Dead Marine’s mom says war broke his heart
By Omer Gillham
World Staff Writer
Mary Ligon is familiar with the Military Order of the Purple Heart, but she hopes for the day when there could be an Order of the Broken Heart.
Ligon’s son, Daniel Y. Ligon, served two tours of duty in Iraq, facing heavy fighting near Fallujah.
As a U.S. Marine, her son served the country faithfully and courageously — but the war changed him, said Ligon, a trainer at the Thornton YMCA.
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| Daniel Ligon's grave at Fort Gibson National Cemetery. |
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After defying death from roadside bombs and sniper fire, Daniel returned to the United States and killed himself June 10, 2007. Before he took his own life, friends and relatives tried to help him. But he became unreachable as memories of dead friends and shocking war images played repeatedly in his mind, Ligon said.
Ligon believes the events of the Iraq war contributed significantly to the eventual loss of her son’s will to live.
“We have the Order of the Purple Heart for our courageous service men and women, but we don’t have the Order of the Broken Heart,’’ Ligon said. “That’s what happened to Daniel and other soldiers like him. They had broken hearts. They served the country and put their lives on the line more than once. There ought to be a way to honor these men and women who served their country heroically but then, in their brokenness, died unheroically.
At 24 years old, Daniel killed himself, leaving a lucid letter to his family, apologizing for his decision. Ligon is still trying to understand what happened to the loving son who built cardboard airplanes as a child and who gave away his lunch to a hungry schoolmate.
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| Mary Ligon talks about her son Daniel. |
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“I am talking about this publicly to honor these soldiers and because I want to help remove the shame and stigma that comes into the heart of the family after a suicide occurs,” Ligon said. “We are not ashamed of Daniel. He was a son, a brother, and a Marine. His name meant ‘Gift of God.’ ”
Ligon recalled how her son, before his first deployment, used a BB gun to kill a bird to test his willingness to take a life.
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“He called his sister and cried because he had killed a living thing,” Ligon said. “I believe he wanted to know if he could kill and live with it.”
Hidden epidemic:
Suicide deaths in Oklahoma double the homicide rate
The Ligon family is one of hundreds across Oklahoma facing the suicide of a family member. The Tulsa World analyzed the number of suicides for the past five years. Suicides have risen 12 percent in Oklahoma since 2004. With 15 suicides per 100,000 people, Oklahoma ranks 11th nationally in suicides, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Wyoming is ranked first with 22.6 suicides per 100,000 individuals.
Meanwhile, Oklahoma’s suicide rate is twice that of the homicide rate. In 2008, there were 578 suicides compared to 249 homicides, according to preliminary data released by the state Medical Examiner’s Office of Oklahoma. The 2-to-1 ratio in Oklahoma is consistent with other states and the national ratio of suicides versus homicides.
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| A courtesy photo of Daniel Ligon. |
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Mike Brose, executive director of the Mental Health Association in Tulsa, said suicides are a hidden epidemic and should be addressed with frankness and open discussion.
“When I speak to audiences about suicides and ask if they are aware that suicide deaths double homicides each year, they either show shock or think that I am lying,” Brose said. “I have heard people in the audience gasp at these statistics.”
Suicide by age,
race and method
In addition to tracking the total number of suicides, the data analyzed by the World details the method, age group, day of the week and other factors involving each suicide in Oklahoma. For example, in 2007, Thursdays proved to be the most prevalent day for a suicide, with 95 deaths occurring on that day of the week. The most common month for suicide in 2007 was August, with 63 deaths.
The World analyzed detailed statistics from 2004 and 2007, since the final details on 2008 suicides are pending with the Medical Examiner.
For 2007, the records detail how adults and teens killed themselves by firearm, hanging, drugs, stabbing and other methods. There were 539 suicides that year while there were only 268 homicides, records show. Death by firearm was the most frequent method of committing suicide, followed by hanging.
Records show that 118 of the suicides in Oklahoma involved individuals with a blood-alcohol level of 0.10 or greater. Women are three times as likely as men to attempt suicide while men are four times as likely to actually commit suicide, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
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By age group, the largest group of suicides in Oklahoma involved people between 40 and 60 years old. Within this group, there were 227 suicides.
“The patients who scare me the most are the middle-age white male,” said Dr. Jeff Mitchell, vice president and medical director of Laureate Psychiatric Clinic and Hospital. “The person may be depressed and not be aware of it. He may feel lost and have a low sense of self-esteem due to health complications, loss of job or other factors.”
A second high-risk group is war veterans, including Iraqi veterans, said Stacie Barnett, program director of Community Outreach Psychiatric Emergency Services with Family and Children’s Services.
Soldiers are killing themselves in record numbers, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. Last year, 143 soldiers killed themselves, which is a record in the past three decades since the Army has been tallying the numbers, according to a published report by the Defense Department.
“The veterans are a category of concern,” Barnett said. “They are a lethal group.”
Suicide prevention staff in Tulsa and Muskogee have identified 120 names of high-risk veterans needing or seeking help. VA officials have established a suicide help line and additional assistance for these veterans, said Stephen Clark, a clinical social worker and suicide prevention coordinator for Tulsa-area veterans.
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A third high-risk category involves jail inmates, who commit suicide at two to three times the rate of prison inmates or 36 per 100,000 said Lindsay M. Hayes, project director for the National Center on Institutions and Alternatives.
Meanwhile, teen suicides have decreased. In 2007, 22 of Oklahoma’s suicide victims were under 20 years old. Within this group, five children ages 11-15 killed themselves. The teen deaths are a decline from 33 the previous year. Suicide is the third leading cause of death for teens and young adults, records show.
Blacks, American Indians and Hispanics tend to commit suicide at lower rates than their respective representation in the general population in Oklahoma, records show.
Does talking about
suicide cause it?
There is concern over whether media coverage of suicides will increase its frequency but Brose says the evidence does not sufficiently support this fear. Brose said that writing about suicide with a focus on warning signs and mental health options can reduce the number of annual deaths.
“Those who caution you about talking about or writing about suicide tend to think that one suicide will give motivation to others, and some people fear that copy-cat suicides or contagion will occur,” Brose said.
Brose said that while some people may be vulnerable to suicidal thoughts and impulses and could act on such thoughts if they learn about a suicide, responsible discussion about suicide does not, in general, cause suicides.
He mentioned suicides involving Jenks students in 1997 when three teenagers killed themselves in the same school year, causing widespread concern among parents with teens.
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“Those suicides have been labeled as a cluster suicide, and the underlying assumption is that, while there were circumstances such as school pressures and relationship problems, the students were dealing with depression as an underlying cause,” Brose said. “The incident that caused the first suicide of the cluster was probably not media coverage of suicide deaths.”
As a policy, the World avoids writing about suicides unless they occur in public places, such as a recent suicide at a Tulsa gun range.
A spokesman for The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention said responsible reporting on suicides can reduce their frequency.
“When a suicide is sensationalized, it can be a factor of contributing to suicide for those who are vulnerable or those considering suicide,” said Robert Gebbia, executive director of American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. “These are the individuals who may be struggling with a mental health issue and who are in distress already.
“But writing about suicide and its trends and the fact that it is treatable and help is available does not increase the suicide rate nor cause suicide contagion,” Gebbia said. “Discussing it as a medical condition or health issue is a helpful thing to do and should be done.”
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