US experiencing disturbing rise of suicide attempts, study finds
Americans increasingly have suicidal tendencies.
nypost.com
Americans increasingly have suicidal tendencies.
Dark new research has painted a bleak picture of recent suicide rates in the US. Published this month in “Crisis: The Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention,” the study reported that Americans have recently experienced an increase in suicidal thoughts, planning and attempts.
Researchers looked at a sample of 7,654 adults using data collected between 2015 and 2018 from the National Survey Drug Use and Health Survey, and their findings are not pretty.
“Results revealed that from 2015 to 2018, there was a 16% increase in suicide ideation, 18.6% increase in suicide planning, and 11.6% increase in suicide attempts,” the three study authors, all of whom are affiliated with the University of Cincinnati, wrote in the abstract.
Drug users, youth, queer and African-American individuals were found to be among the most vulnerable to the disturbing trends.
“Significant increases in each behavior were found in African-Americans, younger adults, sexual minorities, and individuals who reported past-year drug use,” authors wrote, noting that, of these higher-risk groups, the “biggest increases in suicidal behaviors in the past year were among African-Americans, with the proportion of African-American individuals who planned a suicide (61.6%) and who attempted suicide (48.1%) increasing.”
The authors posit that stress, bullying and social-media use are all possible reasons for the increase in suicidal tendencies among young adults.
They also discovered an interesting correlation between drug use and suicidal thoughts and actions.
“Prior drug use significantly increased from 2015 to 2018 in individuals who reported attempting suicide,” the authors wrote. They found a 34.8% increase in marijuana use, a 13% increase in cocaine use and a massive 429% increase in ketamine use.
As for solutions to help bring down the numbers on US suicidal tendencies, they propose making sure more Americans have access to “adequate mental health care,” and educational resources, so the warning signs of stress and suicidal thoughts can be better recognized.
One of the study authors, doctoral candidate Andrew Yockey, previously co-authored a study that found that LSD has recently become exponentially more popular among American adults as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Guess they didn't buy $TSLA
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