Re: OT- beware 9-14

betsey wrote:
On Sep 8, 6:26?am, "Ed Edelenbos" <e...@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
"Misifus" <rafseib...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

news:5kequ1F1qc89U1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

David Hajicek wrote:
The suicide rate of young adults in this country has increased by 45%
in the last 3 years.
Absurd.
-Raf
Raf,
The article quoted below is a couple years old (from the Wall Street
Journal). The 3rd paragraph shows that among at least one group, rates rose
76% and that was one year. Among 15-19 year old girls, it was a 33%
increase, also in one year. So I don't think Davids' number is as absurd as
it looks. I'm sure you noticed it is a percent increase, not a percent of
that population.

Ed

WASHINGTON -- The suicide rate for children and young adults aged 10 to 24
rose 8% in 2004, marking the largest annual increase in more than 15 years,
the government said.

The rise comes after a cumulative drop of more than 28% in the suicide rate
from 1990 to 2003, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, and was fueled by increases in suicide rates among girls
aged 10 to 19 and boys 15 to 19. The report comes from an analysis of data
from the CDC's National Vital Statistics System. Overall, suicide accounted
for 4,599 deaths among people aged 10 to 24.

Suicide rates are calculated per 100,000 people, and among 10-
to-14-year-old females, the rate increased from 0.54 per 100,000 in 2003 to
0.95 per 100,000 in 2004, for a 76% rise. For 15- to-19-year-old females,
the rate increased from 2.66 to 3.52 per 100,000 over that period, about a
33% increase. Among 15- to-19-year-old males, the rate increased from 11.61
to 12.65 per 100,000, a 9% increase, the government said.

The report didn't speculate on reasons for the increase, but it coincided
with a drop in antidepressant use among young people after the Food and Drug
Administration in October 2004 said it would require antidepressant makers
to place a "black-box" label warning that the drugs increase risk of
suicidal thoughts and behaviors in children and adolescents.

Government officials conceded there could be a link in the
antidepressant-prescribing drop and the rise in suicides but said it likely
isn't the only factor.

yes but Ed...

perhaps Raf was replying to the insuiation that the admin is to blame
for this. hmmm, as a parent, i need to step up to the plate and say
this....my kids are my responsibility. it is my duty to do the best
job i can by them. It's not any political person's responsibility,
unless of course, we are talking about their own children.

betsey



First of all, I doubt 10-14 year old girls are killing themselves over politics. Secondly, the increase was attributed, in part, to a reduction in the prescribing of anti-depressants. Anti-depressants are fairly new in the pharmacology, were 10-14 year old girls killing themselves in these numbers prior to the discovery of Prozac?

I will relate a story that happened in our high school. We coasted along for years with no suicides. Not that it couldn't happen, but it didn't. Then one year, it was decided that we would hire an "Interventionist". Her job was to "intervene" with kids who were having trouble. This gal didn't even have a college degree, something usually required by schools. Well, sure enough, she reported at Christmas, that she had headed of five different kids who were intending to commit suicide. Hmm, an epidemic? Or, perhaps, the power of suggestion.

We didn't have any successful suicides during her tenure, but you know?, when she left, we didn't have any either. Oh, we had kids die. It happens, car wrecks, drug overdoses. We had a couple of kids (two in three decades) who committed suicide after they were out of school. Probably they would have fit in the age bracket of the article.

Ed, yes, statistics are tricky things. If you had one case last year, and two this year, that may be a drop in the bucket with respect to the total population, but it's a 100% increase in the suicide rate.

-Raf

--
Misifus-
Rafael Seibert
mailto:rafseibert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
blog: http://rafsrincon.blogspot.com/
Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rafiii
home: http://www.rafandsioux.com
.

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