I note this because, if you want an indication of economic conditions, that would be a red flag. Suicide is being used by the white middle-class, middle-age people who see the world they knew evaporating. These are not drug-addled losers or the lonely, terminally-ill elderly.
I found this line especially shocking:
"Suicide recently exceeded motor vehicle crashes as the leading cause of injury death in the U.S.; this report is the first to examine changes in the method of suicide, particularly by demographics such as age," said lead study author Susan P. Baker, MPH, a professor with and founding director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy, part of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. "While suicide by firearm remains the predominant method in the U.S., the increase in hanging and suffocation particularly in middle-aged adults warrants immediate attention." (emphasis added by me)
That is simply astounding. Not automotive accidents, not murder, not accidental drug overdoses -- people are killing themselves. The study also indicates that: "Suicide rates are increasing faster for women than for men, and faster in whites than in non-whites."
I'm not sure why hanging is becoming a more popular method. I suppose one is less likely to wake the spouse, the kids, or the neighbors. Perhaps it has something to do with the sense of failure or guilt, i.e., an appropriate "punishment". I do know of two fairly recent incidents in a town in the St. Louis area where the people chose hanging. One was a pastor accused of child molestation; the other was a teenager who skateboarded with a young relative of my family.
Suicides rates increased in the middle-age group while those 70 and older were less likely to commit suicide. Those in the 60-69 age group saw an 85% increase in the use of poison as a method, and I would venture to guess that is mostly overdosing on prescription drugs.
To any who might be considering suicide, I offer the following as free advice worth probably about as much as you pay for it.
I am prone to depression myself, and I know how easy it is to look around and say, "I have no reason to live. I would be better off dead." I know very well the feeling of not being able to handle any more, being pushed to physical, mental, and emotional limits. I have been there. I also know it is quite possible to rationalize the harm done to those around us by our choice to commit suicide. At least, we won't be "hurting" family members or loved ones any more, right?
Life is more than possessions. It is more than success or failure by worldly standards. One does not need to be a believer in God and an after-life, as I am, to place a higher value on who we are than on what we have.
You are here.
Make the most of it. We are going to need you in the days and months and years ahead. I believe each of us is born into the time and place and situation that will shape us and form us for our destiny. Sometimes that is growing into something; a lot of times it means pruning and grinding off the excess, taking away something. It is not necessarily a good idea to fight that process. Let it run its course.
It probably varies from one individual to another. For me, the worst is thinking that I brought it on myself, that I deserve the situation I am in. For another it may be false accusations, irrational blame, being forced to suffer as an innocent. I am not going to tell you it will get better. It may not. It may get worse. I can tell you that you will get through it if you keep going. If you are a believer, pray. If you are not, meditate.
There are medications that can help, but there are also medications that can cause problems. Consider that the cause of your mental state could be chemical. I suspect that is case with many of the middle-aged who are killing themselves. Way too many of us are relying on "better living through chemistry".
Go talk to a doctor.
Get eight hours of sleep for a couple of nights. It will work an amazing change in your brain.
During the holiday season, be thankful. It's like Thanksgiving. Do it. It helps. Find something that you can lock onto for which you can still be grateful. A relationship. Jesus, who will never leave us or forsake us no matter how damn stupid we are. When I am mad at everything else, at least there is coffee. Whatever works.
If you want me to pray for you, I will. Hang on.
Has it ever occurred to anyone that middle-aged people without steady employment or prospects, like myself, kill themselves to PROVIDE for their families? If I have a fatal accident, my husband and the family living with us will be better off.
ReplyDeleteI understand that from an immediate financial perspective. In the long run, however, there are unknowable and unintended consequences. In fact, though, you may have a pretty good idea of what might happen tomorrow, what about a month or a year, or five years from now?
DeleteI am reminded of a woman I knew who lived in chronic pain, unable to work, and who had to be cared for by her husband and children. She sent them to church one Sunday night. When they returned, they found that she had killed herself. While there was a benefit in terms of relief from the expense the family had incurred for her medication and other needs, they had lost their wife and mother, the center of their home, and they were devastated.
While I didn't blame the woman or call her selfish as some might, I do believe she was deluded in thinking that her family was "better off" without her. Her thinking and reasoning were distorted by the pain she was suffering and possibly by the drugs she had to take to deal with it. Ending her life was less of a sacrifice than continuing to live would have been. Despite the financial aspect, her family suffered because of the choice she made.
I have been broke with no prospects in sight. Admittedly, I was younger, but we had young children at the time. I have been like Job where I woke in the morning wishing I had died in the night only to go to bed hoping I would die before morning. Every day is a struggle with the only change being that you appear to be one day closer to disaster. I can offer no easy answer. It is hard to keep going and harder still to cling to any form of hope, but we do not know what tomorrow will bring.
My life changed, for the better in some ways. It took time. It always takes time. When life ends, time is up, and change is done. Your life and circumstances will change, maybe for the better in some ways. It may be worse in other ways. But, unless you are a far better prophet than I, it is almost certain to be something other than what you expect or could predict based on your current circumstances.