White Males Are Committing Suicide In Record Numbers In United States
 

(Feb. 19) – White males are committing suicide in record numbers the government has learned, and they are not sure why. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that an increase in suicides among white males has increased about 20% in the last several years and this could effect the country as a whole.

Shannon Neal can instantly tell you the best night of her life: Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2003, the Hinsdale Academy debutante ball. Her father, Steven Neal, a 54-year-old political columnist for The Chicago Sun-Times, was in his tux, white gloves and tie. “My dad walked me down and took a little bow,” she said, and then the two of them goofed it up on the dance floor as they laughed and laughed.

A few weeks later, Mr. Neal parked his car in his garage, turned on the motor and waited until carbon monoxide filled the enclosed space and took his breath, and his life, away.

Later, his wife, Susan, would recall that he had just finished a new book, his seventh, and that “it took a lot out of him.” His medication was also taking a toll, putting him in the hospital overnight with worries about his heart.

Still, those who knew him were blindsided. “If I had just 30 seconds with him now,” Ms. Neal said of her father, “I would want all these answers.”

Mr. Neal is part of an unusually large increase in suicides among middle-aged Americans in recent years. Just why thousands of men and women have crossed the line between enduring life’s burdens and surrendering to them is a painful question for their loved ones. But for officials, it is a surprising and baffling public health mystery.

A new five-year analysis of the nation’s death rates recently released by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the suicide rate among 45-to-54-year-olds increased nearly 20 percent from 1999 to 2004, the latest year studied, far outpacing changes in nearly every other age group. (All figures are adjusted for population.)

For women 45 to 54, the rate leapt 31 percent. “That is certainly a break from trends of the past,” said Ann Haas, the research director of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

By contrast, the suicide rate for 15-to-19-year-olds increased less than 2 percent during that five-year period — and decreased among people 65 and older.

The question is why. What happened in 1999 that caused the suicide rate to suddenly rise primarily for those in midlife? For health experts, it is like discovering the wreckage of a plane crash without finding the black box that recorded flight data just before the aircraft went down.

Experts say that the poignancy of a young death and higher suicide rates among the very old in the past have drawn the vast majority of news attention and prevention resources. For example, $82 million was devoted to youth suicide prevention programs in 2004, after the 21-year-old son of Senator Gordon H. Smith, Republican of Oregon, killed himself. Suicide in middle age, by comparison, is often seen as coming at the end of a long downhill slide, a problem of alcoholics and addicts, society’s losers.

“There’s a social-bias issue here,” said Dr. Eric C. Caine, co-director at the Center for the Study of Prevention of Suicide at the University of Rochester Medical Center, explaining why suicide in the middle years of life had not been extensively studied before.

There is a “national support system for those under 19, and those 65 and older,” Dr. Caine added, but not for people in between, even though “the bulk of the burden from suicide is in the middle years of life.”

Of the more than 32,000 people who committed suicide in 2004, 14,607 were 40 to 64 years old (6,906 of those were 45 to 54); 5,198 were over 65; 2,434 were under 21 years old.

Complicating any analysis is the nature of suicide itself. It cannot be diagnosed through a simple X-ray or blood test. Official statistics include the method of suicide — a gun, for instance, or a drug overdose — but they do not say whether the victim was an addict or a first-time drug user. And although an unusual event might cause the suicide rate to spike, like in Thailand after Asia’s economic collapse in 1997, suicide much more frequently punctuates a long series of troubles — mental illness, substance abuse, unemployment, failed romances.

Without a “psychological autopsy” into someone’s mental health, Dr. Caine said, “we’re kind of in the dark.”

The lack of concrete research has given rise to all kinds of theories, including a sudden drop in the use of hormone-replacement therapy by menopausal women after health warnings in 2002, higher rates of depression among baby boomers or a simple statistical fluke.

At the moment, the prime suspect is the skyrocketing use — and abuse — of prescription drugs. During the same five-year period included in the study, there was a staggering increase in the total number of drug overdoses, both intentional and accidental, like the one that recently killed the 28-year-old actor Heath Ledger. Illicit drugs also increase risky behaviors, C.D.C. officials point out, noting that users’ rates of suicide can be 15 to 25 times as great as the general population.

If we could get more baby boomers to off themselves, that would be smart population control and save us a fuckton of money.

Is that more or less than an "asston" ???

These are white middle class working males.
 

These are white middle class working males.

You didn't answer my question about fucktons and asstons.
 

You didn't answer my question about fucktons and asstons.

Good question...I copped "fuckton" from Jim, so he probably knows the answer.

I think it was Clodfobble that said "asston" ... so we'll probably have to let them mud-wrestle for dominance.

I used to work near a town named Aston. It's a shit ton nicer than nearby Chester.

You think we could get Jinx to substitute for Jim there?

If we want to get an accurate answer, we are almost required to make that substitution.

I'd pay money to see that matchup. not in clobble's current delicate state, of course.

Oh, look at mister sensitive over here.

He's just showing concern for the other onlookers. No one wants to see a pregnant lady in a bikini, dude.

I might...

The answer: Prozac and alcohol.

Ok...why is it entitled "white males" when the leap of 31 percent (women) is more astounding than the mere 20 percent jump for men?

Shouldn't it be "women (fore-most) and men commiting suicide in record numbers"?

Or is this another case of Cicero not being able to read?

Why is the title of this article relating to white males? The rate of suicides amongst middle-aged men rose 20 per cent. In the article it states that rates of suicide amongst middle-aged women rose 31 per cent....so why is the thrust of this thread the rise in male suicides? Surely the bigger hike is in suicides amongst middle-aged women.

where the heck did this article come from? I see no source!

It appears to have been originally in the NY Times, based on my Google search.

Ah, thanks. I'm anal about sources. I'm a college kid.
Btw was it titled as white males suicide blah?

All these middle aged males topping themselves are just the dregs that didn't get around to doing it in their 20's in the 80's and 90's. Probably cause they were yuppies then and now they're just boring old farts. What a let down huh?

Seriously though, it's a big problem world wide, not just in the US.

best news i heard all week

I still want to know why the thread is particularly focusing on record numbers of white males killing themselves when there's been a hike of 20% yet middle aged women have had a hike of 30%.

I think it's a bogus article lacking in facts. Well maybe not bogus, but certainly lop sided. The best thing would be to research the author and find out what particular axe is being ground.

These folks are commiting suicide and that's a shame. In the U.K. in one area in Wales, Brigdend I think, there is a CLUSTER (hate that fucking term) of young suicides (mostly male). What is causing it? It's tragic. Saw a film last night directed by Ridley Scott: Kings of Heaven where the dead body of a suicide was decapitated because she committed suicide upon grief of her dead baby. The religous belief being that she should be headless in hell. Just being dead is surely enough. i.e you can't touch me anymore.

*sigh*

Because men are more important than woman.

Go read The Bible and get me a drink


:bolt:

lol...nice one PH.

Because the writer is used to focusing many studies on White males.

Careful here buddies, Men do serious nasty things to women. And to themselves. And to other men. But violenece to women is unacceptable. I am in another forum here?

Google seems to show that the original article from the NY Times did not focus on men, or mention them specifically at all. The original headline was "Middle-Age Suicide Rates Skyrocket." In fact, the whole first paragraph posted on this board

seems to be an addition by the poster. Typically the NY Times is better about proofreading their grammar, at the very least.

That makes more sense Clod, thanks for that.

So, Joannblue: why the focus on "white males"? Given that the article you've taken it from was commenting on the increase in suicides amongst the middle-aged population generally, and showed a sharper increase in suicides amongst middle-aged women specifically.

Dana...see post 15.
Where I asked the same question right before you did and still don't have an answer either.
Well, not exactly the same question...but same vein.

Why is the title of the thread not adjusted to the contents of the article?

lol you must have posted that whilst I was typing my response, I hadn't seen it :P

I am wondering if the poster has some sort of axe to grind? the focus as well is on 'white males' rather than 'middle-aged' males. This raises a few hackles for me :P

Heh...here it is everybody. Umm...yea...that's not what the article was called. Now it makes more sense.

http://mentalhopenews.blogspot.com/2...-puzzling.html

And here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/19/us...rssnyt&emc=rss


This part was made up and that was unclear to me:

~snip~ White males are committing suicide in record numbers the government has learned, and they are not sure why. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that an increase in suicides among white males has increased about 20% in the last several years and this could effect the country as a whole.~snip~

Heh- took me a minute to find the article.....

Just some spin. I've gotta get used to the way people write.

That's fascinating. Why would anybody read that article and come to the conclusion that, very specifically 'white working males' were under threat. At no point in that article does anybody mention the colour of the suicide victims, only the age grouping. There's a mention of gender that shows a larger threat to the female population, and whether the victims were generally in work or not isn't mentioned.

Totally fucking bizarre.

Why would anyone pretend like the portion they wrote was part of the article?

It doesn't say white males anywhere actually. That is interesting!

lol! Joann- you got so busted!!

Ain't it though? Reeks of white supremacist website reportage to me.

I would like to wait this out for an explanation from Joann.

Yeah. By my last comment, I didn't mean necessarily that Joann was the white supremacist, but that she may have got the story from a site that's already doctored it to their own agenda. I've seen the BNP site do that quite a few times: they get a story from a reputable source and add a bit at the start to skew the whole tone of it and post it like it's their own.

I'm standing by my original comment--baby boomers killing themselves off in the US can do nothing but good. :D

Joann usually provides the link to the article if she posts one. Just not this time...I'm just sayin'.....

:D

*clears throat*
http://www.cellar.org/showpost.php?p=433351&postcount=4
:D

An interesting article, It came as quite a shock, since mainly, and for a long time in this country the suicide rate amongst males (especially gay men) between the age of 18-24 have been significantly higher than all the rest.

Also this comes with added significance as in the news recently (the last couple of days), there has been a spat of suicides in a small welsh town, 17 in total.

Bridgend suicide incidents

How many asstons in a metric buttload?

Isn't that the car James Bond drives?

To be a guy, then word it properly.

Wench - fetch me MY drink.
(It usually works - but only if you say it with a smile.)

Wait let me work my logic meter.

The "potential" white supremacist website article is just junk to spark controversy for publicity....to gain white supremacist supporters?

More to add to the general noise about 'white males' being the group who are truly discriminated against/under threat/undervalued in our multicultural society...

I don't think it came from a supremacist article at all, it just shows the thread author's personal preference for white working males.

I'm still waiting for that explanation...Joann. :)

btw:
The asston unit of measurement is actually based on biblical proportions.

:)

I prefer epic proportions, as in shitstorm of epic proportions.

Really?
You prefer a shit storm of epic proportions? Why would you prefer that?
:p

Where's your empathy for their plight, DanaC? :rolleyes:

I get bored.

ok...How are biblical proportions not epic?
:)

biblical shitstorm? no thanks

I wasn't offering there Flint.:D I was asking how biblical proportions aren't epic. Since Epic was your preference....

If a fuckton falls on you, is the impact fatal or merely serious?

Or is there a case for its being hilarious?

[/deadpan]

Depends .... but if it was pushed off the edge of a building and landed on you there's an argument for it being nefarious....

:blush: Has anyone told you that you are really hot when you dress up in that detective outfit with the short skirt? Let's go out for some hot wings.

I've really got to follow this thread regularly. This is a discusson group for adults - hopefully?

Yea..the adults were talking.
:D
Thread drift happens...it's ok.....It's funny that you picked out a lull in the discussion of why Joann would misrepresent the contents of an article.....We aren't even discussing the thread topic anymore because it's bogus. Get with the program before you decide you are the adult.