https://freebeacon.com/issues/the-curious-case-of-americas-suicide-crisis/

A good read on the mystery of the suicide crisis. Please read the article before commenting.

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My instincts are to tie this to religion and God in some way, but let me put forth another idea I thought of.

We're a population that is more mentally/psychologically aware but our ability to be vulnerable and honest about our struggles isn't keeping up. We see tv shows, movies, and other media where the characters are more cerebral, reflective, and self-aware. They are aware of their faults and seem to be able to embrace them, or at least express them to others. This teaches people to understand their vulnerabilities and problems, but being open about them is a step that people aren't always able to take. The natural tendency is to hide these things from people, to protect yourself. This creates an obvious conflict... pressure building, no release valve.



Just spitballing here. Thoughts PaRD?

This post was edited by IceMage on Feb 21 2020 07:47pm

The best way to increase crime and social instability is to increase the relative poverty rate. People won't feel like shit if they know their leaders are also struggling, but in a world where people visibly have billions of dollars and some can't get basic medical care that is a recipe for crime and disillusionment with the system, which then leads to a feeling of isolation and loss of hope for the future.

The best way to increase suicide is to increase social isolation. In America we don't prioritize things like family because they are often an economic drain since our employers generally don't give very good maternity or paternity benefits. When family isn't valued isolation increases.

And lastly we have only in the past 10 or so years acknowledged depression and suicidal thoughts as a major issue as a nation that needs addressing. Even then since mental illness tends to affect job and educational attainment which in turn reduces access to health care it will exacerbate the problem.




Those are a few of my musings on this issue from the past year or so. We have a lot of systems in America set up to uniquely increase certain things, like suicide. Good example of the human cost of our "America is the best" mentality.

This post was edited by Thor123422 on Feb 21 2020 07:33pm

i would partially align it to religion and a "higher power". i think that it's a combo of lack of religion, too much knowledge and not enough wisdom, as well as lack of fulfillment.
i'm using those as a bit of a blanket to cover a very varying circumstance. these topics are intensely deep in itself, i'll acknowledge now that a lot of this will be opinionated and debatable. some of it will be relatable, but perhaps only to me.

in various form, religion usually offers life after death. it is the greatest reward you could receive after losing your own. people have died in peace and in war, but if they share a religion, they all have expectations of the same reward. it's nearly impossible to imagine that this reward may not exist if you are expecting it. it is literally blinding and will control your life, especially when there is also a punishment that you should expect if you step outside your boundaries. (good or bad it happens)
...when you don't expect either reward or punishment, you are no longer bound by the chains of faith.(again, good or bad) at this point, all you can do is expect "nothing". less than nothing, an absence of self. you can put hope against the odds that "something" could happen. "anything"... but if you don't believe in religion, you probably don't have high hopes for anything specific.

i think it's fair to say people are somewhat generally aware of the suffering of death. most everyone says they want to live and die old but... do they actually want to die? or do they just want to be old and magically transcend passed the reaper without suffering? it's easy to ignore, but any one of us could suffer torturous medical conditions for years before we finally "stop suffering". without a binding chain such as religion or fulfillment in life, it almost makes sense to make it easier at times. without "reason", it would be much easier to commit to suicide at sign of extreme medical conditions, or when running out of money to address them effectively. it would even be easier to commit at whim if negative emotions engulfed the positive.


i will add to this, i've been wanting to make a topic kind of similar to this. i think i'll do better at this not trying to rush thoughts into 1 post.

I work with this everyday, have looked at a lot of information pertaining to this topic (such as the CDC info provided in this article), and I don't know exactly what's going on with suicide in America. The issue is extremely complicated, and obviously it's multifactorial.

Religiosity has been identified as a protective factor from suicide, but personally I think that is confounded by the community support that often comes with being religious. Though, I could be wrong about that.

Income inequality and limited access to healthcare are other big factors, as Thor has pointed out.

Access to firearms is a risk factor, but it's vastly oversimplifying the issue to blame it all on guns, as this article pointed out.

We probably all work too much, sleep too little (artificial lighting and technology have been a factor in this), eat like shit, and exercise too infrequently. These are other huge problems and likely contributors.

My personal feeling is that America is going through a weird cultural crisis right now. I know that's vague and nebulous, but I feel as if something is wrong with the center of our society. Maybe we have astrayed from God, I don't know. I'm at a loss for explanations. It's probably complicated and under-studied.

it's capitalism and a strange culture of being mean to people who are different

This post was edited by Devil_cuck on Feb 21 2020 11:03pm

I don't think religion is involved, or it's super marginal and nullified by all the sexual abuses followed by suicides.

Worldwide the suicide rate is going down since the 50', while religion crashed down and urbanization exploded.

Excepted for US since like what ? 2006 ?



More likely the destruction of middle class, opioids, and ...

Isolation is the main contributor.

I would place my bets on the feelings of isolation being increased and exacerbated by the loss of organic ways of meeting people and interconnectedness in communities because of the way people use social media. For example instead of having political discussions with my neighbors I talk with people I've never met, because we all get to be more selective about who we associate with, and if we don't like another human we can just swipe left. Considering we can all be swiped to the left now maybe it all makes us a little more disposable within the social context.

This is actually a great post

The thing about th movies and shows and commercials that you can't quite seem to put your finger on (really nobody can) is the real question of WHY they are so effective at inducing these detrimental effects, affecting people so efficiently. Shows and movies these days are not written by comedians or artists but rather designed by psychologists and other brain scientists to have the intense effect of creating associative triggers whereby people are induced to submit to autonomic biological responses , usually for the purposes of profit and control , in such industries as tobacco booze sex law medical and the other high-yield scams