Is suicide on the rise? (or does it just seem that way?)

[SoCalDem]

The media is reporting that the building owner in NYC (the one that collapsed) had written suicide notes, and that a gas leak may have been his "way out".. How evil to possible take people who rented from you and innocent passersby with you (if that's what happened)..

We casually joke about how KennyBoy may have taken that route as well..

BUT.. It seems like more and more people..ordinary people are choosing to "opt out"..

My friend told me about a family member who went to a wedding, got into a shoving match with his girlfriend at the reception..went to his car..came back with a gun and killed himself..AT THE WEDDING RECEPTION... he was 43, and had just lost his job..

My own son's fiancee had a family friend, 50 yr old guy with 5 grown kids who just last week did the most diabolical thing I have ever heard of..

he told his wife he was going out of town on business (he often did, so no flags went up).. he prepared FedEx boxes for his wife and each of his kids, sent them out so they would all arrive on the same day, while the recipients were at work.. Inside the boxes were mementos he wanted them to have, and a personal letter to each of them.. he tracked them online from his hotel room.. Somehow one arrived early or one of the kids stayed home from work that day, and got the box early... so she called her Mother in tears.. They searched his computer at home .. they and the police spent hours figuring out which place he was at and sent officers there immediately.. he had already killed himself.:(

My .02 is that more and more people are more and more stressed out, and see little hope on the horizon.. Medical benefits often exclude mental health coverage (or offer it at such a price that epople cannot afford).. and men especially at 50-something today are still of the era where "boys don't cry..take it like a man..buck-up" was what they learned..

[slackmaster]

1. According to CDC it's been on a gradual decline

Here are the rates per 100,000 from 1981 through 2003:

1981 12.03
1982 12.19
1983 12.1
1984 12.42
1985 12.38
1986 12.87
1987 12.71
1988 12.44
1989 12.25
1990 12.39
1991 12.18
1992 11.88
1993 11.97
1994 11.84
1995 11.75
1996 11.47
1997 11.2
1998 11.08
1999 10.46
2000 10.43
2001 10.74
2002 10.99
2003 10.83

Roll your own query at http://www.cdc.gov/NCIPC/wisqars/

ETA my queries were for all races, ages, genders, and types of fatal injury.

[catmother]

2. i have mixed emotions about suicide. if i were terminally ill

i would hope that my doctors would help me. i do have a living will. i'm having trouble with this. if i choose to end my life i would make sure that no one else would be hurt. it would be an overdose of pills or getting into the car, stuffing up the exhaust, turn the car on with some nice music and go to sleep forever.

i think people are more stressed out. all of the outsourcing of jobs -- the war in iraq -- our present government -- i guess some people just can't take it. you can't know what was in the person's mind unless they do leave a note.

i don't know what else to say.

[Guy Fawkes]

3. Among some certain groups, yes

The suicide rate of gay/lesbian youth is rising. As many as 1 in 3 teen suicides is by a GBLT youth.

[catmother]

5. that's why i believe it should be taught in the schools that it's

okay to be gay or lesbian. these kids probably feel alone -- that they can't talk to anyone especially their parents.

[leftofthedial]

4. I see no hope

most of what I lived my life believing has been shown to have been a cruel hoax

I'm just sticking around for the punchline at this point.

[catmother]

9. i have everything. i've got my dream house, a car that i love,

a good husband, money in the bank, but i have been ill with chronic fatigue syndrome for 17 years. sometimes i do think about it.

[blues90]

14. i feel much the same way

Once you get past 50 whcih for me was a while ago and what you thought the US was and now find out almost all was a lie , you find yourself out of work , you find most things have no point , there appears to be no future and if there were what would be in it for you .

I have talked to people such as shrinks , not about killing myself but about the feelings I had inside , some said I was going through midlife crisis others said it will pass , others offer cognitive work , let me tell you , no one can replace what you have lost inside especially if you have become isolated and lost . I can barely raise the energy to get interested in new job I may get . I lost two in a year and a half and trust nothing now .

So help may come in many forms if you have the will to seek it out or even care to do so .

[bobbolink]

6. Not at all surprising for a "you're on your own" society

The only issue I would take with your post is that "mental health services" can do precious little for something that is a societal issue.

What will it take for it to matter?

[SoCalDem]

10. BUT.. mental health services could give a distressed person

a place to vent their problems. A lot of people don't want to upset their families, so they suffer in silence until they get up their nerve.

Therapists can intervene and often can help a person over a rough patch..

[bobbolink]

12. In theory, yes. In practice, no.

I know we're all conditioned to believe that it works this way.

Unfortunately, when it comes to suicide, it isn't talked about. You don't dare, or you end up in shackles, locked in a very unpleasant place.

"Venting" about suicide is something from the past.

[catmother]

7. if i were kennyboy i would have opted out. 20 years in prison.

no way.

[itzamirakul]

8. 6PM news announced murder suicide in New Jersey today.

Also, a Dr. Bartha is suspected of blowing up a building on Madison Avenue in NYC today in a failed suicide attempt.

[dysfunctional press]

11. as the baby boom bubble ages-

and the boomers face failing health and/or finaces, it may be that more of them may choose to face death on their own terms.

[catmother]

13. i totally agree with you. failing health and or finances can put

you over the edge. and from what i've been reading, statistics are saying that most baby boomers have not adequately planned for their retirement.