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This doesn't surprise me in the least. It also doesn't surprise me that suicide rates are low in general in the Northeast. We have a very good quality of life here. Tons of things to do = stimuli for the brain. The human brain absolutely needs that to be healthy.
You are going to find in most cases, though not all, in this country, the most beautiful places are going to have a lot of suicide and despair, while many states that are less flashy are going to have more stable populations where families have roots and prosperity, which ultimately leads to contentedness.
I spent a long 4 day weekend up in the Rocky Mountains with our best friends, courtesy of their aunt and uncle. I spoke for the better part of two days with the aunt, she's 67, and has lived in Aztec New Mexico her entire life. I could have spoken to her for several months, very fascinating person. Northern New Mexico, many parts of the Rocky Mountain region in general, the economy is based on extraction-based physical resources. Oil, timber, other fossil fuels. This work is hard, basic, and very boom/bust. This leads to blue collar working populations where people are inhabiting towns for only the duration of the scope of work, the contract is finished, or if the economy is headed in a particular direction, i.e. the commodity is trading high or low on Wall Street dictates what degree of activity there is these towns. So there is a transient element to many of these places. This type of work culture, incidentally, as one could imagine, will lead to much, much substance abuse. Additionally, the people who are coming in are very frequently unskilled, or semi-skilled, and there are a lot of maimings, disfigurings while on the job. Many do not have workmen's comp. So, this is the environment many of these smaller towns in this part of the country are based on. Contrast that to the northeast, which is an extension of our older, original cities, based on industry, and higher skilled, white collar work. Education, therefore, is at more of a premium. Many of the people who grow up in this part of the country that want more for themselves than being an oil rigger, or an alfalfa picker, will go to college, learn an advanced skill, earn an advanced degree, then transfer to New Jersey, or Washington D.C., or Boston. They don't come back, hence the term 'brain drain'. They are entering into the rat race, but they are embracing of it, because they know what they left behind back at home.
As I said, I could have spoken to this woman forever. She really lent an entirely new perspective onto how life is in this part of the country, how it has come to be this way, why suicides and despair go hand in hand with the economies of the region. I could make this post a lot lengthier, but would not want to bore into submission.
I think we are patting ourselves on the back a little too much here. Access to mental health-care is vital in the prevention of suicide. Economic resources also play a critical roll. I would assume many of the places high on the list have rural, isolated, economically disadvantaged populations.
Trying to use our low suicide rate to combat NJ's ridiculously undeserved reputation is not only misguided, it also serves to belittle the people in these other places who are struggling with mental illness.
We should be thankful for the resources & opportunities we have in NJ. Period.
I think we are patting ourselves on the back a little too much here. Access to mental health-care is vital in the prevention of suicide. Economic resources also play a critical roll. I would assume many of the places high on the list have rural, isolated, economically disadvantaged populations.
Trying to use our low suicide rate to combat NJ's ridiculously undeserved reputation is not only misguided, it also serves to belittle the people in these other places who are struggling with mental illness.
We should be thankful for the resources & opportunities we have in NJ. Period.
well now - those numbers you linked are percentages, not numbers. if 6% of alaskan households are on cash public subsidies, i'd venture to guess NJ's 2% is likely more people - just assuming that we have that many more households.
bit of a skewed statistical reference either way implying that more people on gov't subsidies = high suicide rate now isn't it?
well now - those numbers you linked are percentages, not numbers. if 6% of alaskan households are on cash public subsidies, i'd venture to guess NJ's 2% is likely more people - just assuming that we have that many more households.
bit of a skewed statistical reference either way implying that more people on gov't subsidies = high suicide rate now isn't it?
1) you're right, i should have said 3xs more per capita. my apologies.
2) i wasn't implying it, i should have worded it better. i was just mentioning the percentages were identically higher and thought it was a coincidence, that's all.
1) you're right, i should have said 3xs more per capita. my apologies.
2) i wasn't implying it, i should have worded it better. i was just mentioning the percentages were identically higher and thought it was a coincidence, that's all.
ok sorry. it did look like that's the point you were trying to make.
it's dark in alaska 6 months out of the year for 24 hours - i'd kill myself too!
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