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

[Purveyor]

Source: New York Times

By SABRINA TAVERNISEAPRIL 22, 2016

WASHINGTON — Suicide in the United States has surged to the highest levels in nearly 30 years, a federal data analysis has found, with increases in every age group except older adults. The rise was particularly steep for women. It was also substantial among middle-aged Americans, sending a signal of deep anguish from a group whose suicide rates had been stable or falling since the 1950s.

The suicide rate for middle-aged women, ages 45 to 64, jumped by 63 percent over the period of the study, while it rose by 43 percent for men in that age range, the sharpest increase for males of any age. The overall suicide rate rose by 24 percent from 1999 to 2014, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, which released the study on Friday.

The increases were so widespread that they lifted the nation’s suicide rate to 13 per 100,000 people, the highest since 1986. The rate rose by 2 percent a year starting in 2006, double the annual rise in the earlier period of the study. In all, 42,773 people died from suicide in 2014, compared with 29,199 in 1999.

“It’s really stunning to see such a large increase in suicide rates affecting virtually every age group,” said Katherine Hempstead, senior adviser for health care at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, who has identified a link between suicides in middle age and rising rates of distress about jobs and personal finances.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/22/health/us-suicide-rate-surges-to-a-30-year-high.html?_r=0

[byronius]

1. Thanks, GOP.

[2pooped2pop]

4. and Hillary supporters too.

It sure as fuck won't get any better with her.

[byronius]

7. Yeah, I soooo way disagree with that statement.

I call bullshit.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

12. You might want to wait before you decide.

Do you really think the suicide rate will start going down once she is coronated?

It's going to get MUCH WORSE before it get's better, that I can tell you.

[byronius]

14. Oy.

Y'know, injecting Hillary-hatred into every fucking little thing really sucks.

It's not just intellectually disingenuous; it's bad for progressives and the progressive cause.

But by all means, vent away. Find a kitten video on youtube and suggest that Hillary's definitely going to kill that cat.

Because that's what's going to put Bernie over the top. Yeah, that's the smart ticket.

I'm a Bernie supporter who FUCKING HATES HILLARY-HATING BERNIE SUPPORTERS, because they damage Bernie's cause, and that is all they do. You're not swaying any opinions, man. Just wreaking havoc in the body politic based on some personal demons.

[Tempest]

18. +1

I have nothing against Sanders, but I won't support him because of his supporters like Elmer Fudd.

[Actor]

26. Has to be an agenda behind the incessant, non stop Hillary hate. Maybe to prevent her

from getting to the White House in favor of a republican, something like that I bet.

[byronius]

29. +1

Plenty of trolls mixed in with the genuinely idiotic misogynists.

[jomin41]

39. Correctamundo, Byronius

I'm really sick of it. I am a strong Bernie supporter this crap doesn't shake my faith, but it does make me wince, sometimes. And I absolutely hate to be put in the position of defending HRC, so chill, people.

[Skittles]

46. the hysteria is indeed over-the-top sickening

they're making fools of themselves and DU

[2pooped2pop]

20. you think she is gonna help those who are growing fed up

And desperate enough to just call it quits? People can no longer survive out here. The rich have taken everything snd the two tiered legal system has a cell waiting for them.
You think Hillary and her more of the same bullshit is gonna change this? Only gonna pile on more.

[Odin2005]

60. Hillary supports Corporate Globalism.

And Corporate Globalism is destroying it's victim' lives and will to live.

[Tempest]

17. Yeah, like it didn't under her husband

Oh, wait...

Sanders' supporters like you are the reason I won't support him.

[2pooped2pop]

21. yeah right.

That's the reason. Its all because Sanders supporters call her out for whst she is, that u support her.
Yeah, right.

[840high]

36. It will get worse.

[TreasonousBastard]

2. Completely understandable, to me anyway...

As far back as the Greeks, suicide was seen as an acceptable end to life. There comes a point when your expectations in life have been met, or you realize there is no possibility of them being met. Your life is no longer productive or promising, but a burden on both yourself and society.

Suicide, in such a case, is perfectly reasonable.

Now, should you be in such a situation, are there perhaps better solutions? Of course there are, but nobody seems interested in trying them. Either suffer through the rest of your life, or have us whine about your cutting it short.

[New Orleans Strong]

5. Suicide doesn't stop the pain.

It gives it to someone else.

[TreasonousBastard]

8. That's true, but why does it have to be that way? Why...

must we hold on so tightly to the life of another? Especially when it is at the expense of another...

I don't claim the decision to be easy, but it has become more complex than it should be.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

13. No way - it stops the pain for the person that commited suicide.

When you are dead, you don't feel pain. Do you agree?

[New Orleans Strong]

44. Should have written End the pain.

The pain never ends. My younger brother hanged himself not quite 3 years ago. I'm glad he ended his pain. For someone who had so many pills, I wish and would understand an overdose. I would watch - in my mind - him hanging from a pipe with a sheet around his neck. Every morning for six months. Every fucking morning. Before I opened my eyes I would see it in my mind.
After the botched execution in Oklahoma, one intrepid jou rnalist actually committed journalism. Examined how long different methods of execution take. Hanging was 11 -14 minutes. Shut up. The pain does not end. Seems it will n ever end. So shut up.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

45. I'm sorry for your loss and pain. Now I'll shut up.

[New Orleans Strong]

47. I just hate this.

I hate that this happened. I hate that my brother hanged himself. I love your reply. Thank you... Thank you -

[New Orleans Strong]

48. I just hate this.

I hate that this happened. I hate that my brother hanged himself. I love your reply. Thank you... Thank you -

[LeftyMom]

49. Sometimes it does.

My stepfather was a miserable asshole. He made those he loved miserable, especially my mother. He hit her for years and sometimes she defended herself and sometimes she covered for him but mostly she walked on eggshells and tried not to trigger his erratic behavior, which was honestly impossible because he was fucking crazy. She left him when he started hitting my sister. He killed himself. Probably saved my mother's life, because she would have gone back to him again, and been stuck in the downward spiral of addiction and untreated mental illness and his violence.

Best thing he ever did. He should have done it before he ever hit a woman or a child, but better late than never.

[mpcamb]

40. So the year they compare is 1986. AIDS. Chernobyl. Walls Street. Corazon Aquino.

[Turbineguy]

3. For those looking to make a career choice

The funeral services industry will be a growth industry and your job cannot be exported.

Just one of those side effects of living in a republican paradise.

[Unicorn]

10. Just make sure everyone demands at least $15 per hour.

By the way, I don't know anyone who can support their home on $15 per hour.

[YOHABLO]

38. Who can afford a funeral? Something else to get depressed about.

[Person 2713]

63. I was thinking the same thing !

The average cost of a traditional funeral, including embalming and a metal casket, is almost $6,600, according to the most recent data from the National Funeral Directors Association

[closeupready]

6. Like I said last week, if I had to start over, I would be looking abroad.

Americans who've run out of options and have 30 or 40 years of life expectancy left may be checking out early entirely, having lost hope. K&R

[Unicorn]

9. It's most likely financial. I bet it breaks down to higher for minorities.

[callous taoboy]

11. I knew a funeral director in Austin

and he said the majority of suicides were either 20 somethings or murder suicide vicitims in their golden years. Lots of suicide in Austin.

[LannyDeVaney]

15. Wow, really simple minded argument that the suicide rate is the fault of politics ...

must suck to have a tunnel-vision of blame.

There are many complex reasons. Mental illness is not a joke, depression is not a joke, and NEITHER have anything to do with whatever politician is in office.

Jesus, is there no end to the hatred?

[2pooped2pop]

22. fucking get out here and see the

Hopelessness and depression, the total lack of joy in life that a huge amount of people ate dealing with and maybe you'll have a little more clarity as to how those making laws are causing this shit

Thanks for being so closed minded as to vote to keep it up.

[PasadenaTrudy]

33. +1 n/t

[bvar22]

16. Is it all connected?

Retirement: A third have less than $1,000 put away
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2014/03/18/retirement-confidence-survey-savings/6432241/

65 percent of working families are living from paycheck to paycheck.
http://billmoyers.com/2014/01/10/why-conservatives-old-divide-and-conquer-strategy-%E2%80%94-setting-working-class-against-the-poor-%E2%80%94-is-backfiring/

"Obama Admin’s TPP Trade Officials Received Hefty Bonuses From Big Banks"
http://billmoyers.com/2014/02/20/obama-admin%E2%80%99s-tpp-trade-officials-received-hefty-bonuses-from-big-banks/

95 percent of the economy’s gains have gone to the top 1 percent
http://billmoyers.com/2014/01/10/why-conservatives-old-divide-and-conquer-strategy-%E2%80%94-setting-working-class-against-the-poor-%E2%80%94-is-backfiring/

The future looks pretty dark for those people that have to Work for a Living,
especially those cleaned out in the Banking Crash, and then abandoned by those they believed would help them.
When "hope" turns into "nope", people despair.

[TryLogic]

19. I wonder if the big money conservatives give a damn

[2pooped2pop]

23. they do not

And looking at the remarks on this thread, I would say neither do Hillary supporters.

[RKP5637]

28. They don't give a sh** about anyone unless it affects their wallet and/or their hateful agendas. n/t

[Major Hogwash]

58. Exactly.

Constantly cutting social services on the federal level, the state level, the county level, and even on the city level.

They never cared.
They never will care.

[WhoWoodaKnew]

24. Medicines?

[underpants]

25. I was thinking that that has to be a factor

The economy has fully rebounded (yes I know it's not perfect), crime is at a 30 year low, alcohol consumption is actually down as well. I would think that these factors tend to follow one another so why the suicides? Financial (debt) yes that would be a big factor but we are so over prescribed drugs to simply feel better (not mental illness) that that could very well be playing a large part.

[Purveyor]

30. One only has to watch some of these drug commercials and the

'side effects' disclaimers they run through at the ending of the spot.

How many times do we hear "increased chance of suicide"...

[underpants]

34. My daughter and I crack up at those

She will say "Dad! The disclaimer!"

Yes some of them have horrendous possible side effects.

[TexasBushwhacker]

53. People who lost their homes didn't get them back n/t

[PasadenaTrudy]

31. More like inequality...

If it were due to medications, there'd be a hell of a lot more suicides.

[WhoWoodaKnew]

42. Why?

[RKP5637]

27. I'm not the least bit surprised, living in the new US. n/t

[PasadenaTrudy]

32. Me neither n/t

[RKP5637]

35. It's a county of desperation for millions and millions. n/t

[840high]

37. .that^

[Turbineguy]

41. Interestingly enough....

walking back to my car at the grocery store there was a car with a Ben Carson sticker on it. As I was doing my best Ace Ventura imitation of "Loo-hoo-zzz-her" I noticed the car parked next to it with a "Ronald Reagan A True American Hero" on it.

30 years eh? Ronnie's chickens coming home to roost.

[tclambert]

43. Just wait 'til the Republican convention.

[roamer65]

50. The result of Social Darwinism. N/t

[SheilaT]

54. Ohhh, and to think

that I still cannot get my story about legalized suicide published! Damn.

[Alkene]

55. It's complicated.

Last edited Sat Apr 23, 2016, 08:32 AM - Edit history (1)

Life is hard.

All the more so when operating with a brain chemistry that both induces hopelessness and seems to feed off it.
The symptoms seem almost designed to damage social support, increase isolation and exacerbate life dissatisfaction: irritability and anger, pessimism, feelings of worthlessness, loss of interest in pleasurable activities, etc.
It's no fun spending time with a "downer" who doesn't have the energy to do anything anyway.

Triggers for anguish abound, can sometimes seem to come out of nowhere, but are all too often familiar companions when dealing with major depression.
Many of us spend more of our waking life in the workplace than in our real lives, and a daily grind of demeaning duties, low to absent respect and prestige with an overwhelming workload, all for compensation that doesn't allow for anything approaching a quality of life worth enduring indefinitely can lead to self-defeating behaviors - as in the run up (or down) to suicide as well as the act itself.

Although awareness of depression is increasing, significant challenges remain including the very real stigma for a condition that is difficult to understand by those not afflicted, and the less than complete and universal efficacy of standard treatment options.

[whereisjustice]

56. Fuck you third way... holding down wages, increasing costs, off shoring jobs ... hiding

behind a few social issues to shove your neo-con, right wing anti-democratic agenda down our throats.

Democrats are in denial about their own party being a happy partner in the decimation of the middle class. Hand in hand with Republicans.

When you destroy opportunity and justice for 100 million people, what the fuck do you expect to happen?

And Hillary just brings more of the same shit... off shoring, tax breaks for Wall Street, war, higher costs, lowre wages.

How could anyone support this?

[sofa king]

57. Maybe it's not suicide.

Maybe it is an epidemic of opiate addiction resulting in a rash of overdose deaths which are being interpreted as suicides, partly in order to protect the medical, pharmaceutical, and insurance industries.

[Odin2005]

59. Corporate Globalism kills.

The "new globalized economy" which our leaders, including President Obama, defend as "progress" destroys lives and people's will to live. It is anti-life and anti-humanity.

[raven mad]

61. Don't you love the "resurgent economy"?

I haven't been able to find one; I'm computer literate, a terrific secretary, and old.............

[pfitz59]

62. No surprise here

The new indentured servants (slavery). Easy credit, impossible bankruptcy laws (student loans, IRS debt). Billionaires by the dozen raping the economy and throwing away people like garbage.... Suicide is the easy way out...

[Doctor_J]

64. Thirty years of rule by the Bush family (including their adopted Clinton members)

Neocon and neo-liberal carnage has destroyed the country