Suicide Rates Are Rising

[Guest]

For men the last year on record was the biggest jump (1.1 jump) in suicide compared to the previous year. I wonder what the rates for 2018 and 2019 are going to be.




I can only speculate why. Perhaps because many men are working too much and aren't really enjoying life. I just read today in Psychology Today, "The kinds of casual overtures that people used to make, now seem creepy. Apparently, that even applies to striking up conversations in bars." And it is completely true. According to a new Washington Post article, "But among the 23 percent of adults — or nearly 1 in 4 — who spent the year in a celibate state, a much larger than expected number of them were 20-something men, according to the latest data from the General Social Survey."

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog ... g-less-sex
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business ... 17f46c6548

Now I am not saying that the lack of sex is responsible for the high suicide rates, but loneliness could be an important contributor. Thank goodness my atheist-agnosticism protects me.

[_Jersey Girl]

Therapist/Life Coach.

[_DoubtingThomas]

Therapist/Life Coach.

It does help to share, it is like therapy. I have to find the right therapist and at this moment I don't have much time to drive miles for a secular therapist.

[_DoubtingThomas]

Now I do feel a little bit better because I am dating a 46 year old woman that I met at the bar, but we both know that our relationship is only temporary. She is old enough to be my mother. My kind of girlfriend took me to see her friend (an energy therapist) and it was a horrible experience.

[_DoubtingThomas]

And it is sad that politicians don't really care.

[_Res Ipsa]

And it is sad that politicians don't really care.

The problem is that we don’t really know what’s happening. In 2016, the age-adjusted suicide rate was the same as 30 years ago. The rate fell pretty constantly, then rose pretty constantly through 2016. The last couple of years seem to be connected with increased opioid addiction. We’ve emphasized reducing opioid prescriptions to try and address that, but it’s not clear whether will result in a short-term drop, long-term drop, or no drop at all. Synthetic opioids are easy to manufacture, so it’s not really clear whether reducing legal prescriptions will be an effective means of reducing supply.

Beyond that, we’re not high in terms of rates compared with comparable countries, although the ones higher than us have been trending down. Suicide seem to occur everywhere at some rate, and I don’t think we know what rate we should expect in a “healthy” society.

So, until we figure out why rates have changed the way they did over the past decades and see whether we can reduce opioid use, I’m not sure what there is for politicians to do. If it were me, I’d be looking at distribution of income, changes in the well being of the working class, changes in availability of health services, especially in rural counties. I’d try hard to figure out why the mountain states, in particular, have a higher rate of suicides. Politicians can’t offer suggestions until science has some idea of the solutions.

[_DoubtingThomas]

And it is sad that politicians don't really care.

The problem is that we don’t really know what’s happening. In 2016, the age-adjusted suicide rate was the same as 30 years ago. The rate fell pretty constantly, then rose pretty constantly through 2016. The last couple of years seem to be connected with increased opioid addiction. We’ve emphasized reducing opioid prescriptions to try and address that, but it’s not clear whether will result in a short-term drop, long-term drop, or no drop at all. Synthetic opioids are easy to manufacture, so it’s not really clear whether reducing legal prescriptions will be an effective means of reducing supply.

Beyond that, we’re not high in terms of rates compared with comparable countries, although the ones higher than us have been trending down. Suicide seem to occur everywhere at some rate, and I don’t think we know what rate we should expect in a “healthy” society.

So, until we figure out why rates have changed the way they did over the past decades and see whether we can reduce opioid use, I’m not sure what there is for politicians to do. If it were me, I’d be looking at distribution of income, changes in the well being of the working class, changes in availability of health services, especially in rural counties. I’d try hard to figure out why the mountain states, in particular, have a higher rate of suicides. Politicians can’t offer suggestions until science has some idea of the solutions.

There are many reasons. Gun accessibility is clearly a huge contributor. According to the Washington Post "Neuroscientist thinks one way to fight opioid addiction is to tackle loneliness" https://www.washingtonpost.com/national ... story.html

[_DoubtingThomas]

Politicians can’t offer suggestions until science has some idea of the solutions.

The politicians are always offering suggestions. We can't afford to wait for science, the government needs to do something now and look at the probable causes. Loneliness is probably one of them. According to NPR article "Americans Are A Lonely Lot, And Young People Bear The Heaviest Burden".

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/pol ... 559961002/

and according to one study

The findings support the view that loneliness poses a significant health problem for a sizeable part of the population with increased risks in terms of distress (depression, anxiety), suicidal ideation, health behavior and health care utilization.

https://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com ... 017-1262-x

[_Res Ipsa]

How, exactly, do you expect the government to cure loneliness? Procure you a girlfriend?

[_Some Schmo]

How, exactly, do you expect the government to cure loneliness? Procure you a girlfriend?

Legalize prostitution.

It's not a cure, but it's something.