The Suicide Epidemic (The hardest and best read in a long time)

[morningfog]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2013/05/22/why-suicide-has-become-and-epidemic-and-what-we-can-do-to-help.html

The stats in this article are staggering. A must read for anyone who has lost someone to suicide.

[lumberjack_jeff]

1. Staggering indeed

This year, America is likely to reach a grim milestone: the 40,000th death by suicide, the highest annual total on record, and one reached years ahead of what would be expected by population growth alone. We blew past an even bigger milestone revealed in November, when a study lead by Ian Rockett, an epidemiologist at West Virginia University, showed that suicide had become the leading cause of “injury death” in America. As the CDC noted again this spring, suicide outpaces the rate of death on the road—and for that matter anywhere else people accidentally harm themselves. Somewhere Ralph Nader is smiling, but the takeaway is darkly profound: we’ve become our own greatest danger.

This development evades simple explanation. The shift in suicides began long before the recession, for example, and although the changes accelerated after 2007, when the unemployment rate began to rise, no more than a quarter of those new suicides have been tied to joblessness, according to researchers. Guns aren’t all to blame either, since the suicide rate has grown even as the portion of suicides by firearm has remained stable.

[hedda_foil]

2. Staggering and staggeringly important reading.

The mystery of suicide unlocked.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

3. But is it "staggering into traffic" staggering?

[gtar100]

4. Living in a cold, uncaring world is the catalyst.

Only we, each person individually, can make it different than that. No one person can carry the weight of the world but that shouldn't be an excuse to be callous.

[Hestia]

6. I think, too, it is our consumer driven society - we are what we buy

If you don't have the job to keep up with the latest toys, then you are out of the loop. It's the constant barrage of buy me buy me that really wears you down. It's everywhere you go! Sporting events, parks, etc. You can't go anywhere without seeing some ad/logo pressuring you.

So, after awhile, you think, is there all there is? Get up, go to work at some job you hate, come home, eat, watch an hour of tv or so, or go out and spending money for a couple of drinks, go to sleep; get up and do it all again. Now elder baby boomers don't even have retirement to look forward to - it really will be relentless grind for the rest of their life.

IMNSHO, it's amazing that more people are still around the next day, not succumbing, rather than the one's who do. One less consumer for the coffers.

As always, YMMV

[treestar]

5. One aspect not touched on

Comparison with other cultures. Would that shed some light on it? Like the Japanese, seems they would have a high rate or would have in the past. And even more relevant today, Muslim terrorists. Why do people give their lives for political reasons?

[OneGrassRoot]

7. I just came here to post it.

I agree. This is an EXCELLENT article.

K&R

[nightbloomer]

8. suicide epidemic

Well my STBX had plenty of money and 4 girlfriends. He had lost a long time job two years before and I left when I found out about the cheating but he was not destitute or lonely. He was also, up to that time anyway, not violent that I ever saw. He didn't even kill spiders and cried when a bird died near our house.

Not sure where the fearless part came in - he never really talked about death very much during our marriage and he was not spiritual at all. Maybe he just didn't care. He was also an untreated bipolar whose bipolar brother committed suicide 5 years before. They both hung themselves.

Interesting theory but it doesn't seem to fit my husband particularly. I think mental illness plays a part too.

[fizzgig]

9. replying to read later

[dreamnightwind]

10. Probably the best thing I've read on the subject

Considering how many people die this way, the article brings into focus how disproportionately ignored it is compared to other means of preventable death. Understandable, but unfortunate. It also does a great job of examining its root causes. K & R!