The Highest Suicide Rate in the World • Hacker News Board

Re: The Highest Suicide Rate in the World

#91

Post by ChuckNorris89 » Wed, Sep 25, 2019, 4:35 PM UTC

luckydata wrote: post #86

aivisol wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, however if you look in the European context, Southern countries have lower rates despite having lower standard of living. So the climate cannot be completely ruled out, it is perhaps one of the factors.

lower standards only applies if you think about money. In every other respect, life is more pleasant in the mediterranean than in nordic countries. Source: I'm from the mediterranean and I think life in California is shit, even if I make way more money than before.

>In every other respect, life is more pleasant in the mediterranean than in nordic countries.

Only if you have money. Otherwise there wouldn't be such a mass migration of youths from the Mediterranean moving for work in the Nordics.

Re: The Highest Suicide Rate in the World

#92

Post by astrodust » Wed, Sep 25, 2019, 4:39 PM UTC

heymijo wrote: post #35

If the commonality is that living in these higher latitude zones causes increases in suicide, what happens when/if the Earth hits +4C and the habitable zones become these very same areas? [see map linked below] There would be obvious confounders, like the despair of knowing that humans decimated the planet's habitability. https://mymodernmet.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/climat...

It's going to suck when the only habitable areas on the planet are dark for a quarter of the year.

Re: The Highest Suicide Rate in the World

#93

Post by andyjohnson0 » Wed, Sep 25, 2019, 4:41 PM UTC

BurningFrog wrote: post #77

kevadk wrote: post #13

For comparison, here are a few of the highest rates per 100k in the US: 98.7 - Kusilvak Census Area, AK; 75.1 - Nome Census Area, AK; 64.2 - Sioux County, ND; 58.9 - Buffalo County, SD; 49.3 - Carbon County, UT https://vizhub.healthdata.org/subnational/usa Extend the list and you see lots of high latitudes, low incomes, remote rural settings, and indigenous American populations (e.g. Yupik and Inupiaq in Alaska, Siou…

Alcoholism is always rampant when a population is first introduced to the drug. Over centuries, evolution acts to produce a population less prone to it, since people who drink themselves to death don't tend to reproduce. The population that has had access to alcohol for the longest (8000 years, according to a guess I saw somewhere) is the Chinese, where the "asian red flush" gene has developed as a protection against…

> Over centuries, evolution acts to produce a population less prone to it

Is this a supposition? Or is there any evidence for this effect being real and/or it being significant over such evolutionarily short timescales?

Re: The Highest Suicide Rate in the World

#94

Post by whenchamenia » Wed, Sep 25, 2019, 4:42 PM UTC

chrshawkes wrote: post #75

mitchty wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its being downvoted because its childish simplistic view of things. I grew up in Grant county, literally west of Sioux county. There are a lot of reasons for the high suicide rate in Sioux county, historical facts like Custer aside, unless you've lived in this part of the country, you really have no idea what its like there. Did westerners do a number on the Nakota/Dakota/Lakota/Sioux/Mandan/etc..? Duh, but thats not…

I'm going to hold my tongue but I'd love to hear you say that to my face. You are not the only one affected by suicide, I don't care if you live in bumfuck or the East Coast. You know nothing about how suicide has impacted me personally. I'm making an observation about historical events which have led to the lack of opportunity.

This is not the right way to go about it. His point is sound, no matter your personal experinces. The midwest is a distinct culture alien to the majority of americans. I routinely see the issues we face minimized, and suicide is where i draw the fucking line.

Re: The Highest Suicide Rate in the World

#95

Post by TimTheTinker » Wed, Sep 25, 2019, 4:45 PM UTC

japhyr wrote: post #45

The history of alcoholism and suicide in Alaska goes back to the time of first contact with outsiders. When westerners first contacted Alaska Native tribes, those "explorers" tended to be people who were after valuable furs, and missionaries. These people were usually a mix of Russians from the west and Americans from the south. The outsiders brought with them diseases like tuberculosis and influenza, and these disea…

> Almost all of the missionaries blamed the survivors for what happened. They said their people died because they worshipped the devil. They took the surviving children away, telling parents they weren't fit to raise their own children. They banned the use of Native languages, and all aspects of Native culture such as dancing, regalia, ceremonies, and more. All of this has led to despair and a disconnect with a rich culture that existed for ~10,000 years before this.

Do you have any citations for this? I have read a lot of missionary stories, and have friends and family who have been or are missionaries themselves, and have never heard of anything so heinous. That's exactly the opposite of what missionaries are supposed to be; it sounds more like a particularly brutal form of western imperialism and exploitation than anything else.

Re: The Highest Suicide Rate in the World

#96

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Sep 25, 2019, 4:46 PM UTC

kortilla wrote: post #54

japhyr wrote: post #45

The history of alcoholism and suicide in Alaska goes back to the time of first contact with outsiders. When westerners first contacted Alaska Native tribes, those "explorers" tended to be people who were after valuable furs, and missionaries. These people were usually a mix of Russians from the west and Americans from the south. The outsiders brought with them diseases like tuberculosis and influenza, and these disea…

That’s the lazy “blame the violent colonialists” approach though. There’s a very high suicide rate amongst Greenland natives as well. Perhaps it’s because so much culture was surrounded around food gathering? Modern technology coming around and wiping out the need for most of your tribe to hunt and gather is going to have a big impact on cultures like that.

[deleted]

Re: The Highest Suicide Rate in the World

#97

Post by magic_beans » Wed, Sep 25, 2019, 4:49 PM UTC

goodcanadian wrote: post #87

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess Lithuania has he same problem as all the Nordics, dark gloomy weather year round. I wanted to emigrate to Sweden due to the high quality of life but the dark, drizzly, windy weather really put me off and some locals I talked to said they were really depressed by it and were either trying to emigrate or work remotely from Southern Europe. In the Blatics it's probably worse as the economic situational is not po…

I always find the linking of climate and weather to depression strange. I grew up in a place with quite dark winters. While I know seasonal affective disorder is a thing, for me, winter is cosy, and not at all depressing.

Sun exposure triggers the release of serotonin. For many people (probably most people), a lack of sun exposure will cause depression.

Your single case does not apply to the population at large.

Re: The Highest Suicide Rate in the World

#98

Post by okmokmz » Wed, Sep 25, 2019, 4:51 PM UTC

BurningFrog wrote: post #77

kevadk wrote: post #13

For comparison, here are a few of the highest rates per 100k in the US: 98.7 - Kusilvak Census Area, AK; 75.1 - Nome Census Area, AK; 64.2 - Sioux County, ND; 58.9 - Buffalo County, SD; 49.3 - Carbon County, UT https://vizhub.healthdata.org/subnational/usa Extend the list and you see lots of high latitudes, low incomes, remote rural settings, and indigenous American populations (e.g. Yupik and Inupiaq in Alaska, Siou…

Alcoholism is always rampant when a population is first introduced to the drug. Over centuries, evolution acts to produce a population less prone to it, since people who drink themselves to death don't tend to reproduce. The population that has had access to alcohol for the longest (8000 years, according to a guess I saw somewhere) is the Chinese, where the "asian red flush" gene has developed as a protection against…

I don't believe this is the case, do you have any sources to back it up?

Re: The Highest Suicide Rate in the World

#99

Post by mikelyons » Wed, Sep 25, 2019, 4:55 PM UTC

yeahforsureman wrote: post #63

Could there be a cultural factor, too? At least historically, in very rough habitats, you really wanted to be useful for your community, not a burden. Many native tribes in eg. Alaska and Canada even had a range of customs around suicide or leaving behind or even killing people of old age and poor condition, usually based on the wish or consent of the victim. Maybe such attitudes combined with bleak social and econom…

Agree. IMHO, I think it's very important here to examine historical and other-cultural attitudes toward euthanasia and it's analogues. eg., ritual suicide in feudal Japan. These attitudes seem likely to echo forward from their common-practice eras ...

Re: The Highest Suicide Rate in the World

#100

Post by okmokmz » Wed, Sep 25, 2019, 4:59 PM UTC

goodcanadian wrote: post #87

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess Lithuania has he same problem as all the Nordics, dark gloomy weather year round. I wanted to emigrate to Sweden due to the high quality of life but the dark, drizzly, windy weather really put me off and some locals I talked to said they were really depressed by it and were either trying to emigrate or work remotely from Southern Europe. In the Blatics it's probably worse as the economic situational is not po…

I always find the linking of climate and weather to depression strange. I grew up in a place with quite dark winters. While I know seasonal affective disorder is a thing, for me, winter is cosy, and not at all depressing.

Yes, I feel the same way. I've lived in the Seattle area most of my life, and when I went to LA for college people would constantly talk about how much they hated rain, clouds, darkness, "cold temperatures" (which to them was pretty much anything below 70), etc. but I've always enjoyed the cold and rainy seasons far more than summer. Personally, I'd rather perpetually deal with a Seattle winter than have to live in LA with the constant heat.