There’s Been A Startling Rise In Suicide Rates In The U.S.

I just lost my cousin to suicide a few weeks ago, and he was only 22 years old like me. He had just been promoted to Sergeant in the Army when he apparently got in a fight with his girlfriend and grabbed his gun right in front of her. I know on his end it was definitely a mental health issue. His mom had just hid all the guns because she suspected something was wrong.
There have also been a string of suicides in our community recently. A major part of those ones have to do with bullying. I can definitely see the rise personally, and it is really scary to me.

Stricter gun laws would make it much harder for people who are suicidal/mentally unstable to gain access to a firearm to suicide.
A lot of them take many other innocent people down before taking their own life, so it's obvious that many lives will be saved this way.
Logic always wins.

Maybe these new antidepressants allow a person to see clearly enough to understand that life is full of pain and that no matter how long you live, in the end you die anyway.

originally posted by: Iamnotadoctor
Stricter gun laws would make it much harder for people who are suicidal/mentally unstable to gain access to a firearm to suicide.
A lot of them take many other innocent people down before taking their own life, so it's obvious that many lives will be saved this way.
Logic always wins.

Outlawing tall buildings, deep water, toasters/bathtubs, razor blades, ropes and garage doors (yes, garage doors) would also make it harder for people to commit suicide.
If they want to do it, they will find a way.
Even if only cops had guns... suicide by cop is still an option.

a reply to: ConspiracyGirl

That's bad news about your cousin.

There have also been a string of suicides in our community recently. A major part of those ones have to do with bullying. I can definitely see the rise personally, and it is really scary to me.

Suicides often appear in clusters because one can trigger another. The media agreed to stop publicising them because studies showed how publicity increased attempts and fatalities.

The suicidal mind is a very strange thing indeed. I suspect it becomes more suggestible too although that's just an opinion based on experience.

a reply to: Kandinsky

I suspect it becomes more suggestible too

Would you be able to elaborate?

originally posted by: butcherguy

originally posted by: Iamnotadoctor
Stricter gun laws would make it much harder for people who are suicidal/mentally unstable to gain access to a firearm to suicide.
A lot of them take many other innocent people down before taking their own life, so it's obvious that many lives will be saved this way.
Logic always wins.

Outlawing tall buildings, deep water, toasters/bathtubs, razor blades, ropes and garage doors (yes, garage doors) would also make it harder for people to commit suicide.
If they want to do it, they will find a way.
Even if only cops had guns... suicide by cop is still an option.

My uncle was on Prozac when he shot himself, it was still fairly new at the time and not so well known.

It's sad, but interesting that the mass murders as they're called now also increased over time, almost unheard of when I was a kid and everybody had a gun.

I can't help but see that antidepressant use has come into being and grown on an almost parallel rate, and have been involved in most of the mass killings, yet they represent big money and people "like" them....

IMHO - guns don't kill people - antidepressants kill people

originally posted by: UberL33t
a reply to: Kandinsky

I suspect it becomes more suggestible too

Would you be able to elaborate?

Sure mate

The suicidal mind isn't processing correctly. It's overwhelmed by intrusive thoughts and exists in an emotional plateau due to misfiring synapses and faulty hormone levels.

By 'more suggestible' I meant that on a certain level it's preparing for death and identifies strongly with others who are similarly minded. Seeing someone else commit suicide can somehow justify them doing it too. It's like there are internal brakes and exposure to others causes the brake to slip and give slightly; each increment takes the suicidal brain closer to death.

It's this aspect that leads to clusters. It's called 'copy cat,' but that term doesn't really express the complexities and multiple vectors that pushes someone to the final act.

There are no "pat answers". It's not something we fix with a vaccination, or more social engineering. We have allowed the least mentally stable among us to run the asylum. What did we expect would eventually happen? This problem is going to get much worse, before it gets better. Though we may, or may not realize it...

In a small town, it's much harder to hide suicides, but nationally, it's easier to buffer the stats, and skew the figures to the public for "their own good".

My condolences on your loss.

Every day I wake up I have thoughts of killing myself, mainly due to dealing with depression stemming from molested by my father when I was five years old. I function normally, although I do take xanax .5mg to help with my anxiety. I work a job, I make decent money, I have my own apartment, car, so I am not doing bad. I work out at least 2-3 times a week, and I run my own business on the side. I do drink however, but only at nights due to boredom and lonliness but i am trying to quit. I'm single, Ive had womem here and there but nothing ever lasts because i fear getting close could lead to a severe depressed state if im ever betrayed, i had two relationships that led to bouts of depression that i never want to deal with again. I don't know why I haven't succumbed to my thoughts. Maybe fear, maybe the urge to want some sort of true happiness and peace in this life? Dunno. I'll keep going though. But I cannot lie. Life has become just one long day for me, wondering when it will end.

When faced with hopelessness, what other options are there?

originally posted by: eXia7
When faced with hopelessness, what other options are there?

One of the hardest things to deal with in my opinion is how little people really care.

a reply to: supremecommander

Call and talk to someone man... call one of those hotlines and speak with someone trained in ways to help you find a way to your tomorrow you speak so highly about.

Keep up the fight... seriously

a reply to: eXia7

Tons of other options... the hard part it seems is seeing them through the dark cloud of whatever it is that blinds the individual.

a reply to: onequestion

People care... typically though, a person dealing with depression will not confide in those people or professionals (term used loosely). But there is always someone who cares and that will talk to an individual, known or not.

originally posted by: UberL33t
There’s Been A Startling Rise In Suicide Rates In The U.S.

If you need any more proof that mental health disorders are a public health issue, look no further than rising suicide rates over the last decade and a half. Deaths from suicide have increased 24 percent from 1999 to 2014, according to an analysis of Americans aged 5 and up conducted by researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

While the CDC researchers can’t definitively pin down why the rates are increasing (there are multifarious factors that contribute to mental illness and self-harm), the study’s results are a huge wakeup call: Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the U.S. “Suicide is not just a mental health issue — it is a public health issue, and it is preventable,” said Kristin Holland, a behavioral scientist in the CDC’s Division of Violence Prevention Surveillance.

“There are quite a few programs that have been shown to effectively prevent suicide, and at the CDC we are continuing to evaluate innovative suicide prevention strategies.”

From the same source...

I find the American Indian and Alaskan Native and White demographic increase to be a bit...hmm... odd I guess. This article comes at a very relevant time for me as my soon to be brother in law just committed suicide on April 15th 2016, he was 36.

I have my theories as to why. It was an intentional overdose, there was a letter, and after analyzing it numerous ways, it was written in a very angry, substance fueled, very 'in the moment w/ complete emotional tunnel vision' and in a contradictory and incoherent fashion. However, though he was a heavy drinker, he was also on anti-anxiety medication Klonopin and was started on a 'new' anti-depressant in early Feb (we're waiting to receive his meds back from the Sheriff's Office Detectives, after I can research side effects) which they had to start off at 20mg and move him up to an eventual 200mg. He was also on blood pressure meds Metoprolol. He wasn't in a good place financially, was struggling to find a job, was hanging by a thread with his living arrangements and seemingly decided that this was the answer.

He had just gotten his meds refilled on the 5th. He took what was left in all three bottles, drank 3 beers and 2/3's of a small bottle of vodka and then went to sleep... forever.

The side effects on these anti-depressants usually say 'suicidal thoughts may occur, tell your Doctor if you have these thoughts...etc.' on most if not all that I have seen advertised. But, I know he wouldn't have told his Doctor that even if he was feeling those thoughts.

Here's the thing though. He wasn't the type to kill himself... I know this may be my own coping mechanism. I have known him for over a year and we actually had some really in-depth conversations. One of them being suicide... and during the discussion I remember us both being in agreement that suicide was for weak people who can't handle all that life throws at them, so I find it hard to believe...

I know this is a tough subject, but I am going through a fresh experience and when I happened upon this article I knew it was time to come here and seek out opinions...even better, and if you're willing, any experiences that you have had.

More importantly, through this discussion perhaps we can begin to build some patterns and correlations.

Thank you for reading... now... go hug someone and tell them you love them... even if it's yourself!

Sorry for your family's lost. Sincerely.

It has been hypothesized that the rise of prescription painkillers abuse/addiction has been a major contributor to the increase in white men suicide rates. A recent New York Times expose on opioid/opiate addiction pointed to this epidemic as the reason behind, for the first time in history, middle-aged white men's life expectancy has fallen. If I can find the NYT piece i'll link it as an edit. The take home message: some of these unintentional overdoses have been mistaken as suicide. Very fascinating.

Overdoses in White Males From Opioid/Opiate Abuse

Not surprising at all. Modern life is deeply unfulfilling, especially for men. Deep down every guy knows something is seriously wrong. Every man who's testosterone hasn't already been obliterated by all the chemicals is still effectively living in the wilderness, or his biology is anyway. He needs to go out and fight, f*ck, hunt, build stuff with his own hands, craft, run, and howl at the top of his lungs.

He also needs to have his romantic nature satisfied, which is also quickly becoming impossible with the advent of all this technology and a culture of impersonality and quick gratification. A lot of men are romantic creatures, very romantic, but also very violent. The modern world leaves room for neither.

The modern western world has effectively become domesticated, it's literally like one giant domestic setting where everything is relatively comfortable, orderly, and safe, which is why women aren't killing themselves. Women are more domestic creatures, they are far more comfortable with this giant "domesticated" world than men are.

From personal experience, I'm actually surprised more men aren't killing themselves. I'm surprised we aren't offing ourselves in droves. We have literally every reason to.

The reason blacks and lations don't waste themselves as much is because they've managed to hang on to their masculine family-oriented cultures. Black guys still have the gangster archtype etc, white guys have had all our archetypes stripped down to some tweedling little hipster with thick-rimmed glasses and a lisp.

a reply to: Talorc

7,000 stars for this. epic.

It is expected. As the population is on the Rise. We are exponentially growing larger everyday.

a reply to: Talorc

This is truth

+1