you might expect.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Yeah, you know a lot of the statistics out there
focus on, you know, completed suicides, and you know, I
think the most relevant thing to be measuring is actually
attempted suicides, right, because that's really indicative of the underlying problem, right,
(09:52):
And you oftentimes have people these are cries for help,
you know, quite candidly when somebody cants a suicide, even
if we're not sussful at it, you know, quote unquote
successful at it, you know, and and looking at looking
at the world through that lens, you do see that,
you know, women are more likely to attempt suicide than men.
(10:15):
And the biggest growth in suicide attempts is amongst you
young people and particularly young women. And you know, there's
there's some evidence that this is correlated with social media usage,
(10:36):
and and when you think about it, it makes sense,
right because you know, young people, I mean all of
us spend some time on social media. It's where we
connect with friends and stay in touch with people and
things like that. But if you're a young person and
you're on social media and you have to be there,
(10:56):
you know, we're we're my wife and I are parents
of two to young teams, and you know, our kids
kind of have to be on some social media otherwise
they're left out of their peer group. But while they're there,
they're bombarded with a lot of really negative signal, right,
and all that signal just communicates to them that they're
(11:19):
just not good enough, really, And that's the message that
a lot of teams, particularly female teams get on social media.
Is you might feel like you're looking particularly pretty, stay,
you might feel like you're having a good day. You
might feel like you're doing really good in your classes,
or you're learning some cool stuff, and then lo and behold,
(11:39):
while you're on Instagram, while you're on TikTok, there's a
bunch of people who are prettier, you know, having a
better day than you eating a fancier restaurants or in
nicer locations and doing cool tricks that you don't know
how to do, or cool dances that you don't know
how to do. And so you come away from that thinking, man, I.
Speaker 5 (11:57):
Thought I was having a good day.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
I thought I was looking for I thought I was,
you know, doing pretty well and learning some interesting stuff.
Speaker 5 (12:05):
And I guess it's just not good enough.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
And that's that's kind of the message that you know,
teens and younger folks get when they're on social media
while they're just they're trying to engage with their friends. Really,
you know, they're getting that message in the background, and
so so you know, that's that's likely one of the
causes of this sad increase in suicide attempts that we're seeing.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
As a parent, and you're a parent of teenagers, my
understanding is that suicide is not uncommon amongst teenagers and
and and I'd love to focus on that for the
parents in the audience. Why is that Obviously teenagers were
a time of a lot of confusion, but there are
also time for I think great dreams and hopes and aspirations.
(12:57):
You have your you know the phrase you have your
whole life in front of our teams more susceptible to
suicidal impulses than people who are in different other age brackets.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
You know, I suppose from a biological perspective, the answer
is no, right, I mean, like you said, it is.
You know, there's nothing biologically that would make a team
more susceptible to suicide. The issue is, and this is
the issue with suicide in general, is it's really correlated
(13:33):
to these emotions of feeling purposeful and connected to something
that's meaningful, and the same part of our brains, the
varietal cortex in our brains, you know, acts like it's
like a two sided coin, right, And you know, on
one side of that coin, the same part of our brain.
(13:54):
If we feel purposeful and connected, we tend to feel
fulfilled and happy and healthy. If we don't feel purposeful
and connected, that part of your brain actually shrinks. And
you know, when that part of your brain is is shrunken,
you tend to feel more depressed and anxious and addicted.
(14:16):
You know, incidents of addiction increases and incidents of suicide
increases by a factor of you know, sixty to eighty
percent higher. When when that part of your brain is
is is not exercised really when you're not feeling purposeful
and connected. And so, you know, the issue seems to
be that young people are just feeling less purposeful and
(14:37):
less connected to something meaningful these days. They're adrift, they're lonely,
they feel like they're not good enough. They are valuing
themselves based on how they look and what they're wearing
and a lot of other things like that rather than
on their inherent on their inherent worth as an individual,
as a human. And so, you know, we built this
(14:58):
kind of sixth sidal machine, you know that's been amplified
by social media that reinforces you know, that dynamic and
so so this is this is not like a natural
biological thing by any streatch of imagination.
Speaker 5 (15:15):
This is a.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Yeah, go ahead, No, I just.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
Think I'm sure that no parent.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Wants to even think about the possibility of their teenager
taking his or her own life, but we know that
it happens. I have the warning signs that parents can
be on the lookout for for for teenagers who might
might be inclined for whatever reason, uh and out of
(15:47):
an active disperation to not share it with their parents,
but to I mean to me, it's the you know,
it's it's the ultimate fear of any parent, the idea
of a parent burying a child.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
That it's not supposed to happen that way, it's unnatural.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
And you do know that there are a lot of
teenagers who every year die in automobile accidents, and it's
oftentimes three three or four, three or four at a time.
But are there any signs that parents should be looking
for or is it just the contrary and that the
people that the teenagers who decide they want to end
(16:28):
it are going to make sure that they don't tip
off to their parents what their what their plan is.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Well, Dan, I think I think you framed it so well.
And the same way that you know, the best way
to prevent your team from having a car accident is
to prepare them before they get in the car alone.
Right while you're there with them, you're telling them how
(16:56):
to drive and how to pay the attention to other
drivers and to not drink. And you're spending time with
them preparing them for the day that you hand over
the keys to them to drive it by themselves. And
that is the best thing that you can do to
prevent you know, a tragic car accident, and it works
the same with you know, things like suicide. There are
things that we can do. The good news is there
(17:17):
are very clear things we can do to help our
teams and to help ourselves not feel anxious and depressed
or suicidal. And you know, there's a really three things
that you could do, and they're all about fostering a
greater sense of purpose and connection. The first thing that
you can do is to really try to better understand
(17:42):
your own thoughts and emotions. Help your son or daughter
better understand and process their own thoughts and emotions. And
this can be done through very concrete activities like meditation
or journaling, or art or music or physical exercise. All
of these things are ways that they can process and
(18:04):
understand their own thoughts and emotions.
Speaker 5 (18:06):
That's number one.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
Number two is is to help them connect meaningfully with
other humans around them. And this is through I'm not
talking about spending more time on social networks. I'm talking
about doing acts of kindness or compassion or empathy or charity.
Go volunteer at Soup Kitchen and have your kids join you,
(18:28):
and the act of helping other humans is an amazing
way to foster a greater sense of purpose and connection
with somebody. Number three is try to reinforce some sense
of connection in them in something bigger than themselves. This
could be spending time in nature. This could be just
(18:49):
expressing gratitude on a regular basis. This could be religious
rituals if you're in a religious oriented family. This could
be again volunteering for you know, good causes like human
rights or assess those are.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
All great ideas. My guest is a Nazar Yasin. He
is a mental health expert. He has an app called Soul.
I want to talk about that, but I also want
to give you folks a chance to talk. Most of
you out there know some family that has been touched
by suicide. So this is your opportunity to answer ask
(19:28):
whatever question you want of somebody who deals with it professionally.
As I mentioned, he has been a guest of mine
during the eight o'clock hour, and I specifically wanted Nazar
to join me during one of our hours with phone
call phone opportunities. Phone call opportunity, So I'm going to
give you the number. We're going to break away for
(19:48):
news and we'll be right back. Six one, seven, two, five,
four ten thirty six one seven nine thirty. I've got
some open lines. Feel free to join the conversation. This
is so important and again, we don't deal with issues
like this a lot, but this is one that I
feel is really critical, So feel free to join us.
(20:09):
There is no question that would be a dumb question here,
because whatever your questions are, I think Nazarre will have
an answer which might not only help you but help others.
Back on Nightside, my name is Dan Ray. We will
be back right after the news at the bottom of
the hour.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
It's Nightside with Dan Ray on Boston's news radio.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
Doah mcguest is bizarre You seen mental health expert? He
has a an app easy to find. I assume that
you just download the app. It's simply s o L.
Speaker 4 (20:45):
Is that? Am I reading that correctly?
Speaker 6 (20:50):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (20:50):
You got it.
Speaker 6 (20:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
If you search for Soul on the App Store or
on the Google Play store so o L, you'll you'll
find us there and can download the app.
Speaker 4 (21:01):
Is there a double on taundre soul? I think of
soul so o L as as the sun? What what
is the is it an acronym? Tell us the background
of of how how this was named?
Speaker 5 (21:16):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (21:17):
You know, it's it's uh, there's no acronym, but it's
you know, kind of a cute word that means many things,
including sun like you mentioned. You know, it's also uh,
you know do re fa sol I's a musical uh term.
It's refers to the length of the day on any
other planet in the universe besides Earth. And so there's
(21:38):
a lot of fun meaning that, you know, just help
you feel this, hopefully, you know, help you feel a
little bit brighter and a little bit more connected to
something bigger than yourself when you when you hear the word.
Speaker 5 (21:49):
And so that's the whole idea.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
Of one the app excellent. Let's go to the phone.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
It's gonna start it off with Jack and Newton. Jack, welcome,
you were first tonight with my guest this hour.
Speaker 6 (21:58):
Naja, Yes, yeah, Jack Porter. I'm a sociologist and one
of the classic books was Suicide by Emil dirkhim.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
But he.
Speaker 4 (22:14):
Hello, yep, we're right here, Jack, we're just listening right ahead.
Speaker 6 (22:19):
His findings one hundred and twenty five years ago actually
were different, a little different than yours. He said that
older people committed suicide more than youngers, men more than women,
and Protestants more than Catholics and Jews. Basically because they
were Protestants, were isolated, They depended on their own abilities,
(22:43):
and if that those broke down, they blamed themselves more.
But Catholics and Jews had stronger family ties and kinship, which,
as you pointed out, is so important. But now you're
pointing out different than Dr Khime, And it's the young
people with so much pressure on them to succeed by
(23:06):
their parents and everybody, and if they don't live up
to it, you know, they can commit.
Speaker 4 (23:13):
What's your question? What is your question? Jack? And I
know there's a question here.
Speaker 6 (23:17):
Well, the question is that maybe it has the suicides
rates changed since you know, Emil Durkhime's time, and now
it's younger people more than older people committing.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Okaysical you said that the book you're referring to was
written one hundred and twenty five years ago, so it
should have been the would have been the turn of
the twentieth century, nineteen.
Speaker 6 (23:39):
Hundred, Emil Dirkheim. Everybody's read it in sociology classes.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
Okay, just trying to place the time you said one
hundred and twenty five years ago, Jack, I'm not a sociologist.
Speaker 4 (23:50):
I've never read his book.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
I'm saying there may be some people in my audience
also who are not sociologists and haven't read his book.
It's a it's a book that was written you said,
one hundred and twenty five years ago. I'm enough of
a mathematician that would take us back to about nineteen hundred.
Speaker 6 (24:04):
Right, Well, it's a cross book. I'm sure.
Speaker 3 (24:08):
It's kind of a simple question. Jack, Let's let me
get I'm not sure why you're fighting me in the question.
I'm simply trying to place it chronologically around nineteen hundred,
and is there you want to comment on, Jack, Times
to change and studies changed. Jack seems to be surprised
that things have changed in one hundred and twenty five years.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Yeah, no, I appreciate the spirit of the inquiry, but man,
the world has really changed in the last one hundred
and twenty five years, hasn't it.
Speaker 5 (24:39):
I mean, you know, in nineteen hundred, there was no electricity.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
You know, we're you know, riding horses around. There were
no cars, right, and the average you know, human lifespan
on averages you know, in the forties, not in the seventies,
and so you know, we're living in a really different
world back then. And and sadly the world's become you know,
I mean, in many ways, the world has become a
(25:05):
lot more prosperous and a lot good, but it's also
become more challenging for younger people. In many ways, it's
just a confusing world, you know. Uh, You're presented with
so many options, is so much information, and so much
pressure as as you mentioned, Jack, and uh, it can
be really overwhelming for you know, younger minds. And keep
(25:27):
in mind, like you know, we change physically while we're tines,
we change mentally, but we also change you know, emotionally massively.
And so you know, while all these changes are happening,
and all this pressure is on you to be a
certain way, to look a certain way, to have certain things,
you know, sadly, sadly that that can that can really
(25:50):
you know, flip the script in a in a very
bad way, you know, from a from a suicide suicidal
tendencies perspective.
Speaker 4 (25:58):
Well, I agree, go ahead.
Speaker 6 (25:59):
I think older people are also committing suicide more often,
the seniors as well. All these thoughts of suicide, and
I think you started with COVID. Well, good, nineteen and
h you know, toutched off a lot of those thoughts
(26:21):
as well.
Speaker 4 (26:22):
Okay, Jack, go ahead and there.
Speaker 5 (26:26):
Yeah, I was just gonna say, I don't doubt it
at all.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
I mean, sadly, you know, the prevalence suicide, attents and
symptoms and and just all increased dramatically over here, So
I would not be surprised if that cuts across you know,
every single demographic.
Speaker 6 (26:45):
Really so important to talk about it.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
That's the that's what we're trying to do. Jack, appreciate
you call very much, and thanks for joining the conversation.
I think it's it's one of those subjects that a
lot of people are not comfortable talking about. Six seven, four, nine, nine,
ten thirty. Eugene Eugene is calling in from the Philippines. Eugene,
you were next on that side with my guest Nazzari. Eugene.
Speaker 7 (27:10):
Well, thank you, Good morning Dan to you and your guest,
and just a correct comment as usual, you're covering a
topic that is critically important. But my question to your
guests would be, have you noticed any difference in suicide
(27:30):
rates from the US compared with third world countries.
Speaker 4 (27:35):
That's a great question.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
That's I wish I thought of that question, Eugene, this,
are are there any comparable studies available in other parts
of the world.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
Yeah, you know, I have seen some statistics for Europe,
you know, sadly not really for you know, emerging markets
or the developing world. I'm not aware of. I'd love
to come across some data so that, you know, you
can kind of form a more global picture of this.
(28:08):
But but yeah, I think it's a great question.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
What about our rates compared to say Europe, if there
are other you know, Western countries, Western European countries that
have those statistics.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
Yeah, My understanding is that you know, there's an increase,
that there is an increase globally. There has been an
increase in Europe as well, you know, but the incidents
is higher in the United States, so it's it's just
a higher percentage in the United States. But there has
been an increase around the world. Really from from the
(28:45):
data that I've seen, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (28:47):
It's interesting.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
Why why here in the US where we have probably
more creature comforts than most most countries around the world. Again,
I guess creature comforts are not necessarily what moate or
demotivate people.
Speaker 4 (29:01):
Eugene that was a really good question. Any follow up
or no?
Speaker 7 (29:06):
Well, yeah, and thanks Dan. I was thinking about that
and the reason I was asking because typically the more
developed nations such as the US, UK and all, there
is tons and tons of social pressure on those people,
(29:29):
whereas in some of the third world countries like here,
they don't have that pressure on them.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
Well, a lot of the pressures in some of the
third world countries are either disease or poverty.
Speaker 4 (29:44):
So I guess your focus is in third world countries
is survival and maybe.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
Maybe maybe that focus on survival keeps them away from
thinking about anything other than survival.
Speaker 6 (30:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (30:02):
Well, see over here, family connections is critically important to people,
you know, would whether it be parents, siblings and all.
As a matter of fact, they spend two days a
week the family all getting together, discussing things and all.
Speaker 4 (30:25):
And yeah.
Speaker 3 (30:28):
The other thing too is you have your sort of
extended families, your nuclear families.
Speaker 4 (30:33):
There's less mobility.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
We've talked about that before as a matter of fact
this week, Eugene, and that is that it's not uncommon
for a kid to grow up in Boston and in
this day and age, his are her first jobs on
the West coast and those connections are you know, somewhat
fraid once they once they are are are three thousand
(30:55):
miles away. Your thoughts on that phenomenon, which is some
thing that is interesting, uh, Nasar.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
Yeah, that's exactly right. You know, is you know, if
if you do not have you know, a sort of
social safety net that's comprised by family and community, then
you're much more likely to feel alone, and you're much
more likely to feel like you're disconnected from anything meaningful.
(31:25):
And that's really when you know that part of your
brain I mentioned before, your pridal cortex, does not get exercised,
so to speak, and when you're more likely to experience
emotions like anxiety, depression, and you know, thinking suicidal thoughts
and so, you know, communities and societies that have a
much stronger, you know, family centric orientation, not a sort
(31:48):
of super individualistic orientation. You know it are much likelier
to have lower suicide incidents.
Speaker 4 (31:56):
Right, it's for that reason, right, Degene, thanks for checking
into the Philippines.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
I'm hoping it's cooling off over there a little bit
for you as I don't know if you get fall
or not, but I know you've had a very hot,
hot period of time in the.
Speaker 7 (32:09):
Last a well a. We are currently in day number
two of our third typhoon, coming back to back.
Speaker 4 (32:17):
God, you guys can't catch a break. Thanks you, Jean.
We'll talk soon. Be well. Stay safe, all.
Speaker 7 (32:24):
Right, Thank you. Thank you to your guests. Good job, guys,
keep it up all right.
Speaker 4 (32:29):
Thanks you, Jean.
Speaker 3 (32:31):
One of our longer distance callers are in this hour.
We'll wrap it up with my guests. Feel free to
join the conversation if you like. We'll try to get
you in six, one, seven to five, four, ten thirty.
We'll get you on the air real quickly. We're going
to talk about mental health. This mental health app called Soul,
which I hope some of you might go to in
the next few days and familiarize yourself with it. Don't
(32:53):
think that suicide is something that will not impact you
or thoughts of it or your family, because I think
it is much more prevalent and it gets very little attention.
I can tell you that because one of the things
when I learned when I worked in television here in
Boston is we covered every murder, We covered all homicides
in the city. But the one thing that was never
(33:14):
covered was a suicide. It just once we found out
it was a suicide, we walked away unless it was
some really famous person and that would be the exception
to the rollback on night Side right after this.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Nightside Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 3 (33:34):
Well, it looks like everybody in my audiences are surprisingly
has figured out suicide and suicide ology.
Speaker 4 (33:41):
So we have covered the waterfront on this.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
It's funny how different topics sometimes surprised me pleasantly and
sometimes surprised me unpleasantly. I was convinced that there'd be
a lot of people, which is why I invited you,
and I apologized that more people weren't anxious to call
and have the courage to a questions.
Speaker 4 (34:00):
Or to share experiences.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
But I guess we will keep, at least with my
audience the discussion about suicide in the in the back room,
so that it's it's it's somewhat disappointing. Tell us about
the mental health app. First of all, you can you
can pull it down I assume on your cell phone.
(34:24):
You can get it on websites as well. I'm hoping
or tell us tell us about how people find it
and what they can learn from it.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
Yeah, and I mean just just just to say thank
you Dan, by the way, from bringing visibility to this
important topic, it's, you know, somewhat natural. I suppose people
be a little bit shy to lean in and talk
about it. It's sort of an uncomfortable subject for many people.
But I really appreciate the work you're doing to make
it visible and and talked about. So our app, Soul
(34:55):
is you can find it on on the App Store
if you have a you know, iPhone, or you can
find it on the Google play Store if you have
an Android device to Samsung or what have you, and
you can just look for Soul sol on either app
store and you'll find it. And the way Soul works
is really you know, we try to start with, you know,
who are you as a person, so you know what
(35:16):
inspires you, what makes you happy? And then we ask
you how are you feeling? And then the intersection of
those two things allows us to present you with activities
and groups of people that you can connect with that
inspire you, make you happy, and that reflect how you're feeling.
So let's say you're feeling anxious, you know, maybe there's
(35:36):
a breathing exercise that you can do on solar, a
meditation or a group of other people who are feeling
anxious right now that you can share your feelings with.
Speaker 5 (35:45):
And so it's all about meeting the user.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
Where they are at their core and trying to provide
them with tools and resources so that they can feel
better no matter what it is they're feeling or what
they're going through.
Speaker 3 (35:57):
Now, is there a cost associated with this? To mean
like it might be a free app? I'm hoping tell
us about that.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
Yeah, it's it's it's a free app.
Speaker 5 (36:06):
Anybody can use it. It's free.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
There there are some premium features that you could subscribe to.
You can also you know, book paid sessions with you know,
different practitioners. You know, meditation coaches, yoga coaches, uh you know,
spiritual guides and you know, whatever it is you're into
that helps you feel purpose and meaning, there are practitioners
(36:31):
out there who we can connect you with and you
can book sessions with them, and and and and you
know you can do all that through our website, our
websites uh at getsoul dot app, g E T s
O L dot app. So you'll be able to download
the app from there or book book experiences from there.
Speaker 3 (36:50):
Thanks thanks so get sold g E T s O
l all one word dot app a p p uh
the Zar, thank you so much tonight. This is so
important and as they say, I know there were a
lot of people who chose to listen, and hopefully some
of them. Actually a couple of calling in right now,
a little late, but that's that's what happens. People summon
(37:12):
the courage and then we have to move on. So Nazza,
thank you very much. I'll keep in touch and maybe
we'll have you back.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
Thank you so much, my friend Chian great Dan, thanks
so much.
Speaker 3 (37:23):
Be well, good night, good night Nizzar. Yes, sir, they
get soul, g E T s ol dot app app.
We're gonna come back for the eleven o'clock hour, the
fourth and final hour tonight or nightside. And I gotta
be honest with you, I'm not sure we're gonna do.
I'm gonna figure it out during the newscast. Hope you
stick with us.
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