In close relation to the post "What Kills you after an Economic Collapse" is the issue of suicide, which I thought deserved a sepparate post.
Suicide had already gone up 60% through the nineties and up until 2001 before the economy finally collapsed. It went up 30% from 2000 to 2001 alone, so the link between suicides and harsh economic times is no mystery. From 1998 to 2008, suicide in Argentina has gone up 102%.
In average, 8 people commit suicide in Argentina per day, 50% of them young people, between 14-24 years old. While this is still around the international average and far from the higher rates of suicide often found in countries with excellent quality of life, its still noticeable. People kill themselves for different reasons, and poor socioeconomic conditions is one of them. Argentina has the highest suicide rate among young people in Latin America.

But lets not only look at Argentina alone, its not the center of the world after all, how about other countries? In Greece, suicides have DOUBLED since the crisis started and in Spain for every 1% increase of unemployment there’s a 0.8% increase in suicide.
I have mentioned before that around here suicide had become so common, it actually bothered me when I went to work taking the train, and someone decided to throw himself under the train at 8 am in the morning, a desperate way to get someone to notice the poor person in his final moments.

Where and Why

What surprised me the most is that Buenos Aires, where most of the population concentrates, is not where most of the suicides (per 100.000 inhabitants ) is taking place. Often it’s the poorest provinces.
Santa Cruz, Catamarca and Salta dispute the top of the list every year.
In Salta for example, suicides have gone up 328% since 1997, mostly young people 15 to 19 years old. Recently I’ve seen it mention on the news and its alarming to see kids from school just chocking themselves to death, sometimes filming it with their cellphones.
Now, Salta is a small province, its capital city where most of its population concentrates barely has 464,678. A wave of suicides took place in the town of Rosario de la Frontera, with just 24.000 inhabitants, where five teenagers between 13 and 14 years old killed themselves in only 3 months.

I find this to be surprising, given that we’re supposed to believe that after an economic collapse, small town lifestyle is supposed to be healthier both mentally and physically for both children and adults. Yet it is in these smaller and often poorer provinces and towns where suicide has peaked, often following unemployment.
According to several reports it seems that its not unemployment directly the reason why teens and young adults kill themselves, but rather the lack of hope in a better future. The difference seems to be subtle but its important to notice it since these poor towns are already used to poverty and hardships. Seems that not seeing light and the end of the tunnel, so to speak, is what pushes these people over the edge.

Another factor seems to be contagious suicide. This is something that experts believe to be possible, specially among teens. I don’t know if contagious is the right word (maybe its more about imitation) but there’s definitely something along that line. When Marilyn Monroe killed herself in 1962, suicide in USA went up 12%. Suicide rates increase when someone famous kills himself and the media pays particular attention to it. In small towns, people usually know each other better and its not unrealistic to expect a “celebrity” reaction when someone that is well known by the inhabitants kills himself, or when the local media deal with the news.
Its interesting to notice theses things, pay attention to them if a family member has a tendency towards depression. Be ready for it and specially discuss it in the family if your community sees something like this going on.

Take care folks,

FerFAL

http://ferfal.blogspot.com/2010/09/suicides-after-crisis.html

interesting...  I sure thought that the more rural folks would be more insulated from economic downturn, but I think the main thing, like you mentioned, is that hope is much more crucial for survival than anything else...  

Very informative, also a good way to clean out the gene pool, we just need the some of the elitists to feel that way

In close relation to the post "What Kills you after an Economic Collapse" is the issue of suicide, which I thought deserved a sepparate post.
Suicide had already gone up 60% through the nineties and up until 2001 before the economy finally collapsed.




The US economy has not "collapsed" yet...  but at this rate it will.      We are in very bad times but not in a full blown collapse.      When the welfare checks stop all together for the people of "the gov owes it to me" country  and the paper money in your pocket is being used for toilet paper... THEN it is a full collapse and then suicide will be OFF THE CHARTS!    Survival of the strong I guess.

Good observations, thanks for posting!

Survival of those that can find hope, I think.  I've seen some strong people lose hope and die.  I bet you have too.  The guy that never got over losing a child.  The lady who couldn't cope after a divorce.  That strong and stubborn SOB you went to school with who couldn't beat the bottle.

Of course, if by strong, you meant they find hope, forgive me.

Good post and point . Many of men have wasted their lives over women or booze  , add out side pressures and the rates go up of course .

One thing everyone around here noticed was that whatever weakness or addiction you had, the crisis only made it worse. If you had a drinking problem you drunk more, if you did “recreational” drugs you found cheap yet very destructive drugs such as “Paco” to be an easy way to avoid reality.
I’m not sure about the divorce rate, but it probably went up. Half the kids in my son’s classroom have divorced parents. I guess it either strengthens the couple or it crushes it. In my case my wife and I are very close, problems made us stronger both individually and in our marriage. Like water eroding a rock, the pressure of the ever increasing daily struggles gets into every little crack your personality and people’s relationships. If you withstand it, it tempers you making you tougher, if not it brings you down one piece at a time.
I have 3 very close friends (never was the 1 billion friends type) and two of them have serious depression problems. It’s hard to keep it together when the wages just aren’t enough, when you feel your lifestyle threatened, ever increasing prices, and to top it you have to be constantly aware regarding crime. You get back home after a long day’s work, for a salary that buys less every month, took a train that is too crowded, a highway that was designed for the kind of traffic there was 80 years ago. You turn on the TV and what do you see? Politicians saying everything is fine, leftist scumbags that just piss you off even more and a president you didn’t vote (and you have a hard time finding someone that did) lying to your face, talking about austerity and the wonders of socialism while wearing +USD 100.000 in jewelry and designer’s clothing.
It’s a pretty intricate discussion topic with almost endless variables.
The important thing here is understanding that things only get harder, often worse, so its better to get these things in order (addictions, couple problems, emotional weaknesses) before more trying times.
Sometimes you hear people in S&P forums think SHTF (in any way) will bring fresh air into their lives, that they’ll be king of the hill, better themselves on a personal level. Not at all. If you’re weak during the good times, you’ll crack during the bad ones, not rise to the occasion.

FerFAL

Interesting comments, and it brings to mind something that often occurs to me when reading the Survival or Economics threads:





People usually refer to SHTF as if it's a singular event.  It seems to be natural for people to assume that a "collapse" will be an exciting short duration event.





Conversely, most people seem to be incapable of grasping the concept of a slow, grinding, permanent decline.  





Throughout history, the rise and fall of civilizations is measured in generations or centuries.  





Individually, we have the life span of insects.  

 

Permanent solution to a temporary problem....

Seen it twice in my life.....that's two, too many times....