America, wake up to your suicide epidemic.

[elehhhhna]

Gay teens, bullied children, middle-class Boomers, ex and current Military...

Have I missed any other demographic clusters?

WTH is going on in this country

[pipoman]

1. Actually

I don't believe there is any "epidemic" at all. Numbers are static.

[Ruby the Liberal]

2. 9+ gay teens in the last month is 'static'?

[elehhhhna]

7. i'm sure it's waaay more than 9. think of the parents who cover up the cause.

9 is the tip of the 'berg.

[pipoman]

12. Further

I would bet that a large portion of the 14-16 suicides per 100k in the 10-24 year old demographic are gay teens.



http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/suicide/statistics/trends03.html

[pipoman]

10. I would argue, yes

gay teens are probably one of the highest risk groups, and always have been. I had a gay classmate commit suicide back in the 1970's. I would bet that gay teen suicides were actually higher 30 years ago than now...it is far more socially acceptable now than then.

[ananda]

3. It's a lean mean world.

And it's getting meaner every damm day. I hate reading the news,
but I always think it's good to be informed. Still.

[elehhhhna]

5. are not.

got links?

[pipoman]

9. Yep

as far as anyone has numbers.



http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/suicide/statistics/trends01.html



http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/suicide/statistics/trends02.html

[elehhhhna]

11. and since '06?

[pipoman]

13. Surely you aren't going to argue that

there has been some sort of spike after being shown a 15 year trend of static? Now I must ask, do you have a link?

[elehhhhna]

15. yep, here's one:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/10/04/baby.boomer.suicides/index.html?hpt=C2
I get your point, but you must have noticed that the status of the average american has changed rapidly over the last few years.

[pipoman]

16. I know that things haven't been peachy

but I really don't believe there is any kind of measurable statistical increases in suicide. In fact, did you look at the rates per 100k population on the side of the CNN text you linked to? According to those numbers, suicides have actually decreased.

I believe that people's perceptions are regularly impacted by reporting trends. A feeling of 'epidemic' sells news. The same way that the non-epidemic of the H1N1 sold news.

[elehhhhna]

17. perhaps it's that my company cleans up trauma

and that part of the biz is WAY up.

[elehhhhna]

18. and:

Military sees suicide trend grow worse
Statistics show 40% rise among Texans under 35 who have served

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7230100.html

[pipoman]

14. If my math is correct

the CDC reports suicide by males 10-24 (who I believe are the most likely to commit suicide because of their sexual orientation) are around 45,000 annually and have been for the 15 years of data shown. Of those 45k suicides (3,700 monthly), a great number have to be sexual orientation/bullying related, no?

[Coyote_Bandit]

28. Not sure where you are getting your numbers but

annual US suicides among all demographic groups number just under 35,000 each year. There are another 175,000 or so unsuccessful suicide attempts each year.

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/suicide-in-the-us-statistics-and-prevention/index.shtml

http://www.sprc.org/stateinformation/PDF/statedatasheets/sprc_national_data.pdf

[Cleita]

4. Or it's going to be ignored and start to look like

a normal trend in society like homelessness and nothing meaningful will be done about it. We, as a nation, should be outraged and in the streets over both of these social plagues, yet we weren't about institutionalized homelessness that started in Reagan's administration and I doubt if we will be about this new trend.

[elehhhhna]

6. prolifers are silent on this one. and did we mentiion murder/suicides?

business is booming in "trauma" cleanup.

[Tatiana]

8. Suicide happens when people lose all hope.

As a people and a nation, we have to figure out why the hell our citizens are choosing to take their oiwn lives, rather that tough it out until things get better.

Why is it that these people feel things won't get better? My grandmother (who was a young girl during the Great Depression) says that she sees some of the same attitudes now that she did back then, only people held out hope that Roosevelt's policies would turn things around.

I don't know what the problem is, but it is certainly a disturbing trend.

[Lost4words]

24. BECAUSE things are not getting better they are getting worse

and if our mixed race president does not feel a need for a jobs program along the lines of a WPA or a CCC what hope is there, none.

oh things may eventually get better but I doubt I will live to see it. I am glad you are doing so well you cannot understand what it takes to get to this point.

After 2 years of OBAMA we are still dieing out here.

[Tatiana]

26. I didn't mean to imply that I was doing "so well."

What does the President being "mixed race" have to do with anything?

My family and I are struggling. I have a baby on the way and I don't know how in the hell I'm going to afford child care. We don't qualify for any sort of assistance and are barely meeting living expenses (my husband was out of work for 8 months).

I'm just saying we need to take a closer look at helping each other survive these tough times, while holding our elected officials accountable. We don't have a lot, but we share what food and necessities we have with those in need. We need to be checking up on friends and co-workers who may be struggling. Sometimes it helps just to know there is someone out there who cares.

[bobbolink]

33. What do you mean by "checking up on"?

What is usually done and said is some version of "You're strong, you can handle it".

Which is the kind of dismissal that exacerbates hopelessness.

I have tried and tried to explain to people what is needed, but it never seems to matter.

[bobbolink]

32. I would gladly help to enlighten you about what the problem is.

As a matter of fact, I speak of it often, but it doesn't seem to register with most.

[Coyote_Bandit]

19. You've missed the demographics

having the highest rates of suicide. Native Americans, Alaska Natives, the elderly and non-Hispanic whites all have higher rates of suicide than children, adolescents and young adults in this country. The highest rate of suicide is among non-Hispanic white men age 85 or older. 47 suicide deaths per 100,000 compared to 12.7 suicides per 100,000 for young adults. That's a suicide rate that is nearly 400 percent higher than that of young adults.

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/suicide-in-the-us-statistics-and-prevention/index.shtml

I've posted here about the suicides I've known this year: an older couple in failing health who choose to die together in the hope that they would be together forever and a young father who was facing abandonment by an unfaithful wife and who was drunk, vengeful, impulsive and stupid - and had access to a gun. These deaths were not reported in the media as suicides. Even if they had been they would not have attracted the attention and sympathies that we reserve for gay teens, bullied children, and ex and current Military - those who are viewed by many as "different", innocent or our defenders. And those middle class Boomer suicides can be thought to represent the loss of a hope and a way of life in our nation.

Perhaps the real suicide epidemic here is our ignorance of who is most at risk and why - and our utter unwillingness to provide the necessary care to prevent those suicides. As a nation we lack the moral and financial commitment to do what is necessary. We presume that everyone is capable of looking out for themselves. Yet 1 in 6 are without menaingful access to care for their physical health needs. How many more lack meaningful access to care for their mental health needs? How many more who have access fail to utilize it because of the stigma and various disqualifications it carries?

[elehhhhna]

20. thak you for an excellent, insightful post.

[lumberjack_jeff]

21. Yes you have, actually.

The vulnerable members of those demographics to which you refer are men.

In fact, men, across *every* other demographic clusterization are more likely to kill themselves.

One who can't dispassionately see the problem, is unlikely to correctly craft a solution. I humbly suggest that this is required for waking up.

[Coyote_Bandit]

25. Males are far more successful in their suicide attempts

but females account for about 60% of all suicide attempts. The difference in "success" rates is attributed to the fact that men are far more likely to use firearms in their suicide attempts. I'm not sure that means that men are more vulnerable - it just means they are more likely to choose an effective and successful method.

http://www.sprc.org/stateinformation/PDF/statedatasheets/sprc_national_data.pdf

Depression, mental disorders and substance-abuse are implicated in about 90% of all suicides. The risk for suicide is associated with decreased levels of serotonin - something often found in people with depression, impulse control disorders, and a history of failed suicide attempts.

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/suicide-in-the-us-statistics-and-prevention/index.shtml

For a variety of reasons those who commit suicide are unlikely to "dispassionately" see the problem or to craft a solution.

[tridim]

22. Does anyone have a link to the year-to-year numbers?

Are we really at epidemic levels?

[whistler162]

27. WHAT.... You want facts NOT just headline grabbers!

How dare you!

[slackmaster]

29. Suicide rates have been flat for many years - Roll your own query at WISQARS

http://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/fatal.html

[bobbolink]

34. It depends on what you want to term "epidemic".

What some of you dimiss now as "the price of doing business", others of us consider completely unacceptable.

[Lost4words]

23. everybody is doing it because there is no hope of a future

face it, life sucks for all but the wealthy.

[slackmaster]

30. What you have missed is actual data

http://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/fatal.html

[bobbolink]

31. Just the ones usually missed... poor and homeless people.

Watch for after-the-fact news on the suicides of those now being cut from disability.

Not that it matters.