Financial strain pushes many veterans to the breaking point

Hundreds of thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have been flying home to a fresh fox hole: A debt crater that’s sucking in entire military families and could be helping to fuel the veteran suicide crisis.

A bad job market, a long backlog for federal disability benefits, and occasionally unwise spending habits have been conspiring to strain the financial and mental health of many veterans, experts say.

"We keep hearing of suicides rising. How much pressure do you think one person can take?" asks Christopher Fitzpatrick, deputy director of VeteransPlus, a nonprofit that has fielded more than 170,000 calls from ex-service members with imminent financial concerns.

"No one wants to talk about the fact that there are other reasons, besides PTSD, for suicide at 2 in the morning. You know how we know? We have an online form people use to contact us, and we get those emails — they’re sent at 1, 2, 3, 4 in the morning. People are reaching out, literally: 'Can you please help me? I’m losing everything.'" Read more >>

Suicide Rates Rise Sharply in U.S.

Suicide rates among middle-aged Americans have risen sharply in the past decade, prompting concern that a generation of baby boomers who have faced years of economic worry and easy access to prescription painkillers may be particularly vulnerable to self-inflicted harm.

More people now die of suicide than in car accidents, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which published the findings in Friday’s issue of its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. In 2010 there were 33,687 deaths from motor vehicle crashes and 38,364 suicides.

Suicide has typically been viewed as a problem of teenagers and the elderly, and the surge in suicide rates among middle-aged Americans is surprising.

From 1999 to 2010, the suicide rate among Americans ages 35 to 64 rose by nearly 30 percent, to 17.6 deaths per 100,000 people, up from 13.7. Although suicide rates are growing among both middle-aged men and women, far more men take their own lives. The suicide rate for middle-aged men was 27.3 deaths per 100,000, while for women it was 8.1 deaths per 100,000. Read more >>

Army Suicides This Year Exceed 2012 Combat Deaths in Afghanistan

The number of suicides among U.S. Army active duty and reserve personnel in 2012 is higher than the total combined military fatalities from Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan over the same timeframe.

Even without Army data for October, the number of deaths believed to be suicides among U.S. Army personnel from January through September still surpass the combined military combat deaths in Afghanistan from January up to October 22.

In 2012, there have been a total of 247 suspected suicides among Army active and reserve duty personnel. Of those, 158 have been confirmed as suicides and 89 remain under investigation. Read more >>

Connecticut Suicides At 20-Year High Fueled By Economic Downturn

Suicides reached a 20-year high in the state last year, fueled by a jump in deaths among men ages 40 to 59 — and experts suggest it might have something to do with the economic downturn. Of Connecticut's 288 suicides among men last year, 139 — nearly half — were those from 40 to 59, according to state statistics. There were a total of 371 suicides in 2011, including 83 women.

There is some evidence to suggest increased suicide is associated with the economic downturn, according to Gerard Sanacora, professor of psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine. But, he said, it's difficult to say with certainty the cause of the increase in suicide among middle-aged Connecticut men, particularly based on one year of data. "I think it's fair to say it may be related," he said.

Sanacora said that a Swedish study, to be published later this year, found a direct correlation between the amount of time a man remains unemployed and the risk of suicide. If depression leads to increased drug and alcohol abuse, the suicide rate can increase even more, Sanacora added. "It's complicated ..." he said.

The most recent state suicide numbers bear out a relatively recent trend experts have found, according to James Siemianowski, a spokesman for the state Department of Mental Health & Addiction Services. Although he could not comment directly on the suicide statistics released by the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Siemianowski did say experts have been seeing an uptick in suicide among middle-aged men and women for a mix of reasons, including unemployment, failing health and poor relations with family. Read more >>

Both Greece and Italy See Increase in Suicides Over Economy

News Report from RT

A 77-year-old Greek man has committed suicide in central Athens by the nation’s parliament, shooting himself with a handgun in apparent financial desperation. Eyewitness reports say that the man shouted “So I won’t leave debts for my children” before turning the gun on himself. Others claimed he said nothing.

The pensioner was a retired pharmacist who owned a drugstore in Athens, which he sold in 1994, Costas Lourantos, the head of the Attica Pharmacist’s Association told Skai radio.

The number of suicides has dramatically increased in the country since the beginning of the economic crisis, shows data released by the Greek Health Ministry.

Prior to the economic downturn Greece had the lowest suicide rate in Europe at 2.8 for every 100,000 inhabitants. Now, this figure has almost doubled, with police reporting over 600 suicide cases in 2010 and 2011 respectively. Attempted suicides are also on the up.

Last month, a 38-year-old Albanian man killed himself on the island of Crete. He had been unemployed for some time. The financial hardship made him jump off his second-floor balcony, reported local news.

In neighboring Italy, a 78-year-old woman threw herself out of her third-floor apartment after her monthly pension was cut from 800 to 600 euro. Since the 25 per cent cut, the pensioner from Sicily had reportedly been struggling to make ends meet.

"The government is making us all poorer, apart from the wealthy – who they don't touch – in contrast with us workers and small businessmen who are struggling with heavy debts," said her son, Bruno Marsana, as quoted by The Daily Telegraph.

A picture frame-maker hanged himself in Rome. His suicide note told of "overwhelming economic problems." Previously, two men in northern Italy set themselves on fire in two separate incidents, citing financial woes as well. Both survived, sustaining severe burns.  More...

Growing Economic Despair Triggers Greek Suicides Almost Daily

Reuters
 On Monday, a 38-year-old geology lecturer hanged himself from a lamp post in Athens and on the same day a 35-year-old priest jumped to his death off his balcony in northern Greece. On Wednesday, a 23-year-old student shot himself in the head.

In a country that has had one of the lowest suicide rates in the world, a surge in the number of suicides in the wake of an economic crisis has shocked and gripped the Mediterranean nation - and its media - before a May 6 election.

The especially grisly death of pharmacist Dimitris Christoulas, who shot himself in the head on a central Athens square because of poverty brought on by the crisis that has put millions out of work, was by far the most dramatic.

Before shooting himself during morning rush hour on April 4 on Syntagma Square across from the Greek parliament building, the 77-year-old pensioner took a moment to jot down a note.


"I see no other solution than this dignified end to my life so I don't find myself fishing through garbage cans for sustenance," wrote Christoulas, who has since become a national symbol of the austerity-induced pain that is squeezing millions.


Greek media have since reported similar suicides almost daily, worsening a sense of gloom going into next week's election, called after Prime Minister Lucas Papademos's interim government completed its mandate to secure a new rescue deal from foreign creditors by cutting spending further. More...

Banker Jumps Off Roof Committing Suicide

According to the police, Jessica Fashano, 27, an investment banking associate at Citi Global Markets, entered a West Side apartment house that she did not live in, took an elevator to the roof and jumped to her death.

"At 8:13 a.m., the police found her body in an internal courtyard, where she was pronounced dead. The police said they did not suspect foul play. Why Ms. Fashano chose the Riverside Boulevard building is among the many questions surrounding her death. She left no note, and although the police said she was undergoing treatment for depression, friends and associates said she was always in high spirits." More...

Suicide Hot Line Calls Surge From Joblessness

Image via Wikipedia

Scott Martelle
In one of the darkest tallies of the nation's still-sputtering recession, experts say financial desperation has played a significant role in increased calls to suicide-prevention hot lines -- and likely has led to increased suicide rates.

While government statistics on suicides often lag by two or three years, experts say the easier-to-track calls to hot lines have grown significantly. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, which operates 24-hour crisis help lines around the country, reported an increase of 18 percent from January to May this year. The rates have fluctuated wildly, from 13,424 in January 2007 to a peak of 59,500 two months ago.

Dr. John Draper, director of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, said it's hard to tell whether the increased pace reflects more people needing help, or whether it's the effects of media attention on the problem and increased outreach by crisis counselors.

But Draper has no doubt the need is there. Federal mental health programs funneled an extra $1 million to the Lifeline last year to increase outreach in 20 programs targeting heavily stressed places, such as Michigan. And past studies, Draper said, have shown a correlation between unemployment rates and suicide rates.

"There is no reason to believe this would be different," he said. "There is very appropriate concern at the federal level. While we don't have the data yet, we're not waiting."

There are indicators the U.S. suicide rate has climbed. An informal tally of 19 states by the Wall Street Journal in November found an increase of 2.3 percent in the 2008 suicide rate over the 2007 rate. Other news outlets around the nation have recently reported a troubling flow of suicides and murder-suicides by people facing crippling financial troubles, including:

* An armed man facing foreclosure in Chattanooga, Tenn., who called police early July 1 threatening suicide. Authorities said that after officers arrived, the man talked with them from the porch of his house and then burst down the steps waving his gun while screaming, "Suicide by cop!" He died in a hail of bullets.

* A husband in Santa Ana, Calif., who called police later that same day to say he had shot his wife while she slept and then overdosed on Valium in a murder-suicide pact the morning they were to be evicted from their apartment. He survived and has been charged with murder.

* A husband and father in Anaheim, Calif., facing foreclosure and a mountain of credit card debt, last month shot and killed his wife, critically wounded their 3-year-old son, shot at but missed their 5-year-old son and then killed himself, police said. More...

24th Employee Commits Suicide at Troubled French Firm

Sky News

France Telecom chief executive Didier Lombard holds a press conference

A 24th France Telecom employee has killed himself in what the company says is a "suicide spiral". The 51-year-old father-of-two hurled himself to his death from a bridge onto a busy road in the Haute-Savoie region of the country. In a letter to his wife, he blamed the unbearable "atmosphere" at his workplace.

France Telecom has been dogged by an series of suicides in the last 18 months. The deaths include a woman who jumped from her office window in the summer, while another man survived stabbing himself in the stomach during a work meeting. Unions say a drive to restructure the company in the face of the global recession is behind the deaths.

I decided to do it just at the moment when they told me I was good for nothing.

A French Telecom worker explains why he stabbed himself.

The company laid off 22,000 workers between 2006 and 2008 while staff say changing working practices and poor management have placed intolerable pressure on workers. Labour minister Xavier Darcos this month ordered an official to monitor France Telecom's health and safety meetings.

The company has also been told to delay any relocation plans until October 31. France Telecom employs around 100,000 people in France and insists the number of suicides is in line with the national average. It said some of the deaths were down to copycat behaviour. But one union official said workers had been treated like "sausage meat".

Four Financial Related Deaths in 24 hours

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Hat Tip to Dprogram.net

(Reuters) – James McDonald, chief executive officer of investment management firm Rockefeller & Co, committed suicide on Sunday in Massachusetts, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

(LATimes) – Newport Beach financier Danny Pang died early Saturday at a local hospital, according to the Orange County coroner’s office. The cause of death has not been determined and an autopsy is planned for Sunday, said Larry Esslinger, supervising deputy coroner.

(Inquisitr) – Ex-CEO of Beneficial Corp. Finn H.W. Casperson was found dead in an apparent suicide behind an office building in Westerly, Rhode Island.

(CNN) – Police are investigating the death of the former chief fundraiser for ex-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich as a “death-suicide,” an Illinois mayor said Sunday.

Workplace Suicides Skyrocket

Workplace suicides rose 28 percent in 2008 from the year before according to the U.S. Labor Department reports. And according to a December 2008 study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, white people age 40 to 64 have "recently emerged as a new high-risk group for suicide."

Susan Baker, M.P.H., of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, told CNN the reason for the increase is unknown. But if economic conditions continue to decline, suicides could go up. "This is a concern, especially when one looks at the high rates during the Great Depression," says Baker.

Seetal Dodd, Ph.D., a senior fellow at the University of Melbourne in Australia, has found that suicide rates tend to fluctuate with the economic trends -- at least in men. The study is cause for concern, Dodd says, because it identifies middle-aged white men as the new high-risk group for suicide -- the same section of the population at risk for suicide during an economic downturn.

"There is a considerable risk that the current economic situation may result in a further spike in the suicide rate for men of working age, especially if we start to see an increase in unemployment and a decrease in housing affordability and consumer sentiment," Dodd says.

"We ordinarily experience much, much higher rates of suicide during times of recession," says M. Harvey Brenner, professor of public health at the University of North Texas Health Science Center and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.

Brenner adds that what makes this recession different is that the very wealthy -- who are generally insulated from financial worries -- have taken a huge hit, and they have further to fall.

"You would think these people have such wonderful lives," says Brenner, full of private jets, luxury homes and the best of anything that money can buy. "Yet they are capable of losing much more, because they have so much more."

According to Alpha Galileo, a research news publication, investigators at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Oxford University estimated that soaring stress brought on by job losses could prompt a rise in suicide rates in people under-64 years of age, a rise in heart attack deaths in men between 30 and 44 years, and a rise in homicides rates, corresponding to thousands of deaths in European Union countries, such as the UK.

Professor Martin McKee, one of the report's authors noted that "Suicides are just the tip of the iceberg - rising suicide rates are a sign of many failed suicide attempts and high levels of mental distress among workers and families."