Life under Pressure

Life under Pressure told me more about what has gone wrong with the upper-income corners of American society than any book I've read in years. It is a devastating work of scholarship. * Malcolm Gladwell, author of Talking to Strangers and host of the Revisionist History podcast *
In Life under Pressure, Mueller and Abrutyn artfully weave rigorous scholarship and compelling narrative to shed light on how one community understood and responded to youth suicide. With insights invaluable to parents, advocates, and professionals alike, this is undoubtedly the most transformative text on school-based youth suicide in the past decade. * Jonathan B. Singer, PhD, LCSW, Professor at Loyola University Chicago School of Social Work, Past-President of the American Association of Suicidology, and coauthor of the bestselling text Suicide in Schools: A Practitioner's Guide to Multi-level Prevention, Assessment, Intervention, and Postvention *
This book is an essential read for parents, educators, policymakers, and mental health professionals. Through its gripping portraits of communities in crisis, it upends conventional wisdom about youth suicide and offers clear sociological strategies for alleviating psychological pain. * Jessica Calarco, PhD, author of Negotiating Opportunities: How the Middle Class Secures Advantages in School *
This is such a powerful must-read book on youth suicide, especially on how the social landscape can convey risk and protection for youth vulnerable to suicide. Everyone with an interest in suicide and its prevention should read this excellent, compelling, and compassionate book. * Professor Rory O'Connor, President of the International Association for Suicide Prevention and author of When It Is Darkest: Why People Die by Suicide and What We Can Do to Prevent It *
This truly unique and in-depth study of the complexity of suicide highlights the importance of sociological methods. The authors have collected and collated countless hours of interviews and material to respectfully share the painful story of one community's extraordinary experience of multiple suicides over many years. With their efforts and words, suicide prevention seems possible. * Jill Harkavy-Friedman, PhD, SVP of Research, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention *
Life under Pressure provides a vital intervention in the discussion of youth suicide prevention. The story of Poplar Grove tells us that the roots of suicide are social, which means that the solutions must be too. From empowering schools to be sites of systemic care, to asserting the need for young people to be included in discussions about loss and prevention, to highlighting the protective factor of shared grief, Anna Mueller and Seth Abrutyn provide a road map to a more hopeful future where the mental health of young people is supported not only individually but by the institutions and communities in which they live. * C.J. Pascoe, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Oregon and author of Nice Is Not Enough: Inequality and the Limits of Kindness at American High *
An insightful, approachable exploration of a scourge of self-harm in an 'idyllic American town. * Kirkus *