In Episode 4: Suicide and Global Crisis we discuss the link between these phenomena, give some strategies for coping, and provide targeted info for groups that are the most vulnerable to suicide.
All the way back to the middle ages there are accounts of suicide increasing during a time of widespread crisis. Ovid, in his book, The Metamorphoses, described people taking their lives at the time of the Great Plague. We witnessed this again in the 1900’s during the Spanish Flu epidemic.
An increase in suicides has been linked to economic crisis, as well. During the Great Depression suicides increased. There were accounts of bankers and stock brokers taking their lives. In 2008’s Great Recession we witnessed this tragedy again.
Virtually every generation has experienced situations that can create feelings of panic and hopelessness. During the darkest hours it is common for most of us to fear that this is the end. We may worry that things may never improve.
If your crops failed in the dust bowl of the 1930’s, you may not have been able to feed your family. When your son boarded the train to join the military to fight during WWII, you weren’t sure if he’d ever return or if America would even win the war. Today, The doctor who reports to work at the hospital ER is unsure about the risk to their own health and to the health of their loved ones. History is full of once in a lifetime events that change the course of civilization.
In Closing…
Despite the unknowns and the scary realities of previous times in history we have eventually overcome and built a better world. Each generation has had to rebuild. Our hardships and our ways of coping with them demonstrate that the human spirit can be very resilient. The present challenge posed by a microscopic virus is certainly no greater than the threats faced by previous generations.