Oct 21 2008
Middle-Aged Suicides On the Rise
Suicide, the tool of choice for the most selfish and cowardly in our society, is on the rise again:
A new six-year analysis in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that the U.S. suicide rate rose to 11 per 100,000 people in 2005, from 10.5 per 100,000 in 1999, an increase of just under 5%.
The report found that virtually all of the increase was attributable to a nearly 16% jump in suicides among people ages 40 to 64, a group not commonly seen as high-risk. The rate for that age group rose to 15.6 per 100,000 in 2005, from 13.5 per 100,000 in 1999.
Virtually all the increase is from 40-64 year-olds? That is a new trend and a very alarming one at that. These our people who are supposed to be the stable ones in our society, the ones we depend on the most. Why is this happening with this group?
“Really, we don’t know,” said Susan Baker, an author of the new study and a professor with the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Perhaps, she notes, Baby Boomers are more prone to depression, drug abuse and their counterparts—despair and hopelessness. Perhaps women have become more vulnerable to mood disorders as they’ve pulled back on taking hormone replacement therapy around menopause.
More than 90 percent of suicides are associated with psychiatric disorders, and deteriorating access to treatment may part of the explanation, says Dr. Paula Clayton, medical director of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
Psychiatric disorders. If you are saying someone who thinks the only way to solve there problems is to kill themselves is crazy, you won’t get an argument from me. But what makes an individual who has made it through the teen years, survived the entry into the work force, and perhaps even weathered a mid-life crisis commit suicide?
Robert Bossarte, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Rochester in New York, says that people have traditionally focused on suicide prevention in the very young and the old—but not necessarily the middle-aged. Historically, people over 65 have had the highest suicide rates, but this study suggests that trend is changing.
“The most important take-home message is try to understand what’s unique about the [middle-aged] population and what message would be most effective at preventing this,” he says.
A number of factors could be affecting the middle-aged, including taking care of aging baby-boomer parents, or coping with substance abuse or unemployment.
Bossarte also notes that while rates are rising in women, men are at greater risk overall.
“There’s something unique about the life circumstances of white, middle-aged males that is contributing to this risk,” he says. “The key is getting people into treatment and getting people to use the resources that are available to them.”
Bottom line, there is a tremendous rise in the number of over-40 white males killing themselves in this country. That news is hitting just a little too close to home…
