Death and Joblessness-Suicide Dogs the Long-Term Unemployed. What Can Be Done to Help Them?

[babylonsister]

Death and Joblessness
Suicide Dogs the Long-Term Unemployed. What Can Be Done to Help Them?
By Annie Lowrey 8/17/10 4:30 AM


A photograph taken after a protest in Grand Rapids, Mich. (Flickr user StevendePolo)


He hit “publish” on the last Wednesday in July, in the middle of a long afternoon. “I also have become homeless and am on the verge of suicide. I slept out in the wood last night and didn’t gett very much sleep. I hate to bring you people down with my problems but I thought you would like to know this. I don’t know what else to say except I’m very sorry it turned out like this but I can take the strain of living like this very much longer.” (All posts are reproduced as published.)

The post went up as part of a conversation about homelessness on Unemployed-Friends, a popular online forum for the unemployed to connect with one another. Most were discussing how to live in homeless shelters after eviction or foreclosure. But his post went further. “This is killing me physically and emotoinally. I am at the end of my rope and getting to the point of letting go. I have tried everything I know to get help. DHS won’t help’ Salvation Army won’t help. 211 won’t help. I have no idea as to where to go from here. If you don’t hear from me by tomorrow I probably will be dead.”

Thousands of users visit the web site daily, offering one another everything from advice about applying for unemployment insurance benefits to emotional support. It is one of dozens of such sites helping the nation’s 14.6 million unemployed — particularly the long-term unemployed, the 6.6 million Americans who have been out of work for more than six months. “I am very tempted to walk in front of an oncoming semi right now. Sorry to go on ranting but I am getting to the point where I feel I have no choice. For those of you that want to know I am currently in Grand Rapids. I appreciate your words of encouragement but right now it doesn’t seem to be enough to keep me going.”

The post ended, “I will try to tough out another night. Goodbye for now.”

***

The unemployed commit suicide at a rate two or three times the national average, researchers estimate. And in many cases, the longer the spell of unemployment, the higher the likelihood of suicide.

snip//

There is no saying how many suicides the recession has caused.

During the Great Depression, the suicide rate increased about 20 percent, from 14 to 17 per 100,000 people. The Asian economic crisis in 1997 led to an estimated 10,400 additional suicides in Japan, Hong Kong and Korea, with suicides spiking more than 40 percent among some demographic groups. But such statistics can mislead, social scientists say. Joblessness does not cause suicide. Rather, it correlates: Depressed persons tend to lose their jobs due to poor work performance, and a few also commit suicide. Jobless people tend to turn to alcohol, worsening their depression, and increasing the chances that they harm themselves. Still, academic studies show that suicide rates tend to move with the unemployment rate. Researchers in New Zealand found that the unemployed were up to three times as likely to commit suicide, with middle-aged men the most likely.

So how many suicides are associated with the recession? Nobody knows, not yet. The statistics lag about three years, so the official Center for Disease Control numbers still predate the financial crisis. Right now, therefore, the reports remain anecdotal.

But looking at individual counties’ or cities’ data, there are ominous signs of a real spike. Some counties show no change. Others show dramatic climbs. In rural Elkhart County, Ind., where the unemployment rate is 13.7 percent, there were nearly 40 percent more suicides in 2009 than in a normal year. In Macomb County, Mich., where the unemployment rate is also 13.7 percent, an average of 81 people per year committed suicide between 1979 and 2006. That climbed to 104 in 2008 and to more than 180 in 2009.

more...

http://washingtonindependent.com/94925/death-and-joblessness

[Lorien]

1. America has become a Nation that helps no one except the very wealthy

There's no help anywhere. I know; as an unemployed person with a host of chronic health issues I've also tried to find help. It just doesn't exist. One of my former coworkers committed suicide last year after nearly three years of unemployment. He had lost everything; his home, marriage, car...he was staying with a friend who was a cop and found his gun. My cousin and her husband both been unemployed for over two years now. Her husband spent the first half of this year in a mental institution after a seizure and complete meltdown, all due to stress. Lack of compassion and any kind of help is literally killing Americans. We spend trillions on wars to "protect America", but for some reason we don't seem to care about Americans themselves.

[CurtEastPoint]

2. Yeah, and not to mention my Cobra runs out in 1 mo and I just got turned down...

by Aetna for individual insurance. MFSOB's.

[Newest Reality]

3. Being in that position now for a while ...

I can say it takes a lot of fortitude to try deal with it and you have to do whatever you can, under any conditions sometimes, to survive. When you are older and have no family, savings or possessions, you do not see a likelihood of a way out other than pure luck with low odds.

The thing is, many people are still able to turn a blind eye to this, (as they have all along when the numbers of the indigent were lower in number and profile). One wonders how the statement, "You very well could be next!" impacts the people who are still afloat and managing to thrive. Are beliefs that it won't happen to you or someone close to you enough now?

Take note that the "safety net" has been ravaged and torn asunder by the grinning locusts of capitalism gone wild. Food stamps are one of the few items left to the average person and we see that they have even been put on the chopping block. The numbers at shelters and food pantries are skyrocketing and there is no end to the crises in sight. We have a crises that only the rest who have not sank below the surface in the Titanic can rectify. That would take some major determination and effort and, as we see, the will is not anywhere to be found in a "glad it isn't me" world where people adopt lop-sided philosophies like The Secret and distorted religious understandings to justify their place and/or prosperity.

Keep in mind: You, and/or yours, could be next. Losing it all is as bad as it sounds, especially when there is no place to go to recover from it ... no place at all. Everything is owned.