The trait that best describes the Wyoming attitude toward life contributes to a lot of death.

"Rugged independence - it has a kind of romance about it, but it's not good for suicide prevention," David Litts told participants of the first Wyoming Suicide Prevention Conference. The conference, which ends today at the Ramkota Hotel, is sponsored by the Wyoming Department of Health and the State Suicide Prevention Task Force.

The state's Republican and Libertarian brand of politics attracts people who want to live away from other people, and not have other people telling them what to do, said Litts, associate director of the Suicide Prevention Resource Center.

Although the center is in the suburban Washington, D.C., area, Litts grew up in a small farming community in Michigan and has a first-hand understanding of rural life with its own cultural characteristics.

Culture has a huge influence on suicide, and is independent of mental illness issues such as schizophrenia and anxiety disorders, he said.

In 1933, the suicide rate in the United States was 17 per 100,000, Litts said.

By 1945, the rate dropped to under 10 per 100,000 even though no significant new treatments were employed, he said.

The obvious cultural changes were the emergence from the Great Depression and World War II, when millions of young men were in small units and their lives depended on each other, Litts said.

The post-war rate rose to about 13 per 100,000 in the late 1970s, and hovered about 11 per 100,000 since then.

The Rocky Mountain region had a rate of about 17 per 100,000, and Wyoming's rate is the worst in the nation at nearly 22 per 100,000.

States with dominant Republican politics, mostly in the West, have suicide rates higher than the rest of the nation, Litts said.

People living in Western states and especially Wyoming also share the desires of anonymity, privacy, keeping family problems in the family, a tripling of the divorce rate in rural areas compared to most urban areas from 1970 to 1990, the view that suicide is viewed as a failure of the individual and the family, denial that self-inflicted deaths area a problem and a conspiracy of silence that protects the family and the victim's good name, he said.

Other individual and family factors contributing to the high suicide rate include previous suicide attempts, access to firearms, exposure to suicide, the stigma associated with mental health problems and suicide, and economic instability, Litts said.

On a societal level, the agricultural sector has declined, global markets are beyond local control, failure of the family farm causes a public loss of face, loss of a lifestyle, loss of a reason for living and alcohol misuse, Litts said.

Veterans are disproportionately from rural areas and returning vets don't receive the support and care they need, he said.

However, Wyoming and Western cultures have some factors that can counteract the suicide problems caused by the "rugged independence" mentality, Litts said.

Small communities often have strong ties through churches and religious beliefs that discourage suicide and support preservation, he said.

By way of comparison, predominantly Catholic Latin America has suicide rate in the single digits per 100,000 population compared to rates in the high 20s and 30s in countries that were part of the atheistic Soviet Union, Litts said.

"Emphasize those biblical values of 'being your brother's keeper' and 'bearing one another's burdens,'" he said.

Besides the potential of religious beliefs, small communities have their own cultural heritages, school ties, adults who know what other adults' children are doing, he said.

Litts urged the conference participants to form local suicide prevention coalitions, conduct public awareness campaigns, help local survivors - those who have lost family members to suicide - form support groups, improve relations with the media, encourage gun safety programs, and form support groups for those who have survived their own suicide attempts.

While people living in rural areas may not have a sense of shared responsibility because of their isolation, they often are good at "collective competence" in joining together to confront a crisis, Litts said.

Hot Springs County has a crisis in that it has the No. 1 suicide rate in the state, which has the No. 1 suicide rate in the nation, said Sheriff Lou Falgoust,

He and Marilyn Braaton of the Worland-based Washakie Mental Health are trying to form a suicide prevention coalition, they said.

"Our citizens are independent and often don't seek help," Falgoust said.

Braaton knows a lot of people who belong to congregations or other social groups, but many don't, she said. "Choosing to be private because a stumbling block in being able to get help."

County residents still carry the stigma that mental illness and suicide are taboo subjects, Braaton said.

"There is a lot of help available, but (not) the willingness to get help," she said.

Reporter Tom Morton can be reached at (307) 266-0592, or at Tom.Morton@casperstartribune.net.