Reply #175: Bullying, unemployment, social conditioning, economic woes, etc, etc.....

[HysteryDiagnosis]

http://www.channel4.com/health/microsites/0-9/4health/stress/aas_suicide.html


The main reason cited is illhealth but the most shocking trend is the 12% rise in people who left a note saying they killed themselves for financial reasons. Some of these are Japan's new unemployed – finding themselves out of work after decades of full employment. Business failures are blamed for 1,026 deaths.

Most suicides – more than 70% – are by men and nearly half of them are in their 40s and 50s. Commentators believe that the cultural attitude towards suicide may play a part. Unlike most countries, Japan has no moral taboo against suicide and in some circumstances it is deemed an 'honourable' act.


http://www.lclark.edu/~krauss/advwrf99/causeeffect/akikocause.html

Bullying is a common problem in every generation and every country. In Japan, it is a fairly serious social phenomenon. Actually, the amount of ijime, which means bullying in Japanese, has been decreasing; however, the bullying is getting much more sinister than before. Five years ago, it was top news for the whole year after Kiyoteru Okochi, a 13-year-old junior high school student, committed suicide to escape from being bullied by his classmates. He left his note that proved and clarified the fact that he was suffering from cruel bullying. He was often forced to soak his face into a dirty river, his bicycle was broken repeatedly and his classmates even demanded that he bring money to them every day. The amount of money that he gave to the bullies reached about ten thousand dollars (Fredman, 1995). This was not the first time that students committed suicide because of bullying. But it was the first time that Japanese media gave a lot of coverage to the matter of ijime. After that, bullying became one of the most serious subjects in Japan. People wondered why his classmates had bullied him and why he was bullied. There are many possible answers, but none of the causes is simple.