U.S. Suicide Rate Surges to a 30-Year High

[JustOneWay]

Please never assume that because I disagree with you that I agree with Preacher's wife.
Simply put, I believe that the trauma that soldiers ensure is not something civilians, as a general rule, have been exposed to. Given that, making a straight across comparison and equating the same cause to two groups that have very different experiences that could be informing the option of suicide, doesn't seem consistent to me.

My point from the beginning is that military deaths are a part of the American suicide rate posted in the OP.

 

[JustOneWay]

Military suicide in a time of war shouldn't be equated with civilian suicide, though military current and ex can experience the same pressures as civilians, though the reverse isn't nearly as likely. The article presented didn't mention military suicide with its unique factors so it is really not good to conflate. And its unfair to military personnel.

As I already stated, suicides by soldiers at home are part of the overall suicide rate.

You just do not seem to get that point.

It is unfair to military personnel to discuss their suicide rate? That is a strange thing to say, and it makes no sense.

you defend soldiers suicide but don't seem to care about civilian. That is terrible.

Tribal identity....as you put it. shameful.

 

[rambot]

My point from the beginning is that military deaths are a part of the American suicide rate posted in the OP.

Oh. Apologies. I didn't really get that.
That got me to reading.
This study seems... well, it CERTAINLY runs against the grain of what makes 100% sense to me:
http://www.stripes.com/news/us/stud...on-for-increase-in-military-suicides-1.234127
Huh...but yeah. All other reading I've done supports that. In fact, I guess 52% of suicides had not even been deployed.

It runs counter to the Canadian study:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/military-suicide-afghanistan-mental-1.3312860
And (I think) another:
http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/ground...sk-factors-in-canadian-armed-forces-1.2651773

I was trying to find Canadian suicide rates. I am almost positive it is not increasing across the whole country but I'll try to find a graph here...now I'm curious.

Suicide Fun fact! The reason why men are more prone to commit suicide is NOT due to a mental facility but more the method of death that they choose. Men usually choose powerful and violent methods that are less likely to survive from compared to women. I wonder if they include attempts... cause that would shed even more interesting light.

 

[SummerMadness]

So, since y'all are so brilliant, why don't YOU tell us why the suicide rate suddenly jumped?

Ejucate us stoopid intellectually dishonest people.

So I ask again. What data are the dead people giving for killing themselves again?

If I said I do not know why the suicide rate is jumping, would that be acceptable? Sometimes you do not have enough information to make that judgment, but that's how statistics works. If you're going to make a claim as to why something occurs, you need data to support and demonstrate that idea, the point is you're rejecting the null hypothesis.

What is the null hypothesis? The null hypothesis is the default idea. The default idea is that nothing is related to anything else. Your height and weight are unrelated, your scholastic aptitude and grade level are not related, your physical strength and ability in sports are unrelated. Now, of course, I've named things that people know to be related, but they're known to be related because someone demonstrated they were related, thus they showed the default idea was wrong. The point is you need to show the default idea is wrong in order to prove your point that abortion and suicide are factors. If this concept doesn't make sense, it's the same concept as innocent until proven guilty. There is no relationship between two factors until you prove there is a relationship; it's not the other way around, where you need to prove why there is no relationship, all that matters is that we correctly reject a relationship that does not exist.

You're asking us to provide a reason why the suicide rate has increased, but why? Not knowing is valid. However, ascribing the suicide rate to something when it is clearly not related is not an intelligent or acceptable approach.

 

[grandvizier1006]

I think I can agree with Rambot's premise. But what about depression and suicidal thoughts? that's not just an American thing. It's very common and people do nothing about it except take some pills.

 

[SummerMadness]

Suicide Fun fact! The reason why men are more prone to commit suicide is NOT due to a mental facility but more the method of death that they choose. Men usually choose powerful and violent methods that are less likely to survive from compared to women. I wonder if they include attempts... cause that would shed even more interesting light.

I remember reading this, they also showed that gun laws affect suicide rate partly because guns do such a good job at ending life. Pills, sharp objects, hanging, etc. are far less successful because there are more moving part or more effort is required.

 

[rambot]

Not sure what to tell you.. try googling.. very common phrases..

Common phrases in movies though?

That's not what I said.

can you clarify what you meant then because that is how I understood you.

Strangely enough, I would tend to agree with your statement here. I do believe that people with religious beliefs (specifically Christian for this conversation), may (probably?) have lower suicide rates than atheists

. What feels strangest of all is that it runs counter to your initial claim that religious folks are frequently feeling betrayal which would bring about feelings of despair.
It seems these are kinda clumsy attempts to throw some random arguments about why having faith in something is bad based on what you think about religion instead of facts and "logical conclusions"

It's a clear demonstration of the power indoctrination has over a young human mind.. If Christian doctrine declared sugar as an evil substance for which a sinner would burn in the lake of fire, there would be a lot fewer fat people in church due to the lack of sugar intake in their diets.

where to start with this. When you say indoctrination, what do you mean? Because I also indoctrinate my children to limit their candies, look both ways before crossing the street and wearing their seatbelt. Why is providing your child with a value system (or belief system) so gauche these days?
Also, God does call on Christians to treat their body well cause it s a gift from God (said much more beautifully of course). It's a matter of stewardship.

As I said above, I think the religious doctrine may reduce the suicide rate due to the power of manipulating a young mind. There are few things I find good about religion, but I guess that would be one of them... And by the way, I didn't believe you when you said that.. I had to google it to see for myself.. Nice one!

You make churches sound nefarious and predatory; and you keep referring to the "young mind". I don't believe it to be any more predatory than your position.

And as I alluded to, I don't necessarily think that religious doctrine would reduce the suicide rate. As I said, being part of a caring community would have a more profound affect IMHO. Not only that but for me, it is simply another weird way that God instructed healthy and happy living, loving and caring strategies; like, the kind of stuff that has only even researched and brought to light in the laSt few decades.

For the record though, I was unsure. Glad I google it before I used it as a rather important part of my argument..that could a backfired.

 

[rambot]

I think I can agree with Rambot's premise. But what about depression and suicidal thoughts? that's not just an American thing. It's very common and people do nothing about it except take some pills.

In a caring community, individuals with these problems are able to reach out and connect to those around them, to get support (whatever that looks like... but yes, sometimes,pills). People who are (or who feel) all alone, have to deal with that by themselves....and that frequently doesn't end with success. Understand that what appears to be nothing is in fact numerous days with lack of sleep, constant repression of negative talk and self doubt, more tears and anger than you can imagine and a senseless of hopelessness and helplessness that nonsuicidal people REALLY can't comperhend.

if I can take a second to recommend to everyone to take a course like ASSIST that will teach you how to speak to someone who is actively suicidal. It's not that hard and, once you understand the mindset better and have the knowledge, the conversations you have CAN save a life (has done so at my job, several times), and are more profound than you thought possible. It's really not as scarey as you think.

 

[rambot]

I got another stab in the dark for a cause. I th8nk its a good one.

Post 9/11 has been, commonly accepted to be a time when media and politicians have increased the fear and played on it. What if that fear, has seeped so deeply into the lives that it has compromised some people's capacity to differentiate between important, actually relevant fears (say, like loosing a job), and far less likely, essentially pointless fears (like being involved in a terrorist attack)? In individuals where their relevant fears are many, they could get winD up being overwhelmed and unable to deal with all their fears (though, to be honest, it isn't usually fear but overwhelming pain and sorrow that winds up putting people, in suicidal situations.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

and why wouldn't it? This is a culture that celebrates death via abortion and euthanasia.

And war and capital punishment and embraces the absolute right to walk around with weapons at all time.

Wow...it didn't take long for that to get politically polarized now did it...

One post in and a person from both sides jumped into blame the suicide rate on policies from the opposing political parties.

Before I actually post on the subject at hand, we'll clear a few things up.
(for the record, I don't think anyone is 'celebrating abortion', I think everyone, even the people getting them, view it as a non-positive experience). There are other nations who embrace a pro-choice model that don't have issues with suicide rates. There are those who view is as utter murder and completely unacceptable, and then there are those who view is as the lesser of two evils in an unfortunate situation...there's nobody saying "Hooray!...I get have an abortion, I'm soooo excited!"

As for the other side, there are nations that have stricter punishments from the government (including the death penalty) that don't have suicide rate issues. There is also no evidence to suggest that suicide rates will go down with the removal of guns or the tightening of gun laws...the only thing that goes down is "suicide by gun", another method simply steps up and takes the top spot but the overall rate remains the same. Take a look at the UK's historical suicide rate and you'll see that to be the case.


There are two underlying causes (individually, or combined) that can/will contribute to suicide. Living in hard times (financially, societal factors), mental instability (depression, personality disorders, etc...).

Involuntary suicides via drug use is also a factor (IE: accidental overdose), but it's probably not kind the article is referring to I would guess.

 

[aieyiamfu]

You believe the suicide rate is increasing because of people celebrate abortion and euthanasia?

Any proof?

Seems more logical to believe times are tough and people falling on hard times have no hope and desire to live.

It would seem increasing abortion rates would correlate with a lowering suicide rate. I am not a fan of abortion but it would appear that unwanted children many of whom will be scorned by many in society for being poor or neglected would be more prone to suicide.

 

[bhsmte]

Suicide typically comes from mental illness and or people who are in desperate situations. Considering, the middle class has been shrinking in the US, with the bulk of new wealth going to the top 1%, it makes sense that more people are in desperate situations.

 

[GraceDriven]

Suicide typically comes from mental illness and or people who are in desperate situations. Considering, the middle class has been shrinking in the US, with the bulk of new wealth going to the top 1%, it makes sense that more people are in desperate situations.

I wonder what the statistics were in the late 1920s to the 1930s.

 

[bhsmte]

I wonder what the statistics were in the late 1920s to the 1930s.

This source states suicide rates increased from 14 in 100,000, to 17 per 100,000, during the great depression.

A tad over a 20% increase, is pretty substantial.

https://www.gwu.edu/~erpapers/teachinger/glossary/great-depression.cfm

 

[GoldenBoy89]

To those who think guns are the problem here, I turn your attention to Japan which has a much higher suicide rate than the US despite having much more restrictive gun laws and no comparable gun worshiping culture like we have here. Japan comes in at 17th place with a rate of 18.5 per 100,000 and the US at 50th with a rate of 12.1 per 100,000.

The problem, again... is cultural attitudes that don't value life or place things above the value of life. In the case of Japan, defending honor for the family name can very often be much more important than an individual's life.

What are we placing above human life in the US?

 

[GoldenBoy89]

Suicide typically comes from mental illness and or people who are in desperate situations. Considering, the middle class has been shrinking in the US, with the bulk of new wealth going to the top 1%, it makes sense that more people are in desperate situations.

Our unwillingness to address mental health as a national crisis due to the stigma attached to it isn't helping either. Inadequate access to healthcare is also a factor.

 

[JustOneWay]

This source states suicide rates increased from 14 in 100,000, to 17 per 100,000, during the great depression.

A tad over a 20% increase, is pretty substantial.

https://www.gwu.edu/~erpapers/teachinger/glossary/great-depression.cfm

Obviously, there was a moral decline taking place during the great depression.

 

[smaneck]

You believe the suicide rate is increasing because of people celebrate abortion and euthanasia?

Any proof?

Seems more logical to believe times are tough and people falling on hard times have no hope and desire to live.

Yeah, it appears that those closest to retirement are the most likely to commit suicide. This would be the baby boomers who lost their wealth to recession and now have nothing left to fall back on.

 

[JustOneWay]

Yeah, it appears that those closest to retirement are the most likely to commit suicide. This would be the baby boomers who lost their wealth to recession and now have nothing left to fall back on.

Yes, and their middle class jobs taken and replaced with minimum wage jobs. I cannot get over the talk that this has been attributed to abortion instead of the obvious reasons...

 

[rambot]

Our unwillingness to address mental health as a national crisis due to the stigma attached to it isn't helping either. Inadequate access to healthcare is also a factor.

Addressing mental health now is a bandaid. FAct is that our culture has stopped valuing things that helped maintain mental health. Things that seem antiquated and are derided as silly, old fashioned, not modern; these things serve a purpose that is deeper than some people realize I think.

EDIT: Oh yes! And practicing self control and moderation. That's a BIG one too.