High suicide rate in Seattle? (unemployment, area, federal)

[kengrubb]

Originally Posted by Peripateticshutin

Which would be very relevant if the topic were crime here -- however, it's suicide and depression.

I can only guess at the point you're trying to make but, if you read through the thread, aside from seeing a math faux pas on my part, you should be able to understand that I had just corrected allforcats since she had the inverted the ranking chart in her interpretation and that I wasn't trying to make a statement other than that.

Rather than people getting depressed or excited over a suicide rate, remember there's a whole lot more to the overall picture anywhere.

[Mamazalez]

The first five years I lived here, the weather didn't bother me at all. Then, the next couple winters bothered me some. Last winter, depression hit me like a 2x4 out of nowhere, and it was bad.

I went to my doctor, was diagnosed with a severe vitamin D deficiency.

I've made many changes since then. I'm still on vitamin D therapy plus St. John's Wort, use a blue light, and make every effort to spend time outdoors when its sunny (and oddly, this winter seems much sunnier that past ones).

Regardless of whether you suffer from SAD, it's important to stay on top of your vitamin D intake if you live in this area. There's a lot of health research out there supporting the importance of adequate vitamin D levels.

[texastrigirl]

As you age, that also seems to be the case. I have several clients who have lived here all their lives...but now they are hitting menopause and that is changing everything.

[tada]

One wonders why people complain about too many old people being here... I mean, I imagine Seattle would be hell for older people. Relatively cold (I have heard that people just seem to prefer warmer climates the older they get), and severe dearth of Vitamin D.

[flyingfishies]

I think weather can definately be a factor living in a cloudy/rainy place like seattle. As opposed to say... Waikiki....

Originally Posted by Mamazalez

The first five years I lived here, the weather didn't bother me at all. Then, the next couple winters bothered me some. Last winter, depression hit me like a 2x4 out of nowhere, and it was bad.

I went to my doctor, was diagnosed with a severe vitamin D deficiency.

I've made many changes since then. I'm still on vitamin D therapy plus St. John's Wort, use a blue light, and make every effort to spend time outdoors when its sunny (and oddly, this winter seems much sunnier that past ones).

Regardless of whether you suffer from SAD, it's important to stay on top of your vitamin D intake if you live in this area. There's a lot of health research out there supporting the importance of adequate vitamin D levels.

[stuckinseattle]

Remember, while bright light can cheer you up, your body cannot synthesize vitamin D from winter sunshine this far north. No matter how much sun you get the light is the wrong wavelength.

[toughguy]

America’s Unhappiest Cities: The other kind of depression - BusinessWeek

This "unhappiest cities" article from Business week puts Seattle's suicide rate at 26th in the nation. A few cities that have higher suicide rates than us are Las Vegas, Sacramento, Jacksonville, Tuscon, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Atlanta, Portland (notice there are quite a few "sunshine" cities in this list)....For what it's worth, Seattle came in as the 20th unhappiest place in the nation in their rankings.

[Jennibc]

Originally Posted by toughguy

America’s Unhappiest Cities: The other kind of depression - BusinessWeek

This "unhappiest cities" article from Business week puts Seattle's suicide rate at 26th in the nation. A few cities that have higher suicide rates than us are Las Vegas, Sacramento, Jacksonville, Tuscon, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Atlanta, Portland (notice there are quite a few "sunshine" cities in this list)....For what it's worth, Seattle came in as the 20th unhappiest place in the nation in their rankings.

Holy Cow! Those numbers cannot be right - it says that as of December the unemployment rate in Seattle is 11.5% Did I read that right or did Business week royally screw up on its numbers. (Hey, note that no place in TX made the list, heh heh)
Ps- suicide rank might be lower than expected BUT depression is in at #6.

[toughguy]

This thread is dealing with the perception of Seattle having a high suicide rate. If you want to start a thread about depression rates, have at it (I'm not trying to be an a$$, I'm just explaining my rationale for not mentioning the depression rate). They don't really make an effort to explain their methodologies, so who knows how accurate these figures are.

Also, I absolutely can't and never will understand the appeal of Texas....But millions of people do, so good on them

[Jennibc]

Originally Posted by toughguy

This thread is dealing with the perception of Seattle having a high suicide rate. If you want to start a thread about depression rates, have at it (I'm not trying to be an a$$, I'm just explaining my rationale for not mentioning the depression rate). They don't really make an effort to explain their methodologies, so who knows how accurate these figures are.

Also, I absolutely can't and never will understand the appeal of Texas....But millions of people do, so good on them

Nope, not starting any new threads on the Seattle page; only checking the ones that I subscribed to while living there. But I still cannot believe that over 1 in 10 in the Seattle area is unemployed. This does not bode well for our selling our house (It's only been on the market for two and a half weeks, but man 11.5% - with numbers like those I wonder if we should plan on renting it out).