Posted on 08/13/2014 11:01:04 PM PDT by Citizen Zed
While certainly not the only group susceptible to suicide — 39,518 people took their own lives in 2011 — older white males with that cluster of characteristics have been on psychologists’ radar at least since federal statistics released last year showed an alarming spike in their suicide rate between 1999 and 2010. The suicide rate for white men increased by nearly 40 percent, to 34.2 per 100,000 people.
“This is certainly the demographic, middle-aged or older Caucasians,” said Dost Ongur, associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. “And certainly men with medical problems.” Williams has said he suffered from heart problems.
Men account for only about 20 percent of suicide attempts but represent about 80 percent of completed suicides, statistics show, almost certainly because they choose more lethal methods: guns and leaps from high places instead of drug overdoses, Ongur said.
(Excerpt) Read more at stltoday.com ...
finally, i’m a victim!
Must be white guilt. /s
Robin Williams was not like most other older white men.
Only if you actually kill yourself. Please don’t.
Look at that, the 80/20 rule rears it’s head again. That’s a serious success rate imbalance against women. Will the government start mandating training for women so they are more successful in their attempts? Maybe a new Title 9(b).
Have they done a separate study of age-50+ men with mental illness, substance abuse, and multiple marriage failures, and then looked at the racial composition of that specific demographic set?
Williams’ death does not look like a suicide caused by depression to me.
It has all the earmarks of an accidental death resulting from auto-erotic asphyxiation - just like David Carridine.
Because no one will call it what it is, we’re going to have to endure endless hours of depression and suicide analysis on cable TV.
In a Robin Williams thread, I posted this link yesterday showing data from 1999 to 2010. These numbers don’t reflect people who attempted suicide and failed - or deaths ruled as accidents which might have been suicides. And, of course there are more people in this ‘modern’ world.
Nevertheless, we are living in depressing times and need a slap in the face or a rebirth of optimism. Pray hard for ourselves and our fellow man.
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6217a1.htm
How about white men who don’t pollute their systems with cocaine and who budget their income and expenditures in a way that prepares them for a rainy day?
I’m of the opinion that severe depression has it’s roots in the spiritual realm.
Our definition of “failure” is purely man-made, and God is a whole lot more forgiving than most give Him credit for.
Robin had an interview with Diane Sawyer in 2006 and he was very candid about his issues. There was a couple frames where he looked up and talked about a loving God.
What he suffered from is demonic in nature (addictions & depression) and IMO so does everybody else who suffers from it.
Stats I had seen were that women actually attempt suicide far more often, but men more often succeed.
It could be women fail more than men because many women don’t want to succeed but are trying to get attention.
It has all the earmarks of an accidental death resulting from auto-erotic asphyxiation - just like David Carridine.
Might be the dumbest post of the week.
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