by those statistics, ~12 / 100k / yr ==> in a college of 30k, 3-4 a year should be pretty much the par.

pity.

i lived in finland for a while. up north there, like alaska, suicide rates are higher due to depression in the winter with little to no sunlight. i agree completely with you nunco, it's mental health. depression, stress, and other things are drivers, but some people are much more capable of handling it than others. those others need support and good counsel.

 

eh, if someone wants to off themselves, why stop them?

I think we can all agree that resources could be better spent.

the reason you all call successful suicides "pathetic" is because our western upbringing dictates that suicide is a bad thing. contrast that with the view of eastern nations such as japan, and their views on suicide, and you'll understand that not everything is so simple and "pathetic."

 

From what I see, in the west a lot of suicides are for failing themselves, where as suicides in the east (japan, korean, china) its for failing others.

this is just stereotyping, but I know most suicides happen around entrance exam times in asia. A lot of families hinge their entire life around a child getting into a prestigious university, and when the kid can't make em proud...


sucks.

Oh, for the question about where I'm from - I'm from the univ. of Hawaii... yep, people commit suicides here too.

 

animals and suicide:
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_...t-suicide-.html

this is a great, though lengthy, read about japanese group suicides:
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archiv...-together/5776/

 

[QUOTE=charliec225,Apr 15 2010, 10:45 AM] Do you honestly believe that's the normal rationale for suicide in the US?

 

OP was asking about how common suicide was in college. I answered with how common suicide was in society in both the US and other countries, among college aged kids but also among younger and older segments of the population.

You then implied that suicide rates in the US were caused by someone's girlfriend getting pregnant or someone being made fun on online. I then showed you that suicide rates were positively correlated with older age, which makes your implication about girlfriend pregnancy and internet pwnage causing suicides unlikely.

The irrelevant factor is college. As mentioned by others, mental and physical health, stress, chemical abuse and imbalances, etc all play a role. Being enrolled in an institution of higher learning most likely does not.

 

[QUOTE=charliec225,Apr 15 2010, 08:08 PM] The irrelevant factor is college. As mentioned by others, mental and physical health, stress, chemical abuse and imbalances, etc all play a role.

 

lmao. i did enjoy that movie

 

Yeah, see, the issue with suicide is it robs society of productive members. If we are to take the strictly "cost in resources" approach, it is far more profitable to prevent someone from killing themselves and getting them to a point where they can go on and be productive than to accept the loss as "good riddance."

I think "pathetic" is a word used by people with no understanding or experience with the issue.

Perhaps it should be mentioned that certain Japanese customs have proven to be counter to long-term survival in a wider world. And describing the entire world except Japan as "the West" is a pretty gross generalization. If Japan deserves special consideration for being "different," then so does every other culture.

 

then it's clear we feel different about a subject