You asked.

[kyburg]

While men make up most suicides, more women actually attempt to take their own lives.

There are an estimated 10-to-20 million attempted suicides each year. .. The elderly are statistically the most likely to kill themselves, though men aged between 15 and 29 are doing so more and more.

The IASP says this is largely because of the availability of guns.

"Guns are the most lethal instrument of suicide. Few people survive attempts to shoot themselves," Mr Mehlum said.

The figures are no surprise to me - not that long ago, I had to refute someone on sos_usa because she maintained that those "surrender monkeys in France" were killing themselves at a higher rate than anyone else in the world because of how much they had to pay in taxes.

Uh, no.

Wow, alcohol abuse is listed as a factor in the high rates in the Baltic states...guess capitalism isn't kind to everyone.

It makes one ponder - and I came up with something driving in this morning to work.

What happened to the old school Republican ideal of self-reliance? It's been replaced with "you're on your own! I don't have any responsibility towards you AT ALL."

We are all in service to each other - finding the balance between being self-reliant, and being part of a group, a family, a tribe, a community, a fellowship...that's key.

At any one time, we can be children, young adults and frail, sick elderly people, during our lives. Expecting to be entirely self-reliant over a whole lifetime can be very unrealistic.

I doubt the reporter wanted me to connect elderly suicides with guns. But I went there anyway.

Anyone taking antidepressants who has concerns should consult their doctor. This is also food for thought - are the rates rising because more people are taking these medications?

A popular anti-depressant has been linked with growing numbers of suicides and accidental overdoses, statistics show.

Between 1993 and 2002, 118 people in England and Wales taking venlafaxine (Efexor) died - 17.6 deaths per million prescriptions.

Although the rate is still lower than that associated with old-generation tricyclic drugs, it is rising, while the rate for tricyclics is falling.

The figures were collected by the National Audit Office.

It's an English study - but they're also able to collect statistics more reliably, in my honest opinion, due to the way they provide care. You have to report what you're treating to get paid, to the government who keeps these records.

Fewer cases on tricyclics, more on the SSRIs - so is this the balancing act?

Percentages. Bah. When it happens to you, it's 100%. That's the only percentage that really matters.

And neither family of medications touch situational depression.

Have a seat - plenty of room in this ol' living room....

Comments

[juan70x.livejournal.com]

At any one time, we can be children, young adults and frail, sick elderly people, during our lives. Expecting to be entirely self-reliant over a whole lifetime can be very unrealistic.

That is one I've battled with before, the self-reliant thing. I will go out of my way to help others, but as far as me seeking help, I'll say "nah, nah, I'll do this myself". I can't say it's pride, because whose pride am I affecting? My own? It's being stubborn.

I go through things like that all the time, and yet I'm not alone. I have family, and while I wish I had more than that (actual friends I can see face to face), I should be happy for what I do have. As I get older, my views change, my perspectives as well, and things become easier. Sometimes.

[odiedragon.livejournal.com]

Self-reliance is the only way to go... a hard path, certainly. But if you rely on others to get you through life, don't expect to get anywhere.

[caitlin.livejournal.com]

So.... you're saying there is NEVER a time to ask for help? Ever?

C.

[debu-chan.livejournal.com]

Of course not. Silly people paralyzed from the neck down need to stop depending on others. So do those people who insist on being sickly and/or senile. Ugh, and babies while we're at it. Acting like they can't change their own diapers. Sickens me.







**note the sarcasm...

[evilshell.livejournal.com]

Ah, depression and medication and suicide.

I cannot tolerate St. John's Wort or Sam-E. Both took a situational, minor depression and turned it into something much worse. The St. John's just made me more depressed and made it harder to see anything in a positive light. The Sam-E, however, was downright dangerous. I had taken it to actually help my knee, which I'd injured slightly and I thought it would improve the healing time a little bit and wasn't really all that aware of the "mood enhancement" of Sam-E. The evening after my first dose, I felt horrible and more depressed than I could remember in years. The next afternoon (after the second dose), I was sitting in my best friend's living room crying and saying that I felt like I wanted to die, I had nothing to live for - but there was a part of me that felt like it was watching this reaction and knew that it was just temporary and it would pass after the drug left my body. That was one of the strangest feelings I've ever had, both feeling suicidal and yet objective about why and the knowledge I wasn't *really* suicidal at the same time.

Talked to my doctor about it, she said people react differently to these herbs, and I obviously am one of those pepole ;)

I took Zoloft for a while, I hated how it made me feel. No high, no low...everything was flat and blah. I finally took myself off of it with few side effects and haven't looked back. I'd rather be depressed and actually feel something than feel nothing.

[feyandstrange.livejournal.com]

Some things that never seem to get mentioned in those antidepressant-and-suicide studies:

It's fairly common knowledge, or at least obvious to anybody with some training who stops to think about it, that antidepressants can take months to take full effect. And if you're not on a 'good' drug for you, of course it can make your life worse. The same reactions can be had from OTC cough syrup in some people, fer Chrissake; a friend of mine nearly suicides when she takes Robitussin.

On suicide rates: Many seriously clinically depressed people (my former self included) wouldn't object in the least if they were shot in the head by someone who walked up and threatened to do so, but lack the motivation to actually kill themselves. (Going all the way out to the bridge? I don't care that much. Take all those pills? Might not work and then I'd be stuck with a bum stomach besides. I'll just lie here.) The treacherous points between "too depressed to bother" and "Hey, that's better now" are "shit, I still feel crappy, pills must not be working, I'm doomed, I'm going out to the bridge".

Many of these antidepressants are being prescribed by GPs and similar doctors who aren't specialists in either the disease of depression or its treatments. (I suspect this is very much the case in that Brit National HEalth study cited above.) You're likely to get handed whatever drug was pushed on the doctor by his last pharmaceutical represenataive who visited with a box of freebies, not a carefully chosen drug for your situation. And you're unlikely to see a therapist at all. (Your insurance doesn't cover it, or not enough visits, or you're scared of therapy...) A GP who only sees you once a month isn't going to be able to monitor the dosage and how you're feeling with the accuracy, or the familiarity and knowledge, of a proper therapist or psychiatrist/psychologist (despite having had many of both I can never remember which is which) who is hopefully checking in with you at least once a week.

It's not the drugs that cause suicide. It's their use and misuse and the way we fling them at someone and tell them that the Magic Pill wil Make Everything Better instead of providing therapy, montioring, retraining, and all that other jazz that many depressed persons need as much or more than medications. But that's not covered by your insurance either.

And the drugs have helped millions of people who were luckier or who got better care.

So please, let's try not to blame the antidepressants. The last thing depressed people need is to be told "well, the meds will just make you suicidal anyway, so you may as well just sit there and do nothing".

My feelings exactly..

[tomlemos.livejournal.com]

i have a big problem with people being prescribed anti-depressants by their general practicioner and getting no further assistance at all.

The pill is only ONE part of the whole solution.

My personal experience

[tomlemos.livejournal.com]

Tricyclics and therapy.
about 3 and a half years worth of each.

I'm LOTS better. Going through a small spell right now, but I've got a lot of good friends who know what I've suffered with in the past and they're willing to help me this time around.

I'm very very very lucky.

[caitlin.livejournal.com]

Fewer cases on tricyclics, more on the SSRIs - so is this the balancing act?

Percentages. Bah. When it happens to you, it's 100%. That's the only percentage that really matters.

And neither family of medications touch situational depression.

I agree with the second statement there.

And would the third include burnout? The severe type? Because otherwise my being forced on anti-depressants 10 years ago (I refused) wouldn't have done any good anyway.

C.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

I find that the general consensus is to start a SSRI, even when it isn't immediately indicated - just in case. Hey, if it works, it's cheaper than anything else out there.

*face smacks* STOOOPID.