Suicide Rates Rise During Christmas Season - True or False?

Thanks, 158!  I expected to find data confirming the view that the Holidays are too overwhelming for many people, causing an increased suicide rate.  It was a relief to discover that the opposite is true, and it makes sense.  Suicide also drops on weekends.  Most heart attacks and road accidents happen on Monday mornings.  Interesting trivia that confirms something:  Driving in rush hour traffic to and from work is extremely stressful!

Hope you have a lovely Holiday!

Mary

Yes, Amy, you are right.  It is a time when many people reflect on the love they lost, the money they don't have, the things they will never own.  But happiness is largely a matter of perspective, unless one is in ill health, of course.  We must DECIDE to be happy!  One way to do that is to count our blessings.  There is usually more going right than wrong.  Another way is to forget ourselves and find someone to help.  I highly recommend this option to everyone who has lost loved ones and will miss them sorely over the Holidays and people who have experienced other disappointments in 2007 that hit them hard. 

People who feel blue this time of year should put themselves on the back burner for an afternoon and volunteer with Meals on Wheels, or deliver food baskets to needy families at Christmas through your local food banks, call the children's shelters or neighborhood libraries and arrange a Christmas story hour for the little ones there and take along a bag of goodies!  Prison ministries need lots of help this time of year with children who are left in shelters after their parents are incarcerated and also taking goodie bags to folks who are imprisoned, like the prison ministry below:

http://www.charityadvantage.com/missiongateministry/HOME.asp

Mission Gate Prison Ministry

24 years of faithful service

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

CHRISTMAS ANGEL MISSION 2008

I thought so too.  Good article, duo!

Scrooge, in case you decided to spare yourself to see this blessed morning, I hope that you will release yourself from your self-imposed death sentence soon.  God had a purpose when you were created, and you will find more satisfaction in life once you understand that purpose.  Try to control your mind - cast aside negative thoughts.  If you need professional help doing that, I implore you to seek same.  Many people are depressed, and often there is a clinical cause that can be remedied by consulting with doctors and counselors who specialize in helping folks who suffer with that condition.  I merely write and have no specialized advice to offer you other than this:

... whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.  ~ Philippians 4:7-9

I am no scientist, but please note that the LA Times article was dated 2007, and the Snopes data is currently on system.  Please share with us any more recent, credible data you have to contradict these findings that suicide rates drop during the Holidays.  I do not believe you will be able to do so.   I capitalize "Holidays" because of my King!  Although we do not know what day Jesus actually came to live among us, December 25 was chosen as the day to celebrate this greatest of all events, and I honor that time period with a capital "H."  As in Holy, Holy, Holy! 

You are absolutely right!  You deduce that I am a Christian, and that is true.  In the name of Jesus, I wish you a very merry Christmas!

Mary Neal
http://wrongfuldeathoflarryneal.com

Hello, Romasa!  Thanks for commenting on this. You are right, of course.  Financial challenges put a damper on Holiday festivities, but families are less impacted by not having lots of presents to open than they would be by a death in the family.  I don't think that people who commit suicide are thinking very much about others.  Besides, being over one's credit card limit and unable to provide material evidence of one's affection is a poor reason for self-murder. 

Every week we read about someone else who committed suicide after losing a job or a romantic partner's interest.  Many times, distraught people even kill others before taking their own lives.  As a Christian, I firmly believe that the next thing they know, they will be staring at Jesus!  People were created by God and given His breath of life.  His life cannot be extinguished, so I believe people can never really return to a state of not being.  We will always "be" somewhere, but where?  That is the question. 

Some people are suicidal because they wrestle with mental illness in the form of depression.  That is something that perhaps they could not help, unless one holds the view that they should have gotten professional help sooner.  But many other people who commit suicide apparently made a clear-headed decision that they would avoid misery or escape some particular unpleasantness by bowing out.  Perhaps I could understand (but not agree) if what was being avoided through suicide was slow death from terminal cancer, but to think that someone would make that drastic decision because they were out of money for Christmas wrapping paper and bows seems ridiculous to me, and extremely selfish.

Things can certainly get dark and gloomy sometimes as we go through life.  Loss of anything that we care about is hard, whether it is a loved one or a job or one's own health.  In fact, I understand that some losses can be so overwhelming to people that without faith in God, they might feel it is impossible to continue living.  For some, the misery over a loss of something or somebody very significant makes them entirely unable to continue life in their own strength.  The good news is that we don't have to rely on our own strength.  We all have Someone, if we only believe. 

The unfortunate thing is that many people take the permanent, irreversible step of committing suicide over temporary problems they have.  Consider people like Joseph Fears. He was exonerated in February after spending 25 years in prison for a crime he did not do. Mr. Fears endured plenty of miserable days in prison, I believe, having to watch his whole youth pass by and lose many people who were dear to him while he suffered for a horrible crime when he was innocent.  That was a deep valley in Mr. Fear's life, but look at him in the picture below.  See how happy he and his family and supporters are!  He was just released from prison through DNA testing!  When in deep despair and trouble, I think we all need to hang in there like Mr. Fears did.  Horrible circumstances can and do often CHANGE!


Blessings!

Mary

It is like that with people when they lost their "child" spirit.  Children find joy in most anything, and we can, too.  However, we allow ourselves to focus on unpleasant things, of which there is certainly no lack.  I have read that the temptation to end it all is even greater for people like you who have lost someone they love to suicide.  Make a deliberate decision to be cheerful.  Christmas cheer is one reason cited in the above article as to why suicide rates decrease during the Holidays. 

Here is some good news!  We don't have to have a calendar tell us when to be joyful.  We don't need to wait until a particular season to buy a box of friendship cards and send one to each person we value.  Snow outside our windows is not necessary for us to light some pretty, scented candles or string cheerful lights across our mantles!  There is no reason why we cannot involve ourselves in some volunteerism that gives us a sense of accomplishment and the satisfaction of making a contribution, whether or not we are gainfully employed.  Lots of people and good causes need us.  Folks love to give during the Holiday Season, but receiving is fun, too.  Buy yourself something totally unnecessary and wickedly expensive - or just buy a trinket occasionally.  Splurge on YOU often - even if all you can afford is dollar store merchandise or drive around and check out yard sales.

The Holidays are special because people turn their attention to celebrating life and showing love.  But doing that does not have to be a December thing.  If we embrace life and give love every day, it will lift our souls and also benefit others.  Pretend to laugh until it comes more naturally!

Blessings!

Mary