The United States continues to set records under the Biden administration, but few if any of them are anything you’d want to brag about. We’ve broken records in terms of illegal immigration and gas prices. But an even more depressing statistic emerged this week. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more Americans died by suicide in 2022 than at any previous time in the nation’s history. Just short of 50,000 people took their own lives. And in a notable change of pace, the Associated Press didn’t blame the spike in suicides on either racism or climate change. They did, however, blame it on guns. Because of course they did.
About 49,500 people took their own lives last year in the U.S., the highest number ever, according to new government data posted Thursday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which posted the numbers, has not yet calculated a suicide rate for the year, but available data suggests suicides are more common in the U.S. than at any time since the dawn of World War II.
“There’s something wrong. The number should not be going up,” said Christina Wilbur, a 45-year-old Florida woman whose son shot himself to death last year.
Specifically, the AP places most of the blame on “the growing availability of guns.” To be fair, they also point to higher rates of depression and a lack of mental health care resources. Of course, it’s still more difficult to take one’s own life in America than it is in Canada, where you only need to suggest that you might be depressed and the government will send someone over to your house right away to take care of the job for you.
These numbers are simply too high, growing to the point where it might fairly be called an epidemic, but it’s unclear what can be done about it. Blaming “the availability of guns” is no answer because someone who is truly determined to end it all will find a way even if they don’t have access to a firearm. A gun is among the most common method of suicide chosen by men, along with hanging and carbon monoxide poisoning. But for women, poison is the top choice, followed by exsanguination.
If we are to make any progress in getting these numbers down, we need to stop fretting over how people are taking their lives and focus on why they would choose to do that. It’s no secret that a growing number of Americans are dealing with anxiety and even depression. But not all depression is clinical in nature. People have been given plenty of external reasons to feel depressed.
We’ve already seen reports that a record number of people claim they feel lonely. This was driven largely by the shutdowns during the pandemic and then exacerbated by growing trends toward working from home. Both marriage and birth rates continue to drop, leaving more people alone. And our communal addiction to devices and screens over actual conversations with other human beings certainly isn’t helping.
And then there are the ongoing crises and unpleasant conditions surrounding so many of us. Crime is rising across the board, making more people feel unsafe and unsure of their future. Inflation is impacting the lives of many, lowering their quality of living. Confidence in the government and most of our major institutions is at an all-time low, further eroding people’s sense of security. And a surging number of Americans now say that they don’t believe they’ll ever be able to retire, so the American dream is going up in smoke before their eyes.
Are you noticing a common theme or trend here? Almost all of the things I mentioned (aside from the marriage and birth rates) are being driven by government policies either directly or indirectly. Washington has created an environment where people are increasingly anxious and/or depressed. So of course that’s going to drive up the suicide numbers. If you want to make this situation better, rebuild a country where people are generally happier. Happy people are less likely to take their own lives.
If you are dealing with suicidal ideation and don’t have anyone to talk to, you can call 988 from anywhere in the country and speak to someone. And try to hang in there. America always comes back and we can do it again.
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