Suicides Up in New Orleans for 2009

[Louisiana1976]

NEW ORLEANS – In a city where stress levels surged in 2005, suicides are now on the rise in 2009.

"We have had a significant increase in our number of suicides," said Dr. Kevin Stephens, director of the New Orleans Health Department.

So far this year, 47 people have committed suicide in the city. That number has already surpassed last year's total of 44. On average, a city the size of New Orleans usually sees around 30 suicides a year-- not 47. With several months remaining in 2009, health professionals believe the current number in New Orleans could go even higher.

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"The recession, economic downturn, a lot of people getting laid off – they get depressed from that," Dr. Stephens said. "I think a lot of it has to do with post-Katrina trauma, post-traumatic stress."

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It is a similar story at Family Service of Greater New Orleans. Counselors there said they are seeing an increase in suicidal thoughts among their patients – not the adults, but rather, among children. Some of them are still experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder, related to the hurricanes of the past several years.

"Children were put through a lot of forced transition," said Dave Haynik, Clinical Director at Family Service. "They had to go through a lot of school changes, a lot of changes in the home and that's starting to manifest itself now, based on our observations."

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more...http://www.wwltv.com/topstories/stories/wwl092109cbsuicide.1a23326f0.html?npc

[Swamp Rat]

1. k&r

[applegrove]

2. And Bush wanted all those people left to fend for themselves because "they were told to leave".

Poor kids.

[Louisiana1976]

5. What Bush did there is a crime, If genocide can be described as causing a population to

suffer physically and/or mentally, the Bush Administration surely committed genocide in New Orleans.

[jwirr]

3. They are right to worry about the rest of the year. The holidays are

rough enough without the lasting effects of Katrina and the economic conditions.

[Louisiana1976]

4. Well said!

[Selatius]

6. As a survivor of Katrina here on the Mississippi Coast, this hits me very hard.

There were so many dead bodies in the city of Biloxi alone. Huge swaths of this city have yet to be rebuilt. There's been a lot of tension between the working class folks and the rich in the city over the uneven pace of reconstruction. There was huge outcry last year when Barbour decided to divert funds for home reconstruction to rebuilding/expanding the port facilities in Gulfport one town over.

Reconstruction was slow at best. Then, the recession hit. Now, there's virtually nothing; everything is nearly frozen. The recession and Katrina have pretty much leveled everything I knew and loved about this area. The federal response and Barbour's squandering of any money left by the feds did much damage, but then Bush's incompetent management of the economy pushed things down even further. These few years have been harsh ones.