“During prior dire times in Western civilization that caused massive social disruptions such as war, plague, famine and political upheaval, the suicide rate was relatively low”
Sounds good but I rather doubt they kept suicide statistics in the middle ages. Maybe 19th century.
That said, when there are multiple factors such as reckless behavior it can be hard enough to diagnose suicide as it is.
The very best source of how people behaved during those times is documented in the histories and contemporary literature. Thucydides, Pliny, Chaucer ,Manzoni just to name a few, all described the behavior and social interactions during these dire times. They were very similar to how people behave today, except these honest observers did not document widespread suicide.