U.S. Suicides Reached a Record High Last Year

[dalton99a]

https://www.wsj.com/health/healthcare/americans-suicide-highest-level-2022-02eb10ea
https://archive.ph/zt2fh

U.S. Suicides Reached a Record High Last Year
Older men are at highest risk, while suicide rates among young people have declined
By Julie Wernau
Nov. 29, 2023 12:01 am ET

America’s mental-health crisis drove suicides to a record-high number last year.

Nearly 50,000 people in the U.S. lost their lives to suicide in 2022, according to a provisional tally from the National Center for Health Statistics. The agency said the final count would likely be higher. The suicide rate of 14.3 deaths per 100,000 people reached its highest level since 1941.

The record reflects broad struggles to help people in mental distress following a pandemic that killed more than one million in the U.S., upended the economy and left many isolated and afraid. A shortage of healthcare workers, an increasingly toxic illicit drug supply and the ubiquity of firearms have facilitated the rise in suicides, mental-health experts said.

“There was a rupture in our economic health and social fabric. We’re still experiencing the aftereffects of that,” said Jeffrey Leichter, a psychologist who connects mental health and primary care at Sanford Health, an operator of hospitals and clinics in the Dakotas, Minnesota and Iowa.

...

[Deep State Witch]

1. Not Dealing With Trauma from COVID

IMHO, we're having a national Mental Health crisis because we haven't dealt with the trauma from COVID. The rampant and senseless crime spike, the fentanyl crisis, loneliness, and suicides are all part of this issue. Whenever we talk about it, it's always vaccines vs non-vaccines, crazy conspiracy theories, etc. We're not talking about how we lost over a million people in the space of 18 months.

[Walleye]

2. I have read that a suicide is five times as likely to happen in a home with a gun in it

[maxsolomon]

12. Guns facilitate impulsive suicide.

They're the vast majority of firearm deaths every year, but 2nd Amendment, blah blah.

All the successful suicides I know of were via firearm. All the failures were pills or cutting.

[yardwork]

13. Same here. All the suicides by people I knew personally were by firearm.

[Irish_Dem]

19. Suicide 7 more likely for males with a gun in the home. 35 times higher for women.

According to a Stanford research study.
https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2020/06/handgun-ownership-associated-with-much-higher-suicide-risk.html

Thank you for bringing this up Walleye. It is a public service.

My strong advice: If you have a friend or family member who is suicidal, get guns out of the home asap.

When I was in clinical practice as a therapist, this is one of the first things I did when evaluating/treating
a patient with serious suicidal thoughts. Called the family, explained the situation, and
asked that all guns be removed during treatment, at least until the patient was stable and low risk.
Preferably never have one in the home again.

Sometime the family refused, saying I was "violating their rights" by just asking asking them to
remove the guns.

I explained that I had a duty to warn and protect as per our state's licensing/professional laws.
I would be violating the law if I did not make the call and insist the guns be removed. I also did
not tolerate their refusal and pointed out that if they got me tangled up in violation of state law,
and in fact their family member died, we would all be going to court together.

100% of the time, they either agreed on the spot or called me the next day, apologized and told me the
guns had been removed. I insisted on time and date of removal, where the guns were being stored,
name of responsible person and documented all of it.

That is how serious I took the gun situation in my practice when treating suicidal patients.
Because the risk of death was so damn high with a gun in the home.

Then the state politicians talked about making it illegal for healthcare professionals to ask
about guns in the home. So we are supposed to let patients kill themselves.
Luckily this law did not get passed. Because if it had, I would be looking for a new career field.
I am not going to stand by and let people shoot themselves to death on my watch.

I had a 40 year career as a therapist and I never lost one patient to suicide, no homicides either.
How did I do that? I am perfectly nice, laid back, reasonable therapist until lives are in danger and
then I run a very tight ship. If they followed my clinical advice, everyone would stay safe.
And they did. Thank God.

[Walleye]

21. Excellent info and good job on your part. And there are more guns every day in the US

[Irish_Dem]

23. The suicide rate will increase and continue to do so.

Scary stuff.

[redqueen]

3. Omg ... we have to do more for Native Americans

💔

[Bayard]

9. Absolutely

Rampant poverty. Many on the reservations don't see much opportunity to escape.

I watched, "Native America/Warrior Spirit," on PBS last week. One of the stories it detailed was a Native teenage boy who was really excelling at tribal nations' relay horse racing, on a national level. A year after the segment was filmed, he had committed suicide.

https://www.pbs.org/video/warrior-spirit-dm1eio/

[redqueen]

11. ...

[Bundbuster]

22. That was so searingly sad.

Long ago the "leaders" of this country consciously impounded Native Americans into an ongoing community and outlook of despair.

[Irish_Dem]

24. Native Americans have the highest suicide rates of any ethnic or racial group in the US.

The suicide rate is at least three times higher than any other group in the US.

[yardwork]

14. Absolutely!

[Johnny2X2X]

4. Gun control

A forgotten aspect of gun control is suicide. We can prevent a large portion of suicides by smarter gun laws. People struggling with mental health and depression shouldn't have easy access to firearms.

When you listen to psychiatrists about suicide, it's a temporary decision that is made permanent if there is a friearm easy to access. Suicidal people might think about it for a long time, but they are only willing to act on it for a brief moment. Experts will tell suicidal people who have firearms to take their guns to a freinds house. Or even the act of having the ammo in a separate part of the house from the weapon can give a person enough time to reconsider. The time it takes to go to another floor in the house and load the weapon is more times than not enough time for a suicidal person to change their mind.

Firearms is just such an instant and permanent suicide method. There's just no chance to change your mind if you have a moment of overwhelming grief. Other suicide methods take longer and offer chances to change a mind. Pills act slow and give someone a chance to throw up or call for help. Hanging can be ineffective if you don't do it right and takes some time. But a gun, a gun takes an instant and there is no taking it back.

[OAITW r.2.0]

5. The method of suicide would be illuminating.

I suspect guns would be the #1 cause.

[dalton99a]

6. CDC data:

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7237a4.htm

[yardwork]

15. Thank you for posting these illuminating graphs.

[dwnsouth]

18. Most US Gun deaths are suicide

54% of all US gun deaths are suicide. Only 43% are murder. Not sure what makes up the missing few %

[Irish_Dem]

25. in 2021, 4% of gun deaths were accidental guns deaths.

That must be the missing % in the above stats.

[CrispyQ]

7. Wow. This is not a graph of a healthy society.

Except for really old people who probably have a higher percentage of health issues that lead to them taking their life, the highest rates of suicide are people in the prime of their life.

The two age groups with the lowest rates are the two that probably have the least number of health & financial issues combined. Kids cuz their kids, & 65-74 cuz they finally reached SS/Medicare age & still have some good health left.

That's my assessment anyway & how sad. From 25-65, forty years of your life, you're stressed & at most risk of checking yourself out.

[dalton99a]

8. The age distribution is similar in other countries

(WHO data, 2021)

[CrispyQ]

27. Interesting.

Maybe there's something about western culture. Capitalism? The quest for material things? Just seems sad.

[elocs]

29. Odd that the death by suicide rate is lower for 65-74 than decade before it and the one after it.

I wonder why that is because I am 71 so in that decade.

[LudwigPastorius]

10. A close friend was one of those 50,000 last year.

R.I.P. Pete

[yardwork]

16. I'm so sorry for your loss.

Suicides have multiple victims. I still mourn friends I lost decades ago. I still wonder if I could have done more.

[LudwigPastorius]

17. Yours as well.

Yes, I feel guilty that I could’ve done more, and he’d still be around.

[yardwork]

20. We are not at fault, but it's easy to feel that way.

[Irish_Dem]

26. Survivor guilt is common.

Not usually rational. Severely suicidal people need to be in treatment.
Even then, some are on a path that cannot be changed.

[republianmushroom]

28. Any statistics on palatial party affiliation ?

Just wondering.