Suicide in the United States

Suicide in the United States

The aftermath of someone committing suicide leaves many unanswered questions on the minds of family and friends. Suicide is an earthshaking event. It rocks the lives of those nearby and sends infinite tremors through people close and distant. A person dies by suicide about every 16 minutes in the United States. An attempt is estimated to be made once every minute. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, released suicides rates for 2006. The new data show that suicide among those 45 to 54 years old has increased significantly over the past decade. Ninety percent of all people who die by suicide have a diagnosable psychiatric disorder at the time of their death. There are four male suicides for every female suicide, but three times as many females as males attempt suicide. Every day, approximately 90 Americans take their own life, and 2,300 more attempt to do so.

Each year, more than 33,000 people in the United States die by suicide. It is the country’s 11th leading cause of death. Suicide rates vary with age with the highest rates occurring among older people, however, in teens between the ages 15-19 suicides have been on the rise and is the third leading cause of death. In 1992, more teenagers and young adults died from suicide than those that died from stroke, cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, pneumonia, influenza and chronic lung disease combined.

Over and above, more than 300,000 people attempt suicide but don’t success (Andreason & Black, 1995). Suicide varies with different cultures. The statistics suicide rate is as

follows:

➢ European countries and Japan’s rate is 25 per 100,000 inhabitants.

➢ Countries with strong religious prohibitions such as Greece and Ireland, the rate is about 6 per 100,000.

➢ United States it is about 12 per 100,000.

“Suicide in the United States is more among persons of European descent than among those of African descent, but...