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