CDC Records Highest Suicide in Over 30 Years: Hits Women the Hardest
The CDC released a new study this past week that shows suicide rates in the United States increasing twenty-four percent over a fifteen-year period from 1999-2014. The rate is now 13.0 per 1000, up from 10.5 per 1000 in 1999. Rates had fallen from the period before (1986-1999) but are on the rise again, with the major increases coming in the middle-aged demographic, Native Americans and among women. However according to the New York Times, almost every age group suffered from increases, a worrying trend across the board. Only black men and men & women over 75 saw decreases.
The study states that the increase in the middle age group suicide rate is tied to job insecurity and people’s financial situation. Additionally, Professor Julie Phillips of Rutgers University theorized that social changes, like rising divorce rates (that have doubled since the 1990s according to the New York Times) are tied to an increase in suicides. The increase in the rate for young men and women is less clear but many believe that undiagnosed mental health issues and societal pressure are major contributors.
Robert D. Putnam, a public policy professor at Harvard said the study linked poverty, hopelessness and health to increased suicide rates. Although some hospitals are now regularly screening patients for suicidal thoughts or tendencies, the New York Times points out that it is not enough and is not automatic in all hospitals, allowing many to fall through the cracks. Suicide prevention funds from the federal government totaled 25 million dollars from 2012- 2015, a figure that the National Institute of Mental Health’s Suicide Research Consortium said was just a fraction of what depression and mental illness research received.
According to the LA Times, non-Latino American Indians and Alaska Natives” had the highest rates of any ethnic group at the beginning of the observed period. Now they are even higher, with 1 in every 2,000 men “in this ethnic group committed suicide, a 60 percent increase over the suicide rate… that prevailed in 1999,” per the LA Times. Although not in the United States, this problem is underscored by a recent story about a Canadian First Nation with a major suicide problem. They had eleven attempts in under a week and more than one hundred in the last seven months, leading their Chief to declare a state of Emergency and complaints of neglect from the Canadian National Government. According to the Pew Research Center one in four Native Americans or Alaska Natives are living in poverty, a statistic that could be contributing to high suicide rates.
The most common methods of suicide determined by the CDC study were firearms for men at approximately fifty five percent and poison for women at about 34 percent. Gun suicide rates are down in both men and women, however, the total number of gun suicides increased, per The New York Times. Suffocation also increased to 25 percent of all suicides, which is considered a major problem because it is an accessible and unpreventable method.
With Congress in gridlock and partisanship at an all time high, no one knows if more funding could be pushed through within the next year, however communities can take a stand by continuing to offer support, training adults to see the signs of suicide and providing suicide hotlines and crisis counseling.
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800- 273-8255 and is open 24/7/365. Additionally websites such as hopeline.com offer 24-hour crisis hotlines. Their phone number is 1-800-442-4673. Both are free of charge.