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Owen Thomas was a captain of the University of Pennsylvania football team, a young man with a positive attitude and many opportunities, and the son of two clergy.
Because it seemed that Thomas had everything going for him and many reasons to live, his death by suicide in April raised a lot of questions.
One, raised by Rob Lunn at NESN.com, was: With the millions of dollars spent by college football programs, where are the mental health resources for college athletes?
Lunn called for mandated professional mental health care for college players, who are often under similar stresses as professional athletes. He also wondered about the influence of traumatic brain injury on players' mental health.
That question was echoed by researchers who study chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a disease that is seen in NFL players with a history of head trauma. Were there early signs of this disease in Thomas's brain, and did that contribute his suicide?
Reading the news coverage of Thomas's death with a suicide prevention lens, I worried about a couple of things. I worried that, like many suicide deaths of relatively high-profile people, media coverage would contribute to simplifying what might be a complex situation. I worried that CTE might become a fad diagnosis.
And then, in the midst of this worrying and after I'd drafted half a blog post about Thomas's death, I heard that Kenny McKinley, Denver Broncos wide receiver, died by suicide this week.
Obviously, I'm saddened by the deaths of these two athletes as I think about the effects of their deaths on friends, family, and teammates. But, I'm also hopeful - hopeful in the way perhaps only someone who works in suicide prevention can be.
I'm hopeful that, in the way the MLB has recognized the mental health needs of its players by creating a way for players to be on a "mental DL," both college and pro football will see their players as people with physical and mental health needs. Both Thomas and McKinley, although in very different ways, did show signs that they might be at risk for suicide. A lesson, both for college and pro football and for all of us, is that even people who appear happy, who have a lot going their way, may be struggling. To me, these deaths reinforce the importance of how we listen, that we believe people when they talk about suicide, and that we do the things within our power (like removing guns or other dangerous items from a home) to decrease the chances that someone will die by suicide.
This past week, Thomas's life and the contributions he made to his team were honored with a moment of silence before the coin toss at a game. Thomas's roommates and fellow team captains stood mid-field, and were then joined by the rest of the team for the 40-second moment of silence for Thomas's uniform number 40. The players are also wearing "40" decals on their helmets for the season.
I'm hoping that after the memorials, after the shock goes away, the memories of these young men generate momentum for suicide prevention.
Copyright 2010 Elana Premack Sandler, All Rights Reserved
