Suicides in the news.

[Duppie 73]

Recently I've read about one suicide after another in NJ.

Recently at a gun range,the kid who killed not only himself but 2 others in a car crash, the jumper at Metro Park. and this morning on the GW bridge.......

Perhaps I'm more attuned since the incident at SS several months ago but it would seem to me we have a rash of people offing themselves recently.

The economy,PTSD,Government or just general ennui?

[NYMetsFan86 9]

I had tossed this convo around with some colleagues after discussing a 85 Year old patient whos 19 year old grandson committed suicide. My initial thought was I dont remember this much teen suicide when i was younger. Was it just not publicized as much? I remeber getting picked on incesently for being the fat kid but never took it to far. This is gonna sound so cliche, but I'll lay blame on a combination of things as I know many will disagree. 

 

Culprits?......IMO

 

-facebook and..(a main avenue for excessive bullying and torment)

-Kids seem to be ,in general, more rude and ruthless nowadays especially to each other. There is no dicipline or recourse for them.

 

When i was messed with my parents told me to stick up for myself sometimes physically if I needed to, ya i got in trouble for it but i was better because I learned from it. Is somthing so different now that kids find this to be the first method of solving the problem?

[Handyman 5,682]

Believe it or not, these things do occur in epidemics. If someone is on the fence about doing it and people around them do it, it steels them up into thinking "I can do this, too."

 

In the long run, it might be better for society. The alternative is a long life on psychotropic medications and the opportunity to raise a dozen screwed-up kids that we will have to support.

[NYMetsFan86 9]

Then we should have an annual "purge" as well to remove the burdens of society i guess.....3/4 kidding 

[T Bill 649]

When times are tough generally, these things begin to magnify.  We are 5 plus years in a crappy economy, still without hope, high unemployment, rising prices, these thing put a strain on the family unit.  Now with crapbook, and shi$$er, the bullying does not stop at the schoolhouse door.  It is a 24 hour non stop assault by nameless juveniles on-line.  Social media sucks.  Without face to face interaction, the bullying goes on and on by those who hide behind the nameless computer screens.  No wonder some suffer greatly when trying to find there place in life.

 

Real human interaction skills are lost.  It is a sad state of affairs. 

 

Social media is nothing more than a computer program making new sheeple by the thousands every day.

[Smokin .50 1,907]

I think the economy has a lot to do with it, and so does social media.  Kids are outta control.  I'm beginning to think that 1st Amendment rights ought to be "carded" like hand guns, after-all it's about the safety of the children.....

[Albanian 121]

Between 1990 and 2000, the suicide rate decreased from 12.5 suicide deaths to 10.4 per 100,000 people in the population. Over the next 10 years, however, the rate generally increased and by 2010 stood at 12.1 deaths per 100,000.

 

Also note the suicide rate in 1950 was around 13 per 100,000. Mass media makes everything seem like these days are worse when it may not be true.

 

Also youth suicide rates have increased since the 50's while adult (45+) has decreased since then.

 

What is causal and what is correlational? I think the economy is one of the bigger culprits.

[SgtToadette 59]

Don't forget the large amount of veterans returning who aren't receiving ample treatment for PTSD.

[seamusSU 0]

Don't forget the large amount of veterans returning who aren't receiving ample treatment for PTSD.

<--- that is one of the worst crimes that the govt commits. Our nation's vets deserve any and all assistance needed to return from the service and re-adjust to civilian life.

[NJKen 23]

I dont understand why people would off themselves.  I have a ton of bad crap going on rite now.  I am busy as hell, I have absolutely no time to do anything for myself, I am facing divorce, and I just had a serious financial loss.  I have a lot of crap to deal with at the moment.  I can honestly say that killing myself is NOT an option.  I will just pick up the pieces and move on with my life just like I have done in the past.  I just dont get it.  Life is not all happiness and money, or whatever the hell people thing it is nowadays.  I really dont have too much respect for people that take the cowards way out.  I honestly just dont understand how that is even an option.  I grew up hard, live hard and play hard (when I can).  I just pay my dues and move on.

Ken

[Handyman 5,682]

I dont understand why people would off themselves.  I have a ton of bad crap going on rite now.... I just pay my dues and move on.

Ken

 

 

You, sir, are the kind of guy that built America. Flexible, resilient and able to deal with adversity. 

 

Exactly the opposite of the type of citizen our government is currently trying to breed: Dependent on mommy and daddy or the government to come in and save the day all the time and going through life in a drug induced haze. Our current liberal society not only does not understand you, it fears you.

[HBecwithFn7 296]

Believe it or not, these things do occur in epidemics. If someone is on the fence about doing it and people around them do it, it steels them up into thinking "I can do this, too."

 

In the long run, it might be better for society. The alternative is a long life on psychotropic medications and the opportunity to raise a dozen screwed-up kids that we will have to support.

 

If you think it's bad here, you ain't seen nothin' yet! The rate in Japan among teens has been, and remains astronomical.

 

In fact,  it's so much in the news there that someone made a film about it - Suicide Club. It's a satirical look at the problem, with emphasis on blaming new technology (Internet etc.) and the cultural influences like "J-Pop" (Japan's version of groups like NKOTB)  for the drive to do "what every one else is doing."  The message being, "Live your own life... do what you want to do, not what 'everyone else' does, because 'everyone else' does it."

 

Be warned. If you choose to watch the "unrated" version, prepare for quite a bit of gratuitous gore, right from the beginning. Part of the satire. Definitely NSFW.

[Albanian 121]

Japanese culture included honorable suicide etc. that attitude also bumps up their rates.

[NJKen 23]

You, sir, are the kind of guy that built America. Flexible, resilient and able to deal with adversity. 

 

Exactly the opposite of the type of citizen our government is currently trying to breed: Dependent on mommy and daddy or the government to come in and save the day all the time and going through life in a drug induced haze. Our current liberal society not only does not understand you, it fears you.

Thanks!  You are really on target with that statement.  Maybe leaving my house the day I turned 18 and never looking back really did the trick for me. 

Ken

[raz-0 1,259]

Part of it is a number of people got attention recently because they disrupted commuter traffic.

 

For young people, I think you have some novel contributing factors. One of them is zero tolerance. I had a friend in high school around 1990. She was bullied relentlessly by a specific group of girls who repeatedly escalated it to violence. The school was kind of useless, but one thing they did do successfully was establish who instigated incidents, who escalated them and why, and they didn't add the burden of being punished by the school whenever she got bullied.

 

We've also been teaching kids to place responsibility on external entities. This is really ineffectual for a lot of interpersonal stuff. That ineffectiveness usually makes the life of the person misbehaving easier, and the life of those seeking help worse.

 

Social media makes it all more public.

 

 

[HBecwithFn7 296]

Japanese culture included honorable suicide etc. that attitude also bumps up their rates.

 

I don't think we're talking "Seppuku" here.  This is more a reaction to being "bullied" by societal cultures.  Which is the chief kvetch of the film and its satirical basis.

[UNDERSCORE 0]

Always thought that people that commit suicide are way past normal thoughts. I would automatically think of the people I would be leaving behind. Their pain. I'd just keep on truckin' till I'd straighten things out. How this doesn't affect their decision shows how selfish their decision is. It must be overwhelming.

[mipafox 438]

 

I had tossed this convo around with some colleagues after discussing a 85 Year old patient whos 19 year old grandson committed suicide. My initial thought was I dont remember this much teen suicide when i was younger. Was it just not publicized as much? I remeber getting picked on incesently for being the fat kid but never took it to far. This is gonna sound so cliche, but I'll lay blame on a combination of things as I know many will disagree. 

 

Culprits?......IMO

 

-facebook and..(a main avenue for excessive bullying and torment)

-Kids seem to be ,in general, more rude and ruthless nowadays especially to each other. There is no dicipline or recourse for them.

 

When i was messed with my parents told me to stick up for myself sometimes physically if I needed to, ya i got in trouble for it but i was better because I learned from it. Is somthing so different now that kids find this to be the first method of solving the problem?

 

 

It's not the bullies, it's the victims.

 

The bullying is no worse, it's quite tame, and there's a lot less stigma about tattle-taleing. And a lot more people willing to step in and handle your little problems for you if you decide to complain.

 

The kids are pussies. They've been coddled their entire lives and they don't know how to deal with conflict. Apparently, it also has to do with a pandemic of online narcissism. These idiots have 100 online "relationships" built around constructing some sort of image. 100 relationships that can be shattered with a single stroke. But few real and meaningful relationships or peers that truly care about them, or that they truly care about.

[Albanian 121]

I don't think we're talking "Seppuku" here. This is more a reaction to being "bullied" by societal cultures. Which is the chief kvetch of the film and its satirical basis.

I'm just saying I think it caused there to be less of a stigma against suicide in Japan. Not that I disagree with the films take on it.

[Handyman 5,682]

You hit that nail on the head...

[HBecwithFn7 296]

I'm just saying I think it caused there to be less of a stigma against suicide in Japan. Not that I disagree with the films take on it.

 

If so, then it (lessened stigma) is being passed on from generation to generation.  Very sad...

[Parker 213]

NJ Transit rail suicides are up.

 

http://www.northjersey.com/news/NJ_Transit_troubled_by_rise_in_rail_suicides.html?page=all

 

 

[mipafox 438]

 

Don't forget the large amount of veterans returning who aren't receiving ample treatment for PTSD.

 

 

Aren't their suicide rates no higher than the general public? They were the last time I was working at VA locations in 2011.

[SgtToadette 59]

Aren't their suicide rates no higher than the general public? They were the last time I was working at VA locations in 2011.

 

Not according to my sources.

[mipafox 438]

&nbsp;

Not according to my sources.

&nbsp;

 

It's double, OK thanks. That's clearly not much of a risk. I'm guessing that's a little skewed because half of the general population is female, and males (comprising most of the military) commit the most suicides. Not to mention old people are not offing themselves. Might be a statistical quirk. I'm guessing by age and sex it's a tossup.

 

Do you know what is 10x more likely to kill a vet than a person that never went to war? Every conflict since WWII?

[thug the bunny 0]

   

 

It's not the bullies, it's the victims.

 

The bullying is no worse, it's quite tame, and there's a lot less stigma about tattle-taleing. And a lot more people willing to step in and handle your little problems for you if you decide to complain.

 

The kids are pussies. They've been coddled their entire lives and they don't know how to deal with conflict. Apparently, it also has to do with a pandemic of online narcissism. These idiots have 100 online "relationships" built around constructing some sort of image. 100 relationships that can be shattered with a single stroke. But few real and meaningful relationships or peers that truly care about them, or that they truly care about.

 

+1 to the pandemic of online narcisissm. Kids today live by electronic communication, and less and less by real world interactions. My step son texts continually during all his waking hours. Interpersonal conflict is a part of the human condition, and the dynamic of FTF interactionis a learned skill, but I have noticed that my kids spaz when I get even a little confrontational about something that they didn't obey, lied about, etc, because kids are taught that no interpersonal conflict should ever exist FTF. We should live in a world of puppies and daisies, However, they find that online they can unleash their emotions without regulation, and that enables and emboldens them, while in reality making them weak.

 

I really fear for the direction our society is taking...

 

I never joined Facefock or Shitter due to a lack of real need, but now I do so out of principle.

[SgtToadette 59]

Do you know what is 10x more likely to kill a vet than a person that never went to war? Every conflict since WWII?

 

Please. Enlighten us.

[Holeshot 3]

Please. Enlighten us.

 

[mipafox 438]

 

Please. Enlighten us.

 

 

I don't have any enlightenment to offer, but it's auto accidents. It's been known since WWII, and the Army has monitored it but never been able to figure out why. After every conflict. And it doesn't even correlate with actually driving in the service, just combat deployment.

 

One of my two squad leaders died that way several years ago, not that one data point means anything. But 10x is a pretty big deal.

[Holeshot 3]

I don't have any enlightenment to offer, but it's auto accidents. It's been known since WWII, and the Army has monitored it but never been able to figure out why. After every conflict. And it doesn't even correlate with actually driving in the service, just combat deployment.

 

One of my two squad leaders died that way several years ago, not that one data point means anything. But 10x is a pretty big deal.

 

Damn it, I was gonna say aliens.