Also, discussed is how suicide is dealt with in the more traditional, orthodox community, in a way that can complicate matters due to stigma, secrecy, shame, and avoidance, partially based on past scholarly interpretations of sacred texts. New understandings of psychological, social and biological factors leading to suicide are portrayed, along with some example stories of suicides and their effect on the community.

A recent tragic suicide , urges rabbis, should be used as an opportunity to educate ourselves about this illness behavior. This article is part of the Jewish Times' ongoing efforts to educate the Jewish community about state-of-the art understandings of mental health, in a series of articles about substance abuse, sexual abuse, and now suicide.

The full article can be found here: "How to confront suicide."

The Foundation's Dr. Mark Komrad wrote to the editor regarding the article:

To the Editor:

The Baltimore Jewish Time's recent article "Hour of Darkness," about suicide, prompted me to write a long-overdue appreciation of the JT's progressive attempts to educate the Jewish community about mental health problems.

Like a well-crafted three legged stool, the paper has written a series of articles over the last few years, which have vigorously addressed three complex, common, but often stigmatized psychiatric issues: substance abuse, sexual abuse, and suicide. I wish to gratefully celebrate this media effort, on behalf of my professional colleagues in mental heatlh, the patients we treat, and the people who might hopefully now be more drawn to get help.

The state-of-the-art understanding of these problems, so well covered in your articles, can lead to recovery and healing, more successfully than ever before. In fact, success rates in psychiatry rival and even exceed the success of treating other medical problems like diabetes, arthritis, and heart disease. This is fortunate, since, according to the National Institutes of Mental Health, psychiatric problems cause more disability and lost productivity in the community than all of these problems combined.

Thank you again for your responsible dedication to so thoroughly reporting on these issues, to the great benefit of our community.

Mark S. Komrad M.D.
•Psychiatrist
•Maryland Foundation for Psychiatry
•Psychiatric Consultant to the Maryland Transportation Authority (for suicide bridge jumping)