Current Events > Why is it that the more advanced a country is, the higher the suicide rate?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Higher anxiety, depression, suicide... Japan, South Korea, United States having the highest rates overall. While, many poorer countries have far less suicides. People living in poorer parts or rural areas are also mentally better off.

I dunno, but ive recently become increasingly aware of my crippling loneliness and maybe others are the same. If i had to focus more on just surviving i probably wouldnt care as much. Maybe theres a correlation there for a lot of people

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like gandhi said, mo money mo problems

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expectation

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Your individuality is erased within a modern, urban society. Your insignificance is constantly reinforced by the media and your peers.

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High living cost

You force born to this shitty world to work till you drop dead so you can pay you bill and food
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I think the more you have potentially the worse you feel. Think about Robin Williams, he was famous, talented, beloved, rich, and a bunch of other things, and he was still depressed. Imagine realizing you have everything and you are still so sad, all the good then just makes it feel worse. You feel guilty, because you have all that and are sad while so many people are left wanting for so many essential things. You start to question if you feel this way with everything, how will you feel when something truly bad happens? It all just starts to wear you down until you say if you can't be happy with all of this, you will never be happy.
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Where is the source or data? My understanding has been that the countries of the former USSR typically have higher rates than most other places.

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A more superficial life where you sacrifice your soul in order to appease others and keep up with the joneses which makes you wonder if its really worth it. Then you realize you have wasted your life and dreams making other people richer and your reward is being left with enough money to pay your bills and indulge in a vacation every now and then.

Life is a trap and you gotta hack it. Good credit score will be your best friend and your best bet to thrive in life, but maintain debt to a very minimum and live BELOW YOUR MEANS. That is key to a less depressing life in the US.

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People in poorer countries are too busy trying to survive.

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You guys made some good points. I think it also has to do with humans moving away from nature and the ironic thing is that in the rural regions, people are closer to each other despite them having lower population and when they come to the big cities with millions of people, they actually become more lonely and lock themselves in.

The more advanced or richer a country is, the more gadgets/electronics people have which isolates them further. Though, I'm not suggesting that all introverts are unhappy or that by being social, it will fix these problems because there are lots of horrible people out there who can ruin your life and I can understand why people who for example have suffered bullying or trauma tend to become anti-social. But if you have to be lonely then you should always have something to be content and remain busy.

I think it also helps if you have goals and ambitions. Once you have nothing to work towards, you may think "what's the point?".

I imagine that alcoholism and poverty are high risk factors, and according to this list...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate

...its not really "developed countries" that get hit the hardest by this, necessarily.

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SubtletyRefuge posted...

More education=more awareness of how shitty the world is.

This

The world isn't worse than what it was 20 years ago, we're all just hyper aware of it now with rolling 24/7 media coverage and social media.

Ignorance is bliss

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Hierarchy of needs.



We are wired to worry about those needs from the bottom up. When one level is taken care of, we go one higher. Not being able to to satisfy the high level needs is more psychologically damaging because with lower level needs, the way to meet them is clear so we have a clear purpose. But the high level needs are much more murky. In fact we may not even realize they exist. So we have no idea how to meet our needs, or what to do. It's hard to even imagine ourselves meeting those needs sometimes. If you're hungry, you know that if you get food you will feel better. But if you're feeling down because you never felt like you deserve the love you've gotten, and the job you have devoted decades of your life to has come to feel empty and unsatisfying, it's much harder to visualize a path to getting better. It may seem impossible.

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Probably just better reporting of statistics.

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Less working with your hands to ground you

Its funny how much happier I am working a job that pays 1/2 of my old office job vs being in the field

It's so funny that I laugh until it hurts

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LeperMessiahXX posted...

I think the more you have potentially the worse you feel. Think about Robin Williams, he was famous, talented, beloved, rich, and a bunch of other things, and he was still depressed. Imagine realizing you have everything and you are still so sad, all the good then just makes it feel worse. You feel guilty, because you have all that and are sad while so many people are left wanting for so many essential things. You start to question if you feel this way with everything, how will you feel when something truly bad happens? It all just starts to wear you down until you say if you can't be happy with all of this, you will never be happy.

He had Lewy Body Dementia.


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action52 posted...

Hierarchy of needs.



We are wired to worry about those needs from the bottom up. When one level is taken care of, we go one higher. Not being able to to satisfy the high level needs is more psychologically damaging because with lower level needs, the way to meet them is clear so we have a clear purpose. But the high level needs are much more murky. In fact we may not even realize they exist. So we have no idea how to meet our needs, or what to do. It's hard to even imagine ourselves meeting those needs sometimes. If you're hungry, you know that if you get food you will feel better. But if you're feeling down because you never felt like you deserve the love you've gotten, and the job you have devoted decades of your life to has come to feel empty and unsatisfying, it's much harder to visualize a path to getting better. It may seem impossible.

@CalypsoDoom

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Consciousness posted...

People living in poorer parts or rural areas are also mentally better off.

I call bullshit, I've never known someone of lower class with a positive attitude, myself included.

Hell, being broke and homeless for so long is what got me placed into a mental hospital back in April, and that was *after* the failed suicide attempt.
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I'd say a big thing is that it is much harder to know your place in a big society like the US.

Smaller communities have a much more personal connection, and it is far easier to find where you fit in the machine.

But in a big city, thousands of people are doing the same work you do, you aren't one of a few plumbers in the town, you are one of thousands easily replaced and tossed away if something happened.

I guess feeling essential is really the most important thing.

Hopelessness towards expectations within a giant machine.

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LeperMessiahXX posted...

Think about Robin Williams, he was famous, talented, beloved, rich, and a bunch of other things, and he was still depressed.

Robin Williams was not depressed. He was developing a brain disease that was making him lose control of his mind. When it progressed past a certain level, he took his own life before the disease could completely take over his mind.

People keep using him as the poster boy for "check on your friends that seem happy; they're really the saddest ones." No, that's not what happened. Robin Williams' joy and zest for life was exactly how he portrayed it on television.

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We have more material possessions to become obsessed with. Ever been depressed because your friends had nicer houses or better cars than you?

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action52 posted...

Hierarchy of needs.



We are wired to worry about those needs from the bottom up. When one level is taken care of, we go one higher. Not being able to to satisfy the high level needs is more psychologically damaging because with lower level needs, the way to meet them is clear so we have a clear purpose. But the high level needs are much more murky. In fact we may not even realize they exist. So we have no idea how to meet our needs, or what to do. It's hard to even imagine ourselves meeting those needs sometimes. If you're hungry, you know that if you get food you will feel better. But if you're feeling down because you never felt like you deserve the love you've gotten, and the job you have devoted decades of your life to has come to feel empty and unsatisfying, it's much harder to visualize a path to getting better. It may seem impossible.

I have all of this. I am extremely lucky and privileged. Now, I just need to be come a millionaire, have a big ass mansion, a yacht, a lambo and a super model girlfriend.

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This topic is based around a very false premise

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