A very dangerous trend is shaping up in the US as a CDC report revealed that suicide rates in the US surged by 30% since 1999 and that only 50% of these cases were related to mental disorders.
According to the CDC, despite the fact that depression is the most common mental disorder across the US and many linked this with suicidal behavior, the truth is that financial troubles, relationship issues, and drugs and alcohol abuse contributed the most to the increasingly high suicide rates in the US in the last 20 years.
“From 1999 to 2015, suicide rates increased among both sexes, all racial/ethnic groups, and all urbanization levels,” the CDC report reads.
The recent suicide case of Kate Spades, 55, a renowned fashion designer, is widely debated in the news and people have already started asking questions about how much are the middle-aged men and women at risk of developing suicidal behaviors. According to CDC, the answer is gloomy.
“Middle-aged adults had the largest number of suicides and a particularly high increase in suicide rates. These findings are disturbing,” said Anne Schuchat, the principal deputy director of the CDC, cited by NBC News.
Suicide rates in the US are showing a downtrend only in Nevada
According to the suicide rates map released by the CDC, the suicidal rates decreased by 1% in Nevada, while California, Arizona, Mississippi, New Mexico, Nebraska, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, DC, Delaware, and Maryland present the smallest increase of up to 18%.
On the other hand, the highest suicide rates in the US are registered in Utah, Idaho, Indiana, Montana, Wyoming, North & South Dakota, Kansas, Oklahoma, Minnesota, South Carolina, Vermont, and New Hampshire. In the last two decades, the suicide rates in these states increased by up to 58%.
“Those are generally rural states. We know the economic downturn hit rural states hard and the recovery sometimes takes longer in some of those rural communities. We also know in rural states that access to care may be harder,” noted Shuchat explaining why the highest suicide rates in the US are recorded mostly in Midwestern states.
