Rise in Suicides of Middle-Aged Is Continuing

[Liberal_in_LA]

Rise in Suicides of Middle-Aged Is Continuing

For the second year in a row, middle-aged adults have registered the highest suicide rate in the country, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Historically, the eldest segment of the population, those 80 and older, have had the highest rates of suicide in the United States. Starting in 2006, however, the suicide rate among men and women between the ages of 45 and 54 was the highest of any age group.

--------------------------

“It’s such a startling rise,” said Dr. Paula Clayton, the medical director of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

Researchers are puzzled by the increase, but Dr. Clayton said the rise in suicide among Americans born in the 1950s and 1960s was probably a result of a combination of factors, including easier access to guns and prescription drugs and what may be a higher incidence of depression among baby boomers.

“Ninety percent of people who kill themselves have a mental disorder at the time of their death,” which can be aggravated by drug and alcohol abuse, Dr. Clayton said. Problems related to health, jobs, relationships and finances have also been shown to be important risk factors for suicide, the C.D.C. reported.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/us/06suicide.html?src=me&ref=us

[Duer 157099]

1. "Researchers are puzzled by the increase" ???

Then they need to get their heads out of their asses if they don't understand what is happening.

Sheesh! If the professionals don't get it, we're in even deeper shit.

[bobbolink]

2. I'm glad I read down... I was going to say the same thing.

What a fucking farce... calling it a "mental disorder".... what a fucking misuse of labels!!

:grr:

Fire these fucking experts, and watch their suicide rate grow....

[glitch]

5. "Fire these fucking experts, and watch their suicide rate grow...."

worth repeating.

[femrap]

9. I actually believe

that what people in this country are supposed to do to be accepted or to be called normal is against our human nature.

I don't think it's natural for us to have to do as our culture says, to work as our culture says, or to even dress as they say.

Especially if you are over 50 years old and you lived in a great time...as a kid, I listened to The Beatles sing 'I Want to Hold your Hand.' Today it's 'I'm a Loser. Why don't you kill me?'

Yeah, I got a 'mental disorder' alright....it's called 'I'm sick of the crap that TPTB are forcing down our throats and up our asses.' How about that, Mr. Stupid Researcher?

Oh...if I were a teenager today, I would be labeled 'ODD'....Oppositional Defiance Disorder. How about that? No more folks who QUESTION AUTHORITY!!!!

It's over. The nation is crap. WASF.

[bobbolink]

10. "I would be labeled 'ODD'....Oppositional Defiance Disorder"

:applause:

I have been saying that several of us need to get together and rewrite these shitty books and their labels!

You with me?

[femrap]

12. I think these labels are in

some Psychiatric Association Manuals that they republish every few years. And then they're used by the Insurance companies to pay claims.

I believe they're in the midst of republishing now. Damn...I can't remember the 'illness' I recently read about that they were considering to include but it was simply ridiculous. (Excuse the Senior moment...I'll think of it tonight probably.)

We could write a book ABOUT the silly labels.

[bobbolink]

14. What is left out is the "mental disorders" of those who perpetuate this crap!

I mean really... the greedy people who cause poor folk to lose jobs, be homeless, etc etc etc... are the healthy ones????

They are successful, so they *have* no labels??

THAT is what we need to overturn!

AVARICE is a "mental disorder"!

[femrap]

15. OK...I get it now.

You're right. I remember working in the corporate world and these managers would be so mean and cut throat to their 'underlings' yet when their 'pet employees' (ie dicksuckers)' or a family member would be around, they were completely different people.

It was like a 'dual personality.' I believe this is required to be management material in this country.

There are those who suffer from 'Get the mirrors out of the house. I can't look at myself anymore.'

Hey, this is fun!

All of the materially successful people are diseased. You know, lots of them with their McMansions are enduring their own little comeuppance right now. They bought into that whole 'keep up w/ the Jones' and Greed/Debt is good idea and BAM! One of the two income-providers lost their job and now they can't make the mortgage payment.

[Odin2005]

18. Actually, those people are in the DSM as Anti-Social Personality Disorder.

The technical term for Sociopathy, Psychopathy, and being a self-centered asshole.

[PurgedVoter]

51. Looks like someone is suffering from EPD

Empathic Personality Disorder

It is characterized by at least 3 of the following:

1. Concern for the feelings of others despite lack of potential profit.
2. Wishful thinking.
3. Maintain enduring relationships with people who cannot help further ambitions and desires.
4. Tendency to forgive and cooperate with others.
5. Self refection, especially when willing to accept blame.
6. Markedly prone to compassionate behavior bringing the subject into conflict with authorities.
7. Persistent delusion that the world could and should be better.

Treatment

To date there have been no controlled studies reported which found an effective treatment for EPD, although contingency management programs, or a punishment system, has been shown moderately effective for behavioral change. Living under constant threat will often help patients to hide the symptoms. Treatment with PCP or BPA may help moderate the symptoms over time.

See also Compassion Disorder and Exuberant Joy Disorder.

[DaveinJapan]

44. How very true! If you would be so kind, it would be awesome if you started an new topic on this!

A better retort on the "problem" I've not seen.

Why are THEY "okay", but the ones getting distraught (even suicidal!) by choking down the bile of these "patriotic capitalists" have something fucking wrong with THEM!?

[dixiegrrrrl]

25. The manual is the The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)

I remember my giant "aha" moment when I was working in the Mental Health Field, when a new version
came out ( the DMM IV-Revised) and some "mental illnesses" suddenly disappeared, never to re-emerge,
and most certainly never to be reimbursed by insurance companies, while "new" diagnosis appeared in the manual, just in time to "benefit" from new drugs, or to be treated with existing drugs.

[femrap]

38. Yes, thank you...

I think they're in the midst of revising it now.

It seems to be a Big Pharma-controlled manual. Isn't it sad that people are simply just prodded into taking medical 'labels.' We're not sheep, we're cattle.

With today's horrid financial situation, many 'normal' people are being pushed to their limits. And some 'not so normal' as well. All this nation does is give them sort of pill. No therapy.

And given this horrific situation in the Gulf, many people are going to lose their entire lifestyles...diaspora to the North.

I wonder what 'label' they will give these people. What pill will help them?

I just wish I could have a nice toke, relax, listen to music, smile and go to sleep. But that is against the law.

[KamaAina]

49. Homosexuality was once listed as a disorder in DSM

and sadly, at least one of the muckety-mucks on the current revision committee waqnts to bring it back. :grr: :banghead: :argh:

[dixiegrrrrl]

52. Interestingly, my state ( Ala. ) licensing board ruled against

any discrimination by therapists workers towards gays,
BUT
did allow discrimination in the by laws towards therapists!

Because MH centers got Federal funds, the non-discrimination clause was added for clients.

When it came time to re-write the non-discrimination rules for licensed therapists, the board
refused to include sexual orientation.

I wrote them a very angry letter and did not re-new my license.

How FUBAR is that?

[tomp]

43. I'm not a big supporter of these "labels", but I do work in the field and...

i find your comments and others here quite naive and frankly hurtful.

you sound like you're completely ready to dismiss the filed of psychiatry/psychology altogether.

i know it has its faults but out here in the filed it's just a bunch of people trying to help others.

you think society is the cause, change it. in the meantime we have lots of people who need help.

why don't you join us.

[DaveinJapan]

45. I would say that your naive take on the whole of the problem is "hurtful".

Perhaps your field is in dire need of a re-think.

Just sayin.....

[femrap]

46. I really only have problems with

the 'label' I mentioned....ODD.

I said nothing about psychologists or psychiatrists...I think you read that into my words.

Maybe there should be a specific OCD w/ regard MONEY...in that it seems quite a few are never satisfied with the billions they already have. Maybe call it the OCD Pig Syndrome.

What Bobolinks said...Avarice is not good and should not be considered normal. Sharing should be considered normal.

Honestly, I didn't mean to hurt you nor your field...it's just these new 'labels' seem to squash any questioning of 'authority' even if 'authorities' are WRONG.

Your field can and does change our culture. I have an undergraduate degree in Psych...would need to get my Masters to join you.

And if you think I'm naive, your statement of 'you think society is the cause, change it' is pretty mind-blowing. Yes, let me snap my fingers and BAM...Society is changed. Let me finish my coffee and I'll get on that ASAP. I've been trying to do that all my life...rather difficult when I don't own a MEDIA outlet like ABC or Fox, or a magazine or a radio station. Look what happened to Air America.

[tomp]

53. i can see there's no talking to either of you. nt

[REP]

42. Yeah, the Reagan years were bitchin'

Especially if you are over 50 years old and you lived in a great time...as a kid, I listened to The Beatles sing 'I Want to Hold your Hand.' Today it's 'I'm a Loser. Why don't you kill me?'

Mellow Gold came out in 1993 - 17 years ago. If you hear kids singing 'Loser,' they're being nostalgic.

Speaking of nostalgia, isn't funny how it makes bad things go poof, like the years under Reagan, Nixon, Viet Nam, etc? I'm not that much younger than you; I'm 45 and yes, I listened to my mother's Beatles albums when I was a kid. I also watched the Watergate hearings. I saw what 'Reaganomics' did to the country and to real people; hell, I had to support myself while going to college on short term loans during those glory days (short-term loans are 2/3 up front and due at the end of the semester). I didn't have time to lie around listening to music and smoke weed, alas - I was carrying 24 hours and working 3 jobs.

[femrap]

47. I just heard the song on

'Glee'.

Too bad you were born after all the grants, scholarships and Direct Federal Loans were gone. I was poor, but had a good brain. Got a grant from the state of Ohio, a maximum amount Scholarship from OU and a Direct loan at 3%. Paid for my tuition, my rent, and $10/week left for food. My mom sent me $5/week for recreation! I thought I was rich.

I worked during the summer...saved every damn cent and then traveled thru Europe with a backpack and tent. Took $500 and it lasted me 3 months. I had already purchased a rail pass. Great educational experience. I'm glad I traveled when I was young.

I was lucky to have lived in San Francisco during the Raygun and Bush I years....otherwise, I might be even more cynical than I am today.

And when I was listening to The Beatles, I was 12 years old and not smoking pot. Now...dig this. I saw The Beatles not once, but twice. $5 for a ticket in Cincinnati and was invited to Toronto by a friend I met at Daytona Beach during spring break...my aunt lived there so all my mom had to have was gas money.

We were poor but I didn't know it. I mowed yards, bake sales, washed cars and saved my money for a trip or something important.

I find there is a huge difference in World Outlook between those over 55 and those under 50. There was a real change in our culture then.

Sorry you feel ripped off.

[izquierdista]

3. Maybe if they got fired

had their house foreclosed, their health insurance canceled, and then came down with a serious illness, they would be less puzzled -- about the trend, I mean. They could remain puzzled as to why life decided to take a giant dump on them though.

[laughingliberal]

26. That would be us.

Those of us who entered the work force in the 80's have seen a steady decline in our wages over 30 years. Programs which were instituted under FDR which allowed our parents to have some security systematically dismantled while we paid increased payroll taxes to support them and finance tax cuts for the silver spoon crowd. Working harder every year only to see our wages decline while still trying to save something for retirement. Hit your 50's, lose your job, retirement accounts in the dumper, and your house (now worth less than you owe on it) on the line. Little chance of being hired at our age and the Cat Food Commission scheming to find a way to steal the last hope we had of not starving to death in our old aged.

Why on earth would we consider suicide? What I mean to say is, why on earth wouldn't we be considering it?

[newspeak]

35. I remember in my history class reading about the depresssion

Now we've seen pictures or read about the "wealthy" jumping out of windows after the crash. The truth is that more "middle class people" took their lives . Domestic violence greatly increased, families fractured but the higher increase of suicides affected the middle class instead of the wealthy. Hell, some of the wealthy actually garnered more wealth during that period. Some of those industrialists increased their wealth and even had some extra bucks to support people like Franco, Mussolini and Hitler. Also, there was an increase of child abuse and child abandonment.

[laughingliberal]

37. "Hell, some of the wealthy actually garnered more wealth during that period."

They (the wealthy) seem to be doing pretty well in this one, too.

[roguevalley]

40. agreed. When my parents died ten months apart, I remember thinking

well, you're stuck here. I knew I wouldn't end it them and if I didn't then, I never will.

[New Dawn]

24. They must be highly paid researchers with job security.

[Mari333]

4. well, makes sense.

[mikita]

6. this had to be "researched" ?

some plain old EMPATHY could give people a heads-up about A LOT that goes on. And then we could spend all that money on something, oh let's say, like < insert 1000 social issues in need of support here >........

[bobbolink]

8. EMPATHY? That is soooooo last century. You can't make a profit on EMPATHY.

You can, however, make a profit from drugs by calling desperation "mental illness".

[Odin2005]

19. +1,000,000,000,000

[bobbolink]

23. Wow... you've enlisted quite a crowd, there.

:hi: :rofl: :hi:

:yourock:

[Odin2005]

27. LOL, thanks!

:hi:

[Nuclear Unicorn]

32. .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_et969pc7iA

[arikara]

11. Empathy? who needs it...

when you can give it a fancy name and invent a pill for it. Now THAT will turn a profit.

[proudohioan]

7. Hmmm, whaddya know...

that suicidal age group are also figuring out that they can't get a job and facing the harsh reality that they may never work or be self-sufficient again.

What a coincidence!

Our best, brightest and most talented strike again!

:sarcasm:

[D-Lee]

13. Same thing happened in Russia for those who couldn't support themselves ...

Look at the Chinese workers committing suicide over low wages right now ...

And "they" think economics isn't a primary cause of the increase?

Tsk-tsk.

Make life impossible for enough people and some will find it is impossible.

[havocmom]

16. Great thread; thanks for OP and thanks to all the great replies

the 'experts' are trying awfully hard to NOT understand the situation. To understand it might well distress them to the point that they too become suicidal. Working to hang it all on some other peg is just a superstitious act, like putting some split salt over one's left shoulder, done in hopes of experts convincing themselves it couldn't happen to them.

Nothing will give one real understanding if they avoid looking into the abyss so many face.

[Odin2005]

17. This will only get worse as the Gen-Xers enter mid-life and the economy keeps on sucking.

[bobbolink]

20. The Gen-Xers have two choices. They can quietly kill themselves.

Or they can unplug their iPods long enough to work to change the damned society and also raise a HUGE ruckus about the state of affairs.

Its a psychological truism... keep it in and hurt yourself, or express it outwardly and save your sanity and your health.

We need to "pay it forward" with these corporate whores. :evilgrin:

[Odin2005]

21. Hey, it's us Millennials that are attached to our iPods!

Xers are still too busy slacking and listening to Nirvana! :evilgrin: :yoiks:

[bobbolink]

22. I stand graciously corrected!

:rofl: :hi:

Still, my reply stands. iPod or no, there are a couple of choices......

[Withywindle]

39. We're already there.

The article defines "middle age" as 45...well, if you're 45, you're Gen-X, born in 1965.

[dickthegrouch]

28. If that's all it takes to be an expert....

I ready for a job change :)

I should be able to come up with all kinds of pathetically content-free studies and get paid for them :sarcasm:

I'm terrified I won't have enough to retire on in 15 years, and according to the statistics, I have more saved up than 90% of my peers. It's making sure "the economy" doesn't take it all away from me that I can't control. It's had half already.

Stop Foreclosures of retired people.
Start manufacturing again.

See economy grow.

Very simple.

[SmileyRose]

29. I think about it at least once a week.

If I ever manage to be free of the now physically disabled selfish jackass of a husband that many years ago was a loving friend my mental disorder will disappear instantly.

[InkAddict]

30. Who could have imagined??

Lost jobs, homes, families splitting apart, hunger, poison enviroments,dreams scattered...

A Final Act of Control?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggIc4d2Gfp0&feature=related

[BlancheSplanchnik]

31. oh isn't that thoughtful of them, to add that little afterthought

"Problems related to health, jobs, relationships and finances have also been shown to be important risk factors for suicide, the C.D.C. reported. "

my god, how is it possible to be so divorced from REALITY? I mean, reality as it exists for people other than themselves.

Who the hell can I write to? I'd like to direct him/her to this thread for some actual intelligent analysis.

[bobbolink]

33. "Who the hell can I write to?" Don't bother... they are too bizzzy labeling "disorders" they can

prescribe pills for.

Prescribing pills = $$$$

[BlancheSplanchnik]

36. well, I had a look at the article

and found Dr. Paula Clayton, the medical director of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

I couldn't find a contact for her, but the site for the AFSP has contact info.

I think I'll write tomorrow...maybe even call, if I feel able to speak clearly... (I have very severe ADD and have a hard time speaking my thoughts.)

[Lorien]

41. Truly warrents a "no shit Sherlock"

We're crushed by medical debt and unemployment and they wonder why many of us check out early???

[Skittles]

34. these researchers do not live in the real world

those of us who do are not "puzzled" in the least

[Kablooie]

48. Since when is unemployment a 'mental disorder'?

[raccoon]

50. Some of these people might have mental disorders, and due to the excellent (NOT) state of health

care in the USA, might be committing suicide whereas if they had medical attention, they might have gotten better.