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The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline number will change to 988 on Saturday, a switch that federal officials previously told TODAY will help fight the stigma associated with mental health.
The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, a network of more than 200 state and local call centers supported by the Department of Health and Human Services, will provide 24/7 care for mental health crises and also link to the Veterans Crisis Line. The Federal Communications Commission is requiring all telephone service and text providers in the U.S. to activate 988 by July 16.
The switch comes as the nation faces a mental health crisis: Since the pandemic began, about 4 in 10 adults in the U.S. have reported symptoms of anxiety or depression, up from 1 in 10 in 2019, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. What's more, global rates of depression and anxiety increased by 25% in 2020 alone, according to research published in October 2021 in The Lancet.
“988 is more than a number, it is a message: we’re there for you. Through this and other actions, we are treating mental health as a priority and putting crisis care in reach for more Americans,”
This is a good step, but more attention needs to be paid to addressing the root of the problem. With increasing institutionalization and corporatization, we're losing aspects of our social culture and isolating individuals from traditional support networks. We're creating a society that assumes mental health issues to be the baseline price we pay to live within this system.
I remember seeing this last year. I like the awareness to the cause. I believe that did more good than making the number shorter.