Four Suicides Per Hour

English: A chart of the most common methods of suicide in the USA (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

According to an article in my hometown newspaper, the U.S. suicide rate has risen by 15% in the past ten years.  One AMerican commits suicide about every 15 minutes, says the piece by on Chris Parker.  Parker notes that teen suicides are not the leading edge of this trend, as some might have predicted.  That rate, which soared in the seventies, has since leveled off.  Nope, says Parker, the rise is among middle-aged adults.  He cites the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. http://www.afsp.org/ 

My guess is that the Great Recession with its tenacious unemployment stats accounts for a lot of this increase.

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