Is economy behind spate of suicides?

Experts do not believe the recent spate of suicides by top businessmen, including the death of Freddie Mac's acting chief financial officer, is the beginning of a wave of such tragedies because of economic stresses.
There are two things to keep in mind about such deaths, notes one expert.
First, while the economy can be a real cause of added stress in people's lives, it is far from the leading factor in most suicides, said Thomas Joiner, a distinguished research professor and suicide expert at Florida State University.
Second, even though highly stressed executives can be vulnerable to suicide, they are generally less likely to succumb than people who earn less money, partly because they tend to have better health insurance and stronger social-support networks.
The public may not realize that because suicides like that of Freddie Mac executive David B. Kellermann last week in Virginia tend to get more publicity than the death of a middle-income man who has lost his house or job.
Kellermann's suicide was the fifth of a high-level executive or financier around the globe in as many months.
"For employees in the middle- to lower-income range, the effects of an economic crisis are often more direct," Joiner said. "Any economic downturn that is associated with a lot of home foreclosures or serious career disruptions, those are real stresses."
"We know economic factors don't cause suicide, but they can factor into issues that cause people to be depressed or suicidal," said Christy Stuber, executive director of Contact Pittsburgh, a suicide hot line.
Kellermann's death was typical of self-inflicted deaths in a number of ways.
At age 41, he was squarely in the 35-54 age group in which most U.S. suicides occur. Also, men are four times as likely as women to kill themselves.
And, contrary to common wisdom, his death occurred during the peak time period for suicides, April and May.
Many believe suicides peak over the Christmas holidays because of loneliness but, in fact, most people have stronger social support then, Joiner said.
The reason suicides may rise in the early spring, he said, is because that is the time of the year when people begin to gain more energy, and it is common for people who kill themselves to have a burst of physical energy beforehand.
"The state of mind of someone about to die is not characterized by sluggishness and misery, but it's an agitated one," he said.
The idea that people who are thinking of suicide are flat and lifeless is one of several myths, he said. Two other myths he tries to dispel: Most people who commit suicide are not cowards, because "it's simply too daunting an act to do unless you've developed a certain steeliness"; and people who kill themselves are not selfish, "because from their vantage point, they really believe that they are removing a burden from their families if they die."
Paul Quinnett, founder and CEO of the QPR Institute in Spokane, Wash., said the impact of economic crises on suicides often takes two to three years to reach a peak "because that's how long it takes for people's resiliency to wear off."
His institute focuses on how to stop suicides, emphasizing in its training programs that "A, it's OK to talk about suicide; B, it's preventable; and C, we've all got a role to play."
It can be a challenge to intervene with people who are executives, though, he said.
For one thing, an executive's subordinates are in the worst position to help, partly because he will put on a brave front for them, and partly because, even if they notice he is depressed or agitated, they may not know how to talk to him about it.
The people who are more likely to see the problem, Quinnett said, "are their intimate others, their spouses and their adult children or a close friend they've had for years."
A strong reason to intervene, Stuber said, is that many people who are thinking about ending their lives "are very ambiguous about life and death. They're in a lot of pain but they're not quite sure what to do about it."
For those who believe a relative or friend is suicidal but don't know how to help, she said her main advice is not to try to do it alone.
If people don't know a doctor or therapist, they can contact hot lines. The national suicide prevention hot line is 1-800-273-TALK (1-800-273-8255).

(Mark Roth can be reached at mroth(at)post-gazette.com.)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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