Central Coast Woman describes life after surviving catastrophic depressive episode.
Selina Glater has spent the last year or so reflecting on a dark time in her life.
She’s doing so by writing a book in which she recalls the multiple times in which she has attempted suicide.
Glater remembers ingesting two handfuls of Vicodin and driving off in a car in one passage.
In another she talks about her teenage years where she had to deal with an abusive father.
“I was cutting my wrists and cutting my arms,” Glater says. “I felt horrible about myself. That nobody would ever accept me in the world or would ever love me. I felt very unwanted in many ways.”
She’s alive today and grateful. Now she’s sharing her story to remind people who have suicidal thoughts that there is a lot of things in life to live for.
“There’s opportunities for love and connection with other people you don’t see right now,” Glater says. “It’s something you can’t possibly see when you’re that depressed.”
It’s a struggle which mental health advocates and members of suicide prevention teams across the Central Coast believe is best helped with volunteers who have experienced having suicidal thoughts.
“Finding people who are similar to yourself helps you to better understand your emotions,” says Suicide Prevention Consultant Noah Whitaker. He was visiting Santa Cruz County to see how the county can get a handle on its suicide rate.
From 1999 to 2016 the suicide rate in California increased by as much as 14 percent.
Monterey County stayed level with that trend and hasn’t gone above it. Santa Cruz County, meanwhile, saw its suicide rate per 100,000 residents increase above the national and state average at certain points within that timeframe.
The Centers for Disease Control says more than half of the people across the US who had died by suicide had no known mental health problems.
A 2015 report says a major factor in suicide deaths was due to relationship problems.
Selina Glater says she experienced a similar issue with a former psychiatrist.
“He had an inappropriate relationship with me and it went on for ten years,” Glater explains. “That increased the ‘suicidality’ and it almost killed me.”
When there’s a setback for Glater now, she sees a female psychiatrist. And the setbacks do happen and last for a few days.
She says that dark place is almost inescapable, but not as prevalent as her younger days.
“I’m here now,” says Glater. “As much as I didn’t want to be at the time. I’m glad I’m here now and I would have never been able to say that back then. Never for a minute could I say that.”
New CDC data shows life expectancy itself has dipped once again to 78.6 years.
More than 2.8 million Americans died in 2017, which is the most for a single year since the government keeping track of that number more than a century ago.
Part of the reason for the decline was a sharp increase in suicide and drug overdose deaths.
The CDC is calling the new data a “wake up call.”
“Suicide prevention and suicide in general is a community issue,” says Conan Mycroft with the Suicide Prevention Service. “It’s not just us or police officers. It’s our neighbors and friends.”
For a list of services, locations and numbers, see the table provided below.
NAMI-Monterey County 1020 Merrill Street, Suite 1015
Salinas, California 93901
(831) 422-6264
NAMI-Santa Cruz County NAMI SCC, PO Box 360, Santa Cruz , CA 95061
Office: 831-824-0406
Help: 831-427-8020
Suicide Prevention Services 245 E Lake Ave, Watsonville, CA 95076 831-288-0474 LOSS-AFSP Pacific Grove, CA (Call for location
831-459-9373
National Suicide Prevention Hotline 24/7 Telephone Line 1-800-273-8255
