Suicide in ski town article.

[crgildart]

It's been political from the OP article on. Citing income inequality and dead end frustration as a primary factor brings social justice and political reality in from the get go. Recent posts just point out more horrific examples from overseas. Where it seems to stray is where it goes past suicide and factors that influence suicide decisions.

 

[Brian Likes Pow]

Drugs and alcohol+ hospitality make for potential hard times if youre not cateful. That and a lack of a partner and the constant support system of a pack of long time friends/ family.

Me personally- i would be in a pretty bad place if i didnt have skiing locally and frequently....not suicidal or anything...just not satisfied.

Timely article i Had a roomate of 5 winters recently take their life. It always gets better.

 

[Tricia]

Drugs and alcohol+ hospitality make for potential hard times if youre not cateful. That and a lack of a partner and the constant support system of a pack of long time friends/ family.

Me personally- i would be in a pretty bad place if i didnt have skiing locally and frequently....not suicidal or anything...just not satisfied.

Timely article i Had a roomate of 5 winters recently take their life. It always gets better.

The sad reality is, if you live in the ski bum world long enough, you know someone.

 

[SBrown]

The sad reality is, if you live in the ski bum world long enough, you know someone.

Yes, but ... if you live in the world long enough, you know someone. I'm still trying to reconcile this with the regular suicide rate, and being from CO anyway, is it really higher in ski towns than in my suburb? Or are ski towns just small enough that you aren't anonymous? Clearly overall in Rocky Mountain states, the rate IS higher. But there is a lot more to CO, MT, NV, WY, etc than ski towns.

 

[Blue Streak]

There you go again, being rational and intelligent!
The subtext to the populist argument is that evil real estate developers and ski corporations have conspired to turn ski bums into serfs, driving many to suicide. Ergo, the solution is rent control, unionization, and unicorns.
Really?
Not that there is any sort of reliable way to measure such a thing, but my utterly unscientific opinion is that skiers as a group are fun loving, positive people, much more so than the public at large.
But the "black dog" is an unpredictable beast, getting the better of the most unlikely among us.
It is hard enough to ascribe meaning to statistically significant data (which does not appear to be the case here), much less to prescribe solutions.
I do know one thing: connecting to others with a shared passion is far more powerful an antidote to depression than any SSRI.

 

[Karen_skier2.0]

In general, I don't think people know how prevalent suicide is across all demographics. I had an eye opener in college--there were about 6 attempts in my dorm alone. All females, all survived--including my roommate. Doctors and other health care professionals are high on the list. Veterans. Victims of molestation. LGBT. It's an epidemic that is not talked about enough since mental health is a taboo subject in many circles.

 

[James]

The western suicide region has been known since the middle of the 19th century accirding to one of those articles above.
I remember going to Tombstone,AZ years ago and seeing the small historical graveyard. There was at least 1 grave marker there and maybe more marked "Suicide" which was surprising in many ways.

As for some of the Indian Tribes the rates have been very high. This article was written In 2012:

"In some communities, suicide is so ordinary that boys may dare one another to try it, says Ira Vandever, a Navajo chef in western New Mexico. He works with Music Is Medicine Inc., a local group that brings guitars, drums and lessons from rock and traditional musicians to Native youngsters. Speaking after dinner at his restaurant, La Tinaja, he said, “Around here, some who have died by suicide weren’t depressed. They were just responding to a dare.”
...

“You could define many things—a school camping trip, a traditional dance group—as suicide prevention,” says Zuni Pueblo’s Superintendent of Schools Hayes Lewis, co-creator in the late 1980s of the Zuni Life Skills Development Curriculum, one of the first suicide prevention programs designed for Native Americans. The school-based lesson series includes coping skills like stress management, as well as role-playing for dealing with suicide threats. It was created in response to rising youth-suicide rates at Zuni—13 deaths between 1980 and 1987, according to a paper Lewis co-wrote in 2008.

After the curriculum was put into place in 1991, youth suicide stopped almost immediately, according to Lewis’s co-author, Stanford University education professor Teresa LaFromboise. Fifteen years later, the pueblo’s schools shelved the program. Suicides crept back, and the shocked community asked Lewis to reassume the post of school superintendant and re-establish the curriculum. Over the past two academic years, he’s done just that, he says.

When the Zuni school system ended its program, the officials there didn’t realize “how fragile the peace was,” Lewis testified to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in 2009, telling then-senator Dorgan and other committee members: “Suicide prevention and intervention require constant vigilance.”


Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwo...risis-tribes-grapple-suicide-emergency-138794

 

[SBrown]

Looking at the state ranks made me think of population density, since it appears to be correlated.

1. Alaska: Population density=1.2 people per square mile, Suicide Rank=1

2. Wyoming: Population density=5.8 people per square mile, Suicide Rank=3

3. Montana: Population density=6.8 people per square mile, Suicide Rank=4

4. North Dakota: Population density=9.7 people per square mile, Suicide Rank=14

5. South Dakota: Population density=10.7 people per square mile, Suicide Rank=25

6. New Mexico: Population density=17 people per square mile, Suicide Rank=2

7. Idaho: Population density=19 people per square mile, Suicide Rank=11

8. Nebraska: Population density=23.8 people per square mile, Suicide Rank=41

9. Nevada: Population density=24.6 people per square mile, Suicide Rank=5

10. Utah: Population density=33.6 people per square mile, Suicide Rank=9

http://www.insidermonkey.com/blog/population-density-by-state-and-suicide-rates-1580/


"...There’s no correlation—zero—between a states’ suicide rate and religion, marriage rates, or single occupancy homes. State economic growth or unemployment don’t line up, either. Economically struggling states like Michigan and Indiana, for instance, had suicide rates near the national average, while booming North Dakota was well above. Depression would seem to be a precursor to suicide, but depression, which is highest in the Deep South and Appalachia and low in the inland West, doesn’t correlate with suicide, either. Is it possible that there’s something about the inland West that makes depressed people more likely to commit suicide? That’s what the data suggests.

"If anything correlates with suicide rates, it’s a states’ population density: In populous areas, suicide rates are low; in the sparsely populated hinterlands, suicide rates are high. Perhaps depression and loneliness is particularly harsh in desolate areas, and maybe it’s easier to cope in a major city like D.C. or New York. A more intriguing possibility is gun ownership, which, like suicide rates, is highest in the West and lowest in the Northeast. The relationship between gun ownership and suicide isn’t hard to envision, since more than half of suicides are by firearm. Therefore, accessible firearms could plausibly increase suicide rates. Then again, the South has high levels of gun ownership and higher levels of depression than the inland West, but suicide is rarer in Alabama than Montana."

https://newrepublic.com/article/113253/increase-suicide-us-not-due-marriage-or-religion-decline

 

[SBrown]

Suicide rates vary by region across Colorado. Lowest rates are found in Douglas and Weld counties, while higher-than-average rates are found in northwest Colorado, Mesa County, and the central mountain counties.

Population density map:

Generalized elevation map:

 

[Blue Streak]

Good graphic, S.
Looks like Grand, Summit, Eagle, and Pitkin exhibit the lowest rates.
For the geographically challenged, that includes most major ski areas.

 

[Ron]

Yeah Routt gcool

 

[Blue Streak]

More isolated.
Think about the times you decided not to join the gang, just because of Rabbit Ears.

 

[Ron]

LOL, yeah, its that wonderful stretch of 9 too. More often its tied to having to balance work more than anything else. a 2 hour trip to Summit can easily turn into 3 or more. Yes, part of the appeal of the boat is that it IS somewhat isolated. No targets, Home Depots, Lowes, etc.

 

[Monique]

I do know one thing: connecting to others with a shared passion is far more powerful an antidote to depression than any SSRI.

What?????

That may be true for some people. For other people, prescriptions (which include more than just SSRIs, but I'm assuming you're using that term for its rhetorical punch) are a life-saver. Literally. You can't connect to others with a shared passion when you can't feel passion. When getting out of bed feels impossible.

 

[SBrown]

My third map isn't showing up, is it?

It shows in my editing field, but then disappears.

 

[Tricia]

Yes, but ... if you live in the world long enough, you know someone. I'm still trying to reconcile this with the regular suicide rate, and being from CO anyway, is it really higher in ski towns than in my suburb? Or are ski towns just small enough that you aren't anonymous? Clearly overall in Rocky Mountain states, the rate IS higher. But there is a lot more to CO, MT, NV, WY, etc than ski towns.

This is true. There are probably as many suicides in Reno as their are in the ski towns surrounding the lake, (Incline Village, Tahoe City, Truckee, South Lake Tahoe, etc) but the people in places like Reno are(or may be) more anonymous. Perhaps everyone knows your name in a ski town. Sadly, knowing your name and knowing you as a person can be different.

 

[oldschoolskier]

In the original posters theme, one of the driving factors is the location and the weather. Great location, but overcast a lot (gives you that doom and gloom feeling), should you be having a bad day it could be what pushes you over the edge.

 

[Tricia]

In the original posters theme, one of the driving factors is the location and the weather. Great location, but overcast a lot (gives you that doom and gloom feeling), should you be having a bad day it could be what pushes you over the edge.

This point confuses me.
I came from Michigan and I recall my sister in law moving to Golden, Colorado from Michigan and touting that "Its always sunny. Even when its snowing its bright"
When I moved to Tahoe I recall thinking, "is it ever cloudy?"
I know there's more snow, but I don't buy the idea that its gloomier.

Maybe I'm skewed because I came from an area where it rained frequently and we saw clouds more than sun, even in the summer.

 

[SBrown]

In the original posters theme, one of the driving factors is the location and the weather. Great location, but overcast a lot (gives you that doom and gloom feeling), should you be having a bad day it could be what pushes you over the edge.

Where is it gloomy in the suicide belt? You can have long winters in altitude, but otherwise ....

 

[Monique]

This point confuses me.
I came from Michigan and I recall my sister in law moving to Golden, Colorado from Michigan and touting that "Its always sunny. Even when its snowing its bright"
When I moved to Tahoe I recall thinking, "is it ever cloudy?"
I know there's more snow, but I don't buy the idea that its gloomier.

Maybe I'm skewed because I came from an area where it rained frequently and we saw clouds more than sun, even in the summer.

I thought this, too. But canyons can be very dark, even with all the sun. Frisco is dark during the winter, with very short days. If you're working a day job, you might not get any sun at all. I even have this problem in the winter in Boulder, because depending on where you are, the foothills can effectively make the sun set at 3:30 in December.