The "S" word: how suicide is devastating Amador County and rural communities

Mental illness isn’t visible. It doesn’t mottle flesh, shrivel muscles or cause a limp. It grows slowly and silently, chipping away at one’s vitality and sense of purpose. And if left unattended for too long, it can cause unbearable pain that drives people to end their own lives. That’s happening with alarming frequency in California’s rural communities, where economic downturn, slim mental health resources, transportation barriers and high rates of substance abuse are creating breeding grounds for suicide.There’s also a culture of silence. In Amador County, a former gold-mining community about an hour southeast of Sacramento, some people don’t even like to say the word suicide. Depression and other mental health issues are considered taboo, shameful. The stigma keeps many people from seeking help.Amador has the third-highest suicide rate of any county in California — nearly three times the state average and twice that of Sacramento. The actual number of suicides is pretty small, and so the rate can fluctuate year-to-year. Despite that, the risk is clear: The top 20 counties on the list are some of the state’s most remote and least populous places.