Johnny, Nigel, your thoughts on this?

[The Good Reverend Roger]

http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/02/18020758-suicide-rates-go-up-for-middle-aged-cdc-finds?lite

They show a 28 percent rise in suicide rates for people aged 35 to 64 between 1999 and 2010.  Rates for children and younger adults, and people over 65, didn't change much over the same time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.

"Most suicide research and prevention efforts have focused historically on youth and the elderly. This report's findings suggest that efforts should also address the needs of middle-aged persons," CDC researchers wrote in the agency's weekly report in death and disease.

The CDC didn't look at why suicides might be up. Other reports have shown a link between bad economic times and suicides, although the American Association for Suicidology denies this. The National Bureau of Economic Research says the U.S. experienced a recession from 2007 to 2009.

But the association says unemployment and home foreclosures -- both of which soared during this time and both of which remain high -- do lead to more suicides.

"The findings in this report suggest it is important for suicide prevention strategies to address the types of stressors that middle-aged Americans might be facing and that can contribute to suicide risk," said Linda Degutis, director of CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.

The CDC had already noted a worrying trend for suicides. "Suicide deaths have surpassed deaths from motor vehicle crashes in recent years in the United States. In 2010 there were 33,687 deaths from motor vehicle crashes and 38,364 suicides," the CDC's Nimesh Patel and Scott Kegler wrote in their report.

They teased out the data by age and sex and found a clear trend for people who usually are at the height of career and family responsibilities -- those aged 35 to 64. "Annual suicide rates for this age group increased 28 percent over this period (from 13.7 suicides per 100,000 people in 1999 to 17.6 per 100,000 in 2010), with particularly high increases among non-Hispanic whites and American Indians and /Alaska Natives," they wrote.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

My guess is economic stress.

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

The race demographics make me wonder if this is related to the guns-suicide problem.

[Cardinal Pizza Deliverance.]

This is what happens when you reach a certain age and realize this really is as good as it gets.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

There's always a spike in suicides when there's a recession, and it predominantly affects people whose self-image is of being providers.

[Cardinal Pizza Deliverance.]

There's always a spike in suicides when there's a recession, and it predominantly affects people whose self-image is of being providers.

Providers or people who think they're too big to fail or have mastered the game somehow.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

It happens a lot when people get to the point of thinking that they have let everyone down, and there's no reason for them to live.

[Banned User 1]

The race demographics make me wonder if this is related to the guns-suicide problem.

The Japanese people would like to have a word with you concerning firearms and suicide...

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

The race demographics make me wonder if this is related to the guns-suicide problem.

The Japanese people would like to have a word with you concerning firearms and suicide...

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/means-matter/means-matter/risk/
http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2013/01/20/the-gun-toll-ignoring-suicide/xeWBHDHEvvagfkRlU3CfZJ/story.html
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp0805923
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rogerkay/2013/01/22/who-knew-the-leading-cause-of-gun-death-is-suicide/

This is a thing. If you don't have time to read all the material there it boils down to: most suicides are impulsive acts, having easy access to a highly lethal suicide method increases the risk that the individual will succumb to impulse. Knowing if gun ownership was on the rise in the affected demographics would help determine if that may have been a contributing factor. I agree with Nigel, however, that the economic downturn is most likely the major cause, it would just be interesting to know if this is another part of it.

[Banned User 1]

The race demographics make me wonder if this is related to the guns-suicide problem.

The Japanese people would like to have a word with you concerning firearms and suicide...

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/means-matter/means-matter/risk/
http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2013/01/20/the-gun-toll-ignoring-suicide/xeWBHDHEvvagfkRlU3CfZJ/story.html
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp0805923
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rogerkay/2013/01/22/who-knew-the-leading-cause-of-gun-death-is-suicide/

This is a thing. If you don't have time to read all the material there it boils down to: most suicides are impulsive acts, having easy access to a highly lethal suicide method increases the risk that the individual will succumb to impulse. Knowing if gun ownership was on the rise in the affected demographics would help determine if that may have been a contributing factor. I agree with Nigel, however, that the economic downturn is most likely the major cause, it would just be interesting to know if this is another part of it.

In attempting to find citations for a counter-argument, I actually ended up agreeing with you somewhat.


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2597102/

http://www.jad-journal.com/article/S0165-0327(07)00294-7/abstract

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15549343

http://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2009/06/sci-brief.aspx

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3130348/

http://www.psychotherapybrownbag.com/psychotherapy_brown_bag_a/2010/01/suicidal-behavior-is-not-a-spur-of-the-moment-action.html

These seem to dispel the impulsivity factor, but over all boil suicide down to: FEELS USELESS - HAS MEANS. Naturally, "feels useless" (i.e. the economic downturn) precedes the "has means" in terms of importance, but I can now safely agree with you to an extent.

Sorry, I chimp out whenever anyone makes implications against firearms -- normally when I see such things it turns into a "hey guys, all aboard the let's ban guns wagon" and it just makes me rage a bit. Guess I'm apologising for jumping to conclusions...

[The Johnny]

My initial concerns were regarding the methodology for registering the suicide itself, because i think there's countries and/or localities where deaths aren't throughly investigated and the reason of death is simply marked as "unknown" or chalk it up to "natural causes".

But since there are statistical precedents, such as the big depression and such that show similar results, then there might be a correlation. I mean, in such a grand scale with such an important factor taking place, then one can overcome the usual constraint of "suicide is multi-causal and one cannot easily infer the reasons".

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

The race demographics make me wonder if this is related to the guns-suicide problem.

The Japanese people would like to have a word with you concerning firearms and suicide...

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/means-matter/means-matter/risk/
http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2013/01/20/the-gun-toll-ignoring-suicide/xeWBHDHEvvagfkRlU3CfZJ/story.html
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp0805923
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rogerkay/2013/01/22/who-knew-the-leading-cause-of-gun-death-is-suicide/

This is a thing. If you don't have time to read all the material there it boils down to: most suicides are impulsive acts, having easy access to a highly lethal suicide method increases the risk that the individual will succumb to impulse. Knowing if gun ownership was on the rise in the affected demographics would help determine if that may have been a contributing factor. I agree with Nigel, however, that the economic downturn is most likely the major cause, it would just be interesting to know if this is another part of it.

In attempting to find citations for a counter-argument, I actually ended up agreeing with you somewhat.


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2597102/

http://www.jad-journal.com/article/S0165-0327(07)00294-7/abstract

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15549343

http://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2009/06/sci-brief.aspx

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3130348/

http://www.psychotherapybrownbag.com/psychotherapy_brown_bag_a/2010/01/suicidal-behavior-is-not-a-spur-of-the-moment-action.html

These seem to dispel the impulsivity factor, but over all boil suicide down to: FEELS USELESS - HAS MEANS. Naturally, "feels useless" (i.e. the economic downturn) precedes the "has means" in terms of importance, but I can now safely agree with you to an extent.

Sorry, I chimp out whenever anyone makes implications against firearms -- normally when I see such things it turns into a "hey guys, all aboard the let's ban guns wagon" and it just makes me rage a bit. Guess I'm apologising for jumping to conclusions...

No worries, we all kneejerk from time to time. Thanks for taking the time to look into it.

[AFK]

Suicides amongst veterans undoubtedly is a big contributor.   

[The Johnny]

Now, the populations affected are Non-Hispanic, American-Indian and Alaskan which puts in question other factors:

*Non-white Non-hispanic white: having certain privileges and losing them.

*American-Indian: i've heard this population has a tendency towards depression and alcoholism due to the historical traumas they have gone thru, so add another negative factor and they might not be as resilient as other populations.

*Alaskan: im sure the cold icy wasteland with moose doesnt help with the mood overall; it would also be of interest to see how socially isolated was this population.

Edit: crossout

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

non-Hispanic whites, not non-white