Suicide prevention team: Victim's dad, former tormentor

After a 17-year-old fellow student took his own life, Kirk Zajac was devastated. Not because he and the other teen were friends; but because they so clearly were not.
Kirk didn't even know the name of the quiet boy whom he and others tormented regularly on the crowded bus to Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin School. They called him "Polar Bear" because of his size and refused to make room for him in a seat. They made fun of him behind his back and to his face.
Last September, when the principal somberly announced that Andy Lehman had died in a car crash, it took awhile for Kirk to even figure out who Andy was. Then he discovered that the crash was no accident.

Bipolar disorder in youths may be over-diagnosed

The diagnosis of bipolar disorder in children and adolescents has risen fortyfold since 1994, according to a study released Monday. But researchers partly attributed the dramatic rise to doctors over-diagnosing the serious psychiatric disorder.The report in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry said bipolar disorder was found in 1,003 of every 100,000 office visits from children and adolescents in 2002-03, compared with 25 of 100,000 office visits in 1994-95.The diagnosis of bipolar disorder among adults increased twofold during the same period, researchers said.

Youth Suicides Increased As Antidepressant Use Fell

From 2003 to 2004, the suicide rate among Americans younger than 19 rose 14 percent, the most dramatic one-year change since the government started collecting suicide statistics in 1979, the study found. The rise followed a sharp decrease in the prescribing of antidepressants such as Prozac, Zoloft and Paxil after parents and physicians were confronted by a barrage of warnings from the Food and Drug Administration and international agencies.

Suicide Trends Among Youths and Young Adults Aged 10--24 Years --- United States, 1990--2004

In 2004, suicide was the third leading cause of death among youths and young adults aged 10--24 years in the United States, accounting for 4,599 deaths. (MMWR Report)