Suicide Among Older Adults in Washington: What Families Need to Know

A recent article from The Seattle Times, Why suicide rates are so high among older adults in Washington, by Taylor Blatchford, highlighted an important conversation about the mental health challenges many older adults face and featured insights from our own Alice Verstaen, PhD.

Older adulthood can bring major life transitions, including grief and loss, changes in health, retirement, caregiving responsibilities, social isolation, and shifts in identity or independence. While these experiences are common, emotional suffering should never be viewed as simply a normal part of aging.

One of the challenges in recognizing depression and suicide risk in older adults is that symptoms do not always appear in obvious ways. Emotional distress may show up as withdrawal, hopelessness, irritability, loss of motivation, increased physical complaints, or feeling like a burden to others. Many older adults also grew up in generations where discussing mental health was highly stigmatized, making it harder to seek support.

At Sound Insight Psychology, we believe older adults deserve compassionate, specialized mental health care that recognizes both the challenges and strengths that come with aging. Therapy can provide support during periods of transition, grief, caregiving stress, health changes, and emotional overwhelm while also helping people reconnect with meaning, purpose, and connection.

We are grateful to see greater awareness being brought to older adult mental health and proud to see Dr. Verstaen contributing to these important conversations in our community.

You can read the full Seattle Times article here: Why suicide rates are so high among older adults in Washington.