The suicide rate in the United States continues to climb, with a rate in 2017 that was 33% higher than in 1999, new research finds. (Emphasis added)
Suicide rates among people 15 to 64 increased significantly during that period, rising from 10.5 per 100,000 people in 1999 to 14 per 100,000 in 2017, the most recent year with available data, according to annual research published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics on Thursday.
The report noted that America’s suicide rates are at the highest level since World War II. Those who identify as American Indian or Alaska Natives had the highest increase among all race and ethnicity groups, according to the research.
The research included data on deaths in the United States from the National Vital Statistics System’s multiple cause of death files for 1999 and 2017.
The data showed that suicide deaths among girls and women rose significantly […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
Stephan–one very good reason why suicide isn’t discussed widely in the media is due to what is known as the “media contagion” effect, where media coverage (especially of the wrong kind) actually leads to an increased number of suicides. One recent example is the effect the book and HBO series “13 Reasons Why” had on increasing suicides (despite well-meaning but failed attempts to “discuss the issue” as a way of defusing the contagion problem). I haven’t read the article you posted yet, but one cause that has been directly tied to the higher suicide rate among kids here in Utah is the increasing prevalence of social media, which fosters feelings of inadequacy and depression, and is often a channel for the encouragement of suicide. The Deseret News ran a series on the suicide problem, and one entire issue was devoted to the social media problem.
We agree, but the reality of this level of suicide is a sign of cultural dysfunction.
Indeed. One wonders how much of that cultural dysfunction is in fact a major consequence of how the media–both mass and social–operates in our society. I suspect a lot. I believe one reason for the extreme polarization in our body politic is that it is a consequence of the media’s scientific marketing practices discovering that polarization is good for ratings, no matter how bad it might be for the future of our nation and culture.
I just read an article in The Nation magazine in which a college graduate wondered why he even bothered to get an education because he still felt powerless to stop Climate Change and all of it’s many effects which will soon become his problem (he’s only 22). He was a candidate for suicide if I ever heard one. I hope he overcomes his fear and does something constructive.
This fits right in with my comments above. Americans are living in a state of hyper-fear. Not because we are more in danger here in the US that before (in fact, overall we are safer than we have ever been). But because the media plays up fearful things as a way of getting attention, hence eyeballs, hence advertisers. Prime example is the fear parents have of a child being abducted by a stranger. Realistically, the chances of that happening are minuscule. But because of media over-reporting of the sensational cases, parents believe that the chances of that happening are far higher than they really are.
Yes, Paul, I agree with you. I call it a fear fugue.
— Stephan