The Economic Recession: A significant Increase in Suicide Cases

In this past, there have been numerous shortfalls and setbacks by the US government that left American citizens weeping in vain. The 9/11 attacks on the world trade center that left over 3000 people dead along with the recent Ground Zero controversy were highly considered a national humiliation on the failure of the government to protect its citizens from terror attacks and promote respect to the victims of the tragedy. What people don’t realize is that there is something more humiliating than these previous events.

Since the beginning of the economic recession, people have been losing there jobs from left to right. The failure of every business entity created a domino effect that affected thousands of workers or employees leaving them without a source of income. This resulted in widespread panic and threatened the well-being of people. But recent studies showed that unemployment or joblessness may in fact affect the psychological aspect of every person. Aside from having a low morale and lesser productivity, joblessness may in increase the tendency of every person to commit suicide.

Suicidal tendencies are usually triggered by excessive drug usage, relationship problems or social struggles. But the economic recession has brought so many problems to individuals that they tend to believe that these problems will go on forever. Losing a job can really bring a huge burden especially to couples who already have children. Unemployed individuals tend to feel desperate and unease thinking about their bleak and uncertain future. Hopelessness will eventually force someone to do this immoral act of taking one’s life.

Though it hasn’t been scientifically proven yet, trends from several places that experienced the recent recession showed a dramatic increase in suicide cases. For example, in rural Elkhart County, Indiana, the unemployment rate at this year stood at 13.7 percent while the suicide rate was 40 percent more compared to previous non-recession years. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline also received more suicide calls at this time of recession. In Jan. 2007, there were only about 13,423 calls. A year later, there were 39,467. In August, 2009, there were now about 57,625 calls from across the nation.

But perhaps the most humiliating thing about this is the failure of the government to prevent such instances. The lack of preventive steps and assistance paved the way for more human suffering felt by millions of Americans all across the nation. It is a sad fact that America’s own economy is the one responsible for the deaths of its people. Lack of trust and confidence in the government forced people to end their suffering by taking their own lives. It is wakeup call to all politicians, policymakers and lawmakers to do whatever they can to protect the welfare and well-being of its citizens.