Live free not try

Over the last two decades, a growing national issue is starting to get more attention: Suicide.

There are now twice as many suicides in the U.S. as homicides, making it the 10th leading cause of death. You have to go all the way back to the dawn of the Great Depression to find a similar increase in the suicide rate.

The fundamental mystery of suicide has long made it an object of fear and contempt within the medical establishment. Even now, many mental health professionals struggle with helping someone who is suicidal.

There is, in fact, only one method that has ever led to a reduction in suicide deaths. And the story of this tactic is profoundly moving.

During World War II, a soldier named Jerome Motto kept getting letters from a woman he barely knew. The letters were fairly mundane, but they kept coming whether Motto replied or not. They became his greatest solace.

Motto never saw the woman again. But after the war, he became a psychiatrist and decided to see if a regular check-in letter could help suicidal patients.

It seemed ridiculous: that a letter could pull a person out of an abyss that deep. Not a personal message, but a form letter, the same one sent to many patients. 

But it worked. The results of Motto’s study were unprecedented in the history of suicide research. For years, though, his findings attracted almost no attention. 

Here is the story of Motto’s improbable discovery—and how some therapists are using his work today as they fight a public health challenge like no other.