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Suicide Rates Are Up 30 Percent Since 1999, CDC Says (nbcnews.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the upsetting-trends dept.

New submitter Austerity Empowers writes: Amidst all the name calling and straw man arguments about the overall health of America, sometimes it helps to look at data from people who sacrificed everything based on their perception of reality. Whatever politics you subscribe to, the feeling of hopelessness is evidently real, and frightening. NBC News: "Suicide rates are up by 30 percent across the nation since 1999, federal health officials reported Thursday. And only about half the people who died by suicide had a known mental health condition, even though depression had been thought to be the major cause of suicide, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. While many cases of mental illness may have been diagnosed, the CDC also noted that relationship stress, financial troubles and substance abuse were contributing to the trends."

7 of 478 comments (clear)

  1. How surprising,... by AbRASiON · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Really? Who could have guessed.

    The division between the rich and poor, is without a question, worse than it was in 1999.
    Hope is fading out for the middle and lower class. The middle class becomes smaller, soon to be just "the poors and the rich"

    On top of this, the world is straight the fuck up, dying. We're not working towards protecting it very well, we're not working towards replacing it (finding a new one elsewhere)

    Then we have the internet, it's giving the poor access to see what's going on in the world better, they can see just how rich the rich are becoming, they can see the death of the world better than ever before, they can communicate with each other (as I am right now) elaborating on why there's little hope.

    Co2 is up, heat is up, methane bubbles are going off in siberia, animals are dying out, bees are dying off, America is slowly crumbling into debt. (no, I'm not American)

    No fucking shit suicides are up 30%, I have to wonder what % of the suicide people are actually mentally broken or just strong enough to say "you know what, fuck all this"

    1. Re:How surprising,... by mentil · · Score: 3, Interesting

      So it's not how rich YOU are, it's how rich your NEIGHBORHOOD is?
      I think that's Exhibit A for why the 1% hoarding the world's wealth won't turn out well for anybody, even themselves. Sure they can lock themselves up in a gated community and try to surround themselves with other affluent people, but they'd have to pretty much avoid all contact with the outside world (TV, internet, newspapers, books, cinema, music, even video games.)

      There's a reason superhero movies are so popular right now, and it's not (just) because Marvel just now figured out how to get their shit together.

      --
      Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
    2. Re:How surprising,... by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Interesting

      People who are born into poverty are used to it and can see that other people somehow cope. When people have been comfortable for their whole lives and then a financial crash hits and end up with nothing, and don't have the mental tools to cope with that loss and uncertainty and angst and anger... That's what causes depression.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  2. And "diseases" of despair. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Alcoholism and other drug abuse. Numb out enough and the body gives out. There's a huge problem with that in areas of the country that have been in economic decline.

  3. Talk about male privilege by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    According to the CDC more than 3/4 of suicides are men, yet the article makes it all about women. Do you feel privileged yet?

  4. Re:Hmmm... by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The financial crisis is really taking a toll on people. It's not wonder they are turning to populists and anyone who promises to fix things.

    What's interesting is that relatively speaking the US came out of the crash fairly quickly. Countries like the UK that went the austerity route are still well below 2008 levels for things like wages and quality of life. Where the US differs is that there are fewer safety nets. If you lose you lose big time and can very quickly end up with nothing and little hope of recovery.

    Also, people in the US have access to guns and less emergency mental healthcare, so suicide attempts are more likely to succeed.

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  5. Re:Hmmm... by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Let me have a stab at it.

    Life was shit, social mobility was practically non-existent, the poor had to work insanely hard and had no rights while rich people had all the rights and only got richer, and there was basically no social security at all beyond what you and your family could provide. You know, the kind of dystopia we seem to be headed for with the speed of light today? The dream age of every libertard out there.

    And yet, before that peak 110-odd years back, suicide rate was lower than now (roughly comparable to 1999 levels). And afterwards, likewise.

    What changed to cause that peak? What changed to cause that peak to go away?

    --

    "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"