Alcohol found in one-third of U.S. suicides

[Guest]

...and im the chriminal?



http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061123/us_nm/suicide_usa_dc

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Alcohol may be involved in as many as one-third of U.S. suicides, federal researchers reported on Thursday.

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Test results from suicide victims in 13 states showed that 33.3 percent had alcohol in their blood, and 16.4 percent had opiates, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in its weekly report on death and disease.

"These results underscore the need to continue monitoring toxicology test results of suicide victims, which might identify patterns of substance use that can help guide development of effective suicide interventions," the team at CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control wrote.

Just as many suicide victims had alcohol or other drugs in their systems when they were suspected of using the drugs to kill themselves as those who used other means, the researchers said.

"In 2003, an estimated 31,484 suicides (10.7 per 100,000 population) occurred in the United States," the report reads.

"Suicide was the fourth leading cause of death among persons aged 10 to 64 years and the second and third leading causes of death among persons aged 25 to 34 and 10 to 24 years, respectively."

 

[Gangabiss]

Not a huge surprise to be honest. Alcohol is a depressant after all.

 

[Guest]

Not a huge surprise to be honest. Alcohol is a depressant after all.

Alcohol being a depressant doesn't have anything to do with mental depression. It refers to the fact that alcohol works by diminishing (aka depressing or downing) certain brain activity. Any drug that works by diminishing a body function is called a depressant. Some of marijuana's effects can be classified as depressant!

Regardless, alcohol is still a shitty drug and this article doesn't surprise me in the bit. It's a shame that this is the most celebrated drug in our country.

 

[naga_sadu]

More than alcohol, opiates or the shotguns, too bad these "official" mouthpieces which supposedly study suicides etc., never go beyond describing some side facts- and leave out the main reason. As in, if there is an "alarming" suicide rate, what is wrong in our society to make a person so desperate as to take his/ her own life? What changes should the society undergo if such suicides are to be avoided???? That's the substance, not the % of alcohol, opiates in a person's bloodstreams or the number shotgun wounds on the head.

After all, a life is way to fucking valuable to waste this way...

 

[robobond]

Well its not a surprise because depression is a major cause of suicide. And when people are depressed theyll often turn to drugs or more often then not alcohol to ease their "pain". Unfortunatly more often then not alcohol makes feelings of depression come out rather than make them go away and as we all know someone under the influence of alcohol is not the best judgemental person there is. So one day they just get drunk and figure suicide is a good idea. Sad really but not really alcohol's fault. Replace alcohol with xanax or pretty much any other drug and the same scenario can result. Except ofcourse with weed.

 

[robotwithdreams]

^^^Precisely, there are deeper problems in our society which manifest in the social relationships of people. The amount of alienation seems to truely be drowning our society. Ranging from alienation from the means of production, to alienation from degenerated families, to alienation from self, one thing is certain in this parasitic economy, people will go as far as taking their own lives to what they think is escape.

 

[Guest]

im not the same person when im drunk...im a happy most of the time..sometimes im sad but you wont enjoy the sun with out rain....alcohol as far as im concerned makes me happy for the first hour or two then it takes over and bad thought start...im not sucidal or nothing but i can see my self getting sick of life when im drunk... I dont drink... I do have some drinks but avoid being drunk at all costs...I think tottaly different when im under the influence..very emotional!

 

[ChaoticEntity]

drugs can take you to the mountain top, but they can't keep you there, personally I think depression is mearly a symptom, not a cause(had major bouts I know depression inside and out). This world...how can a human being ever have been created for the stressers and the lifestyles that this world exists in. It is up to us to find ourselves and where we belong. Sometimes that means being a sucessful business man, more often than not it means loving your family, doing whatever you can to protect them and applying your energy into the things you find rewarding, instead of worring about the Jones and their new car.

some people get pinned against what the world tells them to be and who they are, when they feel they have no way out then depression sets in. It's all a matter of taking a look at where you are and figuring out how you get where you want to be. Even if you don't know what you want longterm you know that you want out of a bad place, thus one step to another and another. Enjoy life, enjoy the journey, all the bad only makes the good that much better imho.

 

[Guest]

sometimes when people are depressed, they simply just dont seek help..
who can help anyway..its a rough road, ive seen a friend hanging fresh from a rope..helped cut him down..haunts me to this very minute..probably will forever.
you cant make your friends take "happy" pills, and you cant "make" someone happy thats depressed..its tore me to pieces, but its just an imbalance, at least thats what i tell myself,

that and his slut/cheat-girlfriend (his world) is a total cunt who is to blame.
im not a hateful person, but bad karma to her forever.

 

[Gangabiss]

Alcohol being a depressant doesn't have anything to do with mental depression. It refers to the fact that alcohol works by diminishing (aka depressing or downing) certain brain activity. Any drug that works by diminishing a body function is called a depressant. Some of marijuana's effects can be classified as depressant!

Okay I don't want to get into a debate over this...I was merely stating the fact that if you are depressed and you then decide to consume large amounts of alcohol it will only make thing worse.

I was not talking in the sense of the drugs taxonomic profile...just making an obvious statement that depressed people under the influence of alcohol tend to do stupid things that they normally would not think of doing...it makes depressed people worse.

 

[treble]

yeah I wasnt surprised either. Like jessie I am good for a few drinks but beyond that I can become an asshole verbally as I can be come opinionated in a way that can earn me a smack in the face.... never happened but my after drinking remose makes me feel like it should have.... you can see where that might end up for some people...

I spend long periods without drinking to give me a break from the times that I do... a physical thing over mental but it benefits both sides.... its nasty though and I can really feel it when I drink...perhaps because there are the br

treb

 

[Nikijad4210]

drugs can take you to the mountain top, but they can't keep you there, personally I think depression is mearly a symptom, not a cause(had major bouts I know depression inside and out). This world...how can a human being ever have been created for the stressers and the lifestyles that this world exists in. It is up to us to find ourselves and where we belong. Sometimes that means being a sucessful business man, more often than not it means loving your family, doing whatever you can to protect them and applying your energy into the things you find rewarding, instead of worring about the Jones and their new car.

some people get pinned against what the world tells them to be and who they are, when they feel they have no way out then depression sets in. It's all a matter of taking a look at where you are and figuring out how you get where you want to be. Even if you don't know what you want longterm you know that you want out of a bad place, thus one step to another and another. Enjoy life, enjoy the journey, all the bad only makes the good that much better imho.

Very well said, Chaotic.

But you forgot about the folks that believe they just aren't supposed to be here. I do believe some people, albeit a very, VERY tiny fragment of the world population, simply weren't supposed to be walking this rock, either at their point in time, or at all. Maybe they should have been walking around a different one---who's to say Earth's really the only place in the universe with life? Maybe they weren't supposed to be living in this/their era---Maybe their time was supposed to be decades/centuries ago, or in the future?

The suicidal folks believing they're not supposed to exist, maybe they're not crazy---If there's something more to life (i.e supreme beings, spirituality, etc) then maybe they're more in tune with it than people give them credit for. Maybe they're right.

If so, that would explain the folks that have to go through life with that strong "I shouldn't be here" feeling not reacting to drugs, therapies, having no chemical imbalances, etc. Maybe they really do know they're not supposed to be walking this planet.

Has anybody else ever considered this, or was it just my stoned mind getting carried away in thought years ago?

 

[Guest]

hmm... Can suicide be a part of natural selction?

Very well said, Chaotic.

But you forgot about the folks that believe they just aren't supposed to be here. I do believe some people, albeit a very, VERY tiny fragment of the world population, simply weren't supposed to be walking this rock, either at their point in time, or at all. Maybe they should have been walking around a different one---who's to say Earth's really the only place in the universe with life? Maybe they weren't supposed to be living in this/their era---Maybe their time was supposed to be decades/centuries ago, or in the future?

The suicidal folks believing they're not supposed to exist, maybe they're not crazy---If there's something more to life (i.e supreme beings, spirituality, etc) then maybe they're more in tune with it than people give them credit for. Maybe they're right.

If so, that would explain the folks that have to go through life with that strong "I shouldn't be here" feeling not reacting to drugs, therapies, having no chemical imbalances, etc. Maybe they really do know they're not supposed to be walking this planet.

Has anybody else ever considered this, or was it just my stoned mind getting carried away in thought years ago?