SUICIDE: THE DEPRESSION CONNECTION

For the past 50 years or so, we’ve been killing ourselves with a silent bang. It’s a little-known fact that suicide is the ninth leading cause of death in this country and the fifth leading cause among men ages 25 to 44.

There is no simple answer for why men commit suicide, says John L. McIntosh, Ph.D., professor of psychology at Indiana University in South Bend, who works with the American Association of Suicidology in Washington, D.C.

Nearly 95 percent of people who kill themselves are suffering from a psychiatric illness-most often depression – in the months before they commit suicide. Yet, it often goes undiagnosed, says Matthew Nock, research coordinator for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) in New York City.

To be fair, detection is difficult because men often don’t let on that they’re in trouble, at least not in obvious ways, Dr. McIntosh says. Men also may have underlying biological tendencies for self-destruction that we just don’t understand yet, say suicide researchers. For one, men have lower levels of the brain neurotransmitter serotonin than women. And not only are people with low levels of this mood-governing chemical prone to depression but also research suggests that their suicide risk is 10 times that of people with higher levels.

And that’s not the only chemical connection. Very low cholesterol levels-less than 160 milligrams per deciliter-have also have been linked to elevated suicide risk in men. Researchers in Paris found that of more than 6,000 men they studied, those with low cholesterol levels were more than three times more likely to commit suicide during the four-year study than those with normal cholesterol levels.

Drinking and drug use seem to add mental anguish all their own, says Dr. McIntosh. Alcoholism is a factor in 30 percent of all completed suicides. And cocaine ranks right up there with depression and alcohol abuse as a primary risk factor.

Personal loss, particularly of a wife or a job, is another leading factor. For every rise in the divorce rate (measured as one extra divorce per 1,000 couples), there is a 35 percent increase in male suicide rates. And men without jobs commit suicide twice as often as men who have them.

*113/36/5*

Share and Enjoy: