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Suicide Rates Are Up 30 Percent Since 1999, CDC Says (nbcnews.com)
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."
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"
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.
As a former drug addict I can tell you from first hand experience many drug-heads are suicidal who are too timid to commit real suicide - so they choose the alternative --- drug themselves until they forget their pain
I guess a lot of alcoholics are in similar circumstance as well
Officially those who died of OD or those who drank themselves to death are not counted as suicide --- and they should be
And well below the peak 90 years ago.
Well below where it was 110 years ago, for that matter.
Note that the previous peak corresponded with the beginning of the Great Depression. Not really sure what was happening 110 or so years ago to cause a bounce in suicide rates - it overlapped with WW1, but got started well before then....
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
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?
The long-term suicide rate for the U.S. has fluctuated between about 10-14 per 100,000 over the last 40 years. 1999 was just the minimum, which the reporter cherry picked to try to turn this into a story. It's been higher in the past.
Also, suicide rates have been climbing up throughout the world, not just in the U.S. Curiously, homicide rates also stopped the long-term decline around 2010 and started creeping up again. So average global temperature may actually be linked (violence and higher temperatures have been correlated in the past). But nobody really knows for sure why, and anyone who claims they do is just trying to spin the story to fit their preconceptions.
As the CDC itself issued 'guidelines' to essentially force doctors to stop giving opioid drugs even to people with chronic pain illnesses and conditions, many of these people are giving up and killing themselves because of the pain.
This report isn't the CDC soberly discussing a disturbing trend. They're bragging at how effectively they themselves are helping cull people from the Social Security and disability payments lists, thus helping their government masters kick the can down the road a bit more.
When the CDC sticks to actual infectious disease, they're some of the best. Anything else, they're one of the evilest parts of the whole fucking federal government.
A quick check of older data shows that suicide rates, even though up 30% since the turn of the century, are about the same as a century ago.
And well below the peak 90 years ago.
So, it's regressing to the mean - big deal, right?
This isn't some natural phenomena that just happens. These are people making the choice to off themselves. The suicide rate should be going to zero.
And the fact that it's going back up is indicative of some underlying problem that shouldn't be ignored.
Sense and enthusiasm are essential for a happy life. In a world transitioning though cyberpunk into post-scarcity faster than any science fiction writer could've ever imagined, sense, meaning and enthusiasm are constantly upended and revised.
These are not easy times. I was suicidal for a bit 6 years back. Luckily I though about what that would do to my daughter and pulled myself out of my rut of over-emphasised self-importance that often is the cause of 1st world depression and went to work to be useful to my loved ones. I bounced back pretty quick and once again these days life is awesome again. Best sex ever, neat job, webdev in high demand and - most importantly - I'm more resilient and prepared for the next slump and emotional downer.
I recommend stoicism as a life philosophy. Get's you though tough times very neatly and helps you focus on the real things. No religion needed.
My 2 cents.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
... than in realtiy." - Seneca
"You can make yourself miserable or you can make yourself happy. The amount of effort is the same." - Carlos Castaneda
Stoicism. Beats religion and any other philosophy any time, hands down.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
Veterans are killing themselves in significant numbers.
Likely due to the persistent conflicts the US has participated in since Desert Storm kicked off in the 90's.
If we try really hard, I'm sure we can get that up to 100%!
#DeleteFacebook
From the results of your own link:
Analyses at the community level are significantly more likely to demonstrate lower rates of suicide among higher socio-economic areas than studies using larger areas of aggregation. Measures of area poverty and deprivation are most likely to be inversely associated with suicide rates and median income is least likely to be inversely associated with suicide rates. Analyses using measures of unemployment and education and occupation were equally likely to demonstrate inverse associations.
And the Conclusion:
Resources for suicide prevention should be targeted to high poverty/deprivation and high unemployment areas.
We've spent the last 50 years "deconstructing the pillars of society" that pretty much everyone adhered to up until then. As an engineer, I'm wondering if anyone ever checked to see what they were holding up.
This doesn't change the fact that clinical depression is the chief driver of suicide.
Most of us cling tenaciously to life, no matter how much things suck. We all have negative things happen to us; most of us do not react by taking to our beds or deciding that everything is hopeless. It's not the external event; it's the resilience against it. (A good popular work on this is Against Depression, by Peter Kramer.)
As others have pointed out, suicide rates were higher 90 years ago.
Stop trying to make everything about politics.
You should respect their wishes.
Another thought.. recent Slashdot article indicating there are more open jobs then people to fill them, yet many comments indicating that it is still a struggle out there. That's kind of a brain fuck in itself.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
Douglas Adams wrote for the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Radio Series (First) About this torture device called the Total Perspective Vortex. Which simply showed your place in the universe. Causing the victim to die a painful death, on realizing how insignificant they are in the perspective of the entire universe.
I expect a similar and much smaller scale effect is happening with access to the internet, and a flood of 24 hour news showing how tiny you are, and how little impact that you are doing to anything is depressing.
Back before all this or when it just started. You could be the big man in your town, the Sports Star, the business owner, the guy with a Masters or a Doctorate. Your society as relatively small, events outside you world were shown in small doses often censored to keep up with your sensibilities. Sure you may get called off to War, but you knew you part of the good guys. There are complex problems, we knew they were "Egg Heads" working on them and their solutions will fix things. But you knew your place in the world, chances are you are doing better then your parents, you have stuff that society says that you should have. You feel good about yourself.
Now being the local expert isn't a big deal, because anyone will google the answer, or watch the real pros play. Local news is mostly limited to the Weather and Traffic. All the problems of the world have half of the people blaming you/your ideals/your life style as the problem. The so called Experts show they don't have as a full grasp as you believed and can only do so much....
For me to find meaning in my life, I often need to cut myself off from the media. just because it is too much.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.