A recent report from the published in The Lancet reports suicide rates have increased since the U.S. fell into an economic crisis since 2007.
The findings were an analysis of data collected from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on suicide and mortality rates and ranged from the period of 1999 through 2010. It was observed that the suicide rate was comparatively slow between 1999 and 2007 but saw a four times faster rampage from 2008 right up to 2010.
An additional 1,500 suicides have been reported each year since 2007 compared to the number of deaths reported a decade before 2007.
It's been reported that the rapid increase of unemployment in the U.S. caused this sudden rise in the number of suicide cases each year.
"In the run-up to the U.S. Presidential election, President Obama and Mitt Romney are debating how best to spur economic recovery," letter's lead author, Aaron Reeves, of the University of Cambridge, UK, said. "Missing from this discussion is consideration of how to protect Americans' health during these hard times. Suicide is a rare outcome of mental illness, but this means that these data are likely the most visible indicator of major depression and anxiety disorders among people living through the financial crisis, as revealed by recent research in Spain and Greece."
In spite of these findings, the authors said that countries like Sweden have successfully avoided increased rates of suicide during the economic downturn.
"The fact that countries such as Sweden have been able to prevent suicide rises despite experiencing major recessions reveals opportunities to protect Americans from further risks of suicide during the continued economic downturn," the authors concluded. "There is a clear need to implement policies to promote mental health resilience during the ongoing recession."
