News Oct 20, 2011 at 4:00 am

What's Behind the Recent Rise in Suicide Rates?

Comments

1
"The Portland Police Bureau has responded to 214 suicides and attempts already this year—an uptick from 198 for all of last year. Additionally, officers have received 916 suicide-related calls, 65 more than in all of 2010. While it's impossible to pinpoint a single cause, says Leslie Storm of Oregon Partnership, a nonprofit suicide and substance abuse prevention group, it's easy to key in on an at least one overarching issue: the unstable economy."

With all due respect to Leslie Storm, I can't help but feel that this is a bit of a whitewash and wonder why it seems so impossible to drill down more specifically? I'm sure lack of funding and resources are major part of it. Regardless, "the unstable economy" is just such a broad generalization that it almost prevents us from focusing on the major reasons why suicide rates are soaring.

For example, how many of these people recently lost their homes due to foreclosure and shady mortgage lending? How many of these people were recently in mental health facilities, but have been kicked out due to budget cuts? Or even more tragic, how many of these people were veterans?

I tend to view many of these people as victims of our sick society and it seems that the lack of reporting, the lack of discussion, and the tendency to generalize by the powers that be illustrates just how little they care about truly addressing these issues. As a person who's family has lost a loved one to suicide, I'm under no delusion that this is something that any society can rid itself of completely, but at the same time I do think that it speaks volumes about the type of society in which we live.

2
I honestly don't see what the problem here is. People are autonomous individuals and thus have a universal right to self-end there tenure on Earth, so long as they're courteous and try not to make too much of a mess about it.
3
It's the economy, stupid.

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