Everyday Health Emotional Health Depression
Economic Crisis Leads More to Suicide
Unemployment may cause more anxiety and depression, which put people at risk for suicide.
By Everyday Health Staff
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MONDAY, Nov. 5, 2012 — In the two years since the economic crisis beset America, the rate of increase in suicides went up four-fold, according to a letter in The Lancet.
Data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on suicide and mortality rates from 1999 through to 2010 show suicide rates rising slowly between 1999 and 2007. From 2008 to 2010, however, the rate of increase more than quadrupled - going from 0.12 suicides per 100,000 people to 0.51 suicides per 100,000.
That's about 1,500 additional suicides per year in the United States since 2007, compared to the numbers that would have been expected if 1997-2007 trends had continued, researchers say. They used the same model to analyze the data as they recently used to estimate the effect of the recession on suicide rates in England; the model indicates rising unemployment may account for around a quarter of the excess suicides observed in the United States since 2007.
"In the run-up to the U.S. presidential election, President Obama and Mitt Romney are debating how best to spur economic recovery. Missing from this discussion is consideration of how to protect Americans' health during these hard times," wrote Aaron Reeves, of the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, who wrote the letter with his colleagues in The Lancet. "Suicide is a rare outcome of mental illness, but this means that these data are likely the most visible indicator of major depression and anxiety disorders among people living through the financial crisis, as revealed by recent research in Spain and Greece."
Despite these conclusions, the authors point out that some countries, such as Sweden, have avoided increased rates of suicide during the economic downturn, and they conclude, "The fact that countries such as Sweden have been able to prevent suicide rises despite experiencing major recessions reveals opportunities to protect Americans from further risks of suicide during the continued economic downturn. There is a clear need to implement policies to promote mental health resilience during the ongoing recession."
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