Suicide Facts
10.24.06 (11:12 am) [edit]
- Most popular press articles suggest a link between the winter holidays and suicides (Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania 2003). However, this claim is just a myth. In fact, suicide rates in the United States are lowest in the winter and highest in the spring (CDC 1985, McCleary et al. 1991, Warren et al. 1983).
- Suicide took the lives of 30,622 people in 2001 (CDC 2004).
- Suicide rates are generally higher than the national average in the western states and lower in the eastern and midwestern states (CDC 1997).
- In 2002, 132,353 individuals were hospitalized following suicide attempts; 116,639 were treated in emergency departments and released (CDC 2004).
- In 2001, 55% of suicides were committed with a firearm (Anderson and Smith 2003).
posted by: christine@swanktrendz (reply)
post date: 10.26.06 (7:31 pm)
What about the studies done in the 70's and 80's demonstrating that suicide was highest around the holidays? Do you think our distancing ourselves from nuclear families, and thus holidays, has impacted the timing of depression and suicide?
