Actress Dana Plato’s Son Also Commits Suicide
Dana Plato. Photo courtesy of CNN.
Tyler Lambert, 25, son of “Diff’rent Strokes” actress Dana Plato, committed suicide this month almost 11 years to the day after his mother killed herself by drug overdose, according to this CNN article.
The death of two close family members from suicide may be more common than you think. The Johns Hopkins Children’s Center recently did a study that shows people who were children or adolescents when their parents committed sucide are more likely to commit suicide as well.
“It appears from our results that all factors — developmental, environmental and genetic — are important,” lead author Holly Wilcox said in a CNN article about the study.
Social workers often help families cope with grief. To learn more visit the National Association of Social Workers’ “Help Starts Here” Grief and Loss Web page by clicking here. And to get information on how to prevent suicides visit the Suicide Prevention Action Network USA by clicking here.
Q: Social workers, when you help suicide survivors deal with grief are you aware odds are higher other family members may commit suicide? Do you try to address this trend in counseling?
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Absolutely! Assessing for any suicides in a family history is a vital element of counseling anyone who presents with depressive symptoms. There is an abundance of research re: suicide trends in families. Ernest Hemingway’s family history is very interesting……
I believe that any comprehensive mental health assessment, should screen for depression. When doing so, asking about family history of depression will invariably lead to asking about family history of suicide, suicide attempts or suicidal gesturing. Having worked for seven years as a civilian therapist with a military population, the importance of doing this is even further underscored. When Service Members return from combat deployments, they frequently do so in an extremely depressed state. Knowing family history of depression and suicidal behavior helps to evaluate suicidal risk in the Service Member himself or herself. As we are all sadly observing, suicide potential is extranordinarily high among all of our Service Members.
E A Wahrburg, BA(Psy), MSW, LCSW- (NC &NY)