CNN has a story looking into whether suicides increase as the economy falls into a recession and investors begin to lose thousands of dollars in the stock market. According to a chart by the NIH & Bureau of Labor Statistics, there seems to be a correlation. Here are the latest high-profile suicides that seem to have been prompted by the economic downturn:
- Steven Good, a chairman and CEO of Sheldon Good & Co., a major U.S. real estate auction company, may have shot himself, according to police.
- Adolf Merckle, a 74-year-old German billionaire who was ranked the 94th richest person in the world by Forbes magazine, killed himself by walking in front of a train. According to the CNN article, “in recent months his empire had been near collapse.”
- Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, a 65-year-old French investor, killed himself after losing $1.4 billion in the Ponzi scheme that Bernard Madoff ran.
- Kirk Stephenson, 47-year-old English financier and COO of Olivant Ltd., jumped in front of a train in September (the real climax in the economic collapse).
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates more than 32,000 people commit suicide each year but public health experts expect an increase upwards to an additional 1200 suicides because of the economic climate. Here are a few more stats that are worth reading:
- Calls to the National Suicide Prevention Hotline went from 412,768 in 2007 up to 540,041 in 2008.
- Unemployed people are two to four times more likely to kill themselves than those who are employed.
I have to admit, I found that following paragraph interesting:
So I pose a question: Do all those who commit suicide have a mental illness? Or is it possible to kill oneself without being mentally ill?
Thanksgiving is several days over and I know I’m late on this but I still thought it would helpful for me to list seven things I’m thankful for this year. (I tried to list ten but I couldn’t think of anything beyond seven.)
depression introspection 