Suicide now 10th leading cause of death in usa

a reply to: Bluntone22

This goes with the post I just made, but for children especially, they need the security of an intact family. Both boys and girls learn about how to interact with each other and society by watching their parents do it, and when one parent is absent, it can be crippling.

Late stage capitalism + social media, would be my guess. I'm not a psychiatrist, however.

a reply to: Bluntone22

My mother would say, "well it's their choice."

I would say ," They are fools to give up."

There is always a chance to learn something new and learning is the reason we exist.


On topic: Are opioids to blame? Hard to say. More research is needed. It is true that some drugs do lead to suicidal thoughts in even those who are happy. So maybe. Ether way opioids are being over used. But I will have to side with mom on that one. It's the choice the people are making. Better educate the people on the effects of opioid use and hope they make a different choice.

I don't want anyone taking the freedom to hurt myself away from me.

a reply to: scraedtosleep

That's funny. I say the exact same thing about people who die from cancer: "Just hold on. There is always something to learn!"

A lot of people are killed and it is made to look like a suicide.

originally posted by: carewemust
A lot of people are killed and it is made to look like a suicide.

Not being flippant but the ones who shoot themselves twice in the head seem odd to me...

a reply to: FyreByrd

I don't believe for a minute that easy access to guns is a reason suicide is up.
We have had easy access to guns since our independence.
Guns may be the tool of choice but it's not the reason someone feels the need to use the tool.

As for mental health and shootings. I was refering to mass shootings like schools and movie theatres not gang activity. Those shooters are always on antidepressants for mental issues.

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: Bluntone22

This goes with the post I just made, but for children especially, they need the security of an intact family. Both boys and girls learn about how to interact with each other and society by watching their parents do it, and when one parent is absent, it can be crippling.

I totally agree, it is definitely a better environment to raise a child with both parents in a healthy relationship.
But I will also say that my wife was raised with an alcoholic abusive "verbal and mental" father.
Her mother bent over backwards to try to keep him happy and keep the family together.
Old school views on marriage.
The kids would have been much better off if she would have divorced him.

originally posted by: avgguy
I think people, white people in general have too much to live up too. We’re taught as kids to compete and outperform our peers and that hard work is the key to happiness, but when happiness seems out of reach it’s just easier to end the suffering.

For some reason black folks don’t have this approach and therefor have very small suicide rates.

I bet you a dime the main reason is kids, a high percentage of young black males have many kids and therefore a suicide can have consequences.

My main reasons for suicide would be: not dying of old age and if you're useful to society and/or family.

a reply to: TheMasterOne

if you're useful to society and/or family.

Agreed.

It's funny no mater who you are if your human you want to feel useful in some way.

originally posted by: ketsuko
There are some hard truths in here.

One of the most ironic things about the constant "toxic masculinity" complaints that we hear these days is that we live in an overly feminized culture where most of the "toxic" males seem to have either been raised without fathers or claim to be adherents of feminism. The statistics on men raised without fathers are grim almost beyond belief.

70% of gang members, high school dropouts, teen suicides...and teen substance abusers come from single mother homes.
...80% of rapists motivated with displaced anger (Source: Criminal Justice & Behavior, Vol 14, p. 403-26, 1978.)

...85% of all youths sitting in prisons (Source: Fulton County Georgia jail populations, Texas Department of Corrections 1992)

What are you implying here?

Statistics from 1992 are not a big help when talking about contemporary suicide rates.

originally posted by: Bluntone22
a reply to: FyreByrd

I don't believe for a minute that easy access to guns is a reason suicide is up.
We have had easy access to guns since our independence.
Guns may be the tool of choice but it's not the reason someone feels the need to use the tool.

As for mental health and shootings. I was refering to mass shootings like schools and movie theatres not gang activity. Those shooters are always on antidepressants for mental issues.

Impulse control issues.

If you have suicidal ideation (momentary real thoughts about suicide - it's not a monolithic thought) and you have easy access to a fire arm you may act on that thought. If you have suicidal ideation and don't have easy access to a gun you may seek other means of suicide that are less lethal or even helpful - a phone call perhaps.

If you have a gun in your hand - there is no time for help - internally or externally.

Maybe we are like lemmings, when the population gets to much for our resources we throw ourselves over the cliff. No disrespect meant to those that have chosen to pass or their loved ones.

originally posted by: CornishCeltGuy
a reply to: toms54

I think it is the disconnect of society, friends and family not in walking distance, loneliness in a crowd, if you know what I mean.
I'm lucky, my social group is emotionally, socially, and geographically deeply connected. Checking a mates status is walking round to their house and knocking the door, or even just walking in and shouting 'Hi' if it isn't locked.
I bet there are many millions of lonely people in cities all over Britain.

There may be something to your idea. We are not very good at knowing the cause in spite of all that's written on the subject.

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: DieGloke

So you moved the goalposts then?

What goal posts?

It's a fact the USA has working conditions worse than most other developed nations. Americans work longer hours with fewer holidays. Studies have also shown longer working hours and fewer vacations impact physical and mental health as well as productivity.
It's why Japan have lately tried to move away from there work aholic based culture.

Those are just simple facts, not trying to score political points or push a agenda here.

I have argued for a long time that the increase in school shootings is a result of increased mental disease. Not a gun issue.

Why such a change?
Diets?
Culture?

I totally agree with you. My sister is a sociologist and she alluded her theory about all this to me recently. I grew up back in the 70s, back then there was no internet, not much in the way of cable even. You listened to vinyl records and the radio, and you hung out with your friends. There were pretty strong social networks, you got to vent all your thoughts to a group of close friends and they vented to you. I don't think we were as materialistic a society back then either. Anyway, my sisters theory is that a lot of the social bonds that used to exist with people in person exist now on social media, but are far more tenuous. For example it has made friendships more disposable.

And on social media people tend to seek out the like minded. So if you are an adolescent for example, and you have some negative world view, the internet just acts like an amplifier and blows that completely up in that direction, also it could be causing deep seated mental illness to surface and become more severe. As far as the amplification of specific viewpoints, we already see this in the polarization that has been occurring in political discourse. Also if you are a teen just staring into a smartphone or computer screen you aren't talking to people, learning body language and developing social skills, and so you get a healthy case of social isolation to go with it. Combine the two and in some people, it ends in violence and antisocial behavior. Its notable that a lot of these school shooters posted online in great detail their plans to do violence, Nickolas Cruz for many months beforehand according to media accounts. Now if you look at the current prevalent group that is committing suicide, which is whites 50-65 and particularly white males, social media could also be playing a part in that. The white male is not very well liked in current society, and nowhere is it more evident than online, perhaps reading repeatedly that you are the pariah of society could trigger some people into a deeper depression and some could choose suicide. Not saying its a root cause but probably it could be contributing. With the school shooters I think its more the problem than guns. Guns come after the root cause which is mental illness partially brought on and or amplified by the above factors IMHO.

a reply to: Bluntone22

I have argued for a long time that the increase in school shootings is a result of increased mental disease. Not a gun issue.

It's a possibility, but problems with mental health are widespread in Western Europe, Canada, NZ and Australia too. These countries don't have anything comparable to school shootings which may suggest there's a cultural element to the shootings.

Personally, I fear we're too close to the woods to see the trees. Mental health could be affected by pharmaceuticals in water or the combination of chemicals in the air we breathe. Rates of diagnosis are an overlooked factor too. For instance, autism didn't just appear when a doctor coined the word. Increases in the rates of mental ill-health can also be through greater accuracy by doctors and increased awareness among Western populations. People are increasingly likely to seek treatment (therefore diagnosis which leads to statistics) instead of 'keep your chin up.'

On Monday one of my friends took his own life. His partner came home to find him passed away and she's a tough girl. I've known him for nearly 40 years, we went to infant school together and were best mates for most of our lives. It's heartbreaking. On the same day, another friend found out one of her friends had died and they suspect suicide although it's likely to be 'death by misadventure.' Yep, suicide is as close to us as cancer.

a reply to: Bluntone22

Has nobody here considered what causes peoples mental illness in the first place? Sure some people might be more genetically prone to such, but many people with mental illness don't kill themselves.

So could it have anything to do with society being so messed up? Is society as a whole not mentally ill?

I find it terribly sad that otherwise physically healthy and caring individuals find themselves so deppressed and mentally tortured by the societys they live in, that the only escape they can see is complete oblivion.

a reply to: FyreByrd

Because it relies on Congress for funding, the CDC may have good reason not to emphasize the unique role of firearms in U.S. suicide rates.

In 1993, the agency supported a study that found that people with guns at home faced a risk of suicide five times greater than those without.

Three years later, Congress passed what’s known as the Dickey Amendment, which effectively prevented the CDC from funding targeted research into gun violence.

theintercept.com...

Its The Economy Stupid LOL In A nutshell anyways. And health factors of course. I love stating the obviouse. We are way too overcrowded and packed too tightly together in too many ways.