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Comment by JamisonM | Hacker News Reader

Disentangling pandemic effects from "normal" life is complex but overall in the US suicide rates are actually down for 2020, though slightly increased for younger Americans. The trend in the US was upwards into 2019 so these are positive developments.

It is very difficult to properly assess 2020-2021 survey data both because the "you should be depressed" messaging is very strong in the media and the bias in who responds to surveys is complicated by the pandemic.

I am a Canadian and we saw an enormous drop in suicides, 30+%, in 2020 despite survey data (and wacky conspiracies) to the contrary.

I don't think it is "safe to say" much of anything about suicide rates or individual motivations, it is a complex issue.

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> the bias in who responds to surveys is complicated by the pandemic.

Many people have lost family members and been pushed into poverty. It is incredibly callous to think mental health can be discretely measured without accounting for the environment.

Suicide is not a quantitative measure of mental health.

> Suicide is not a quantitative measure of mental health.

I'd say a population with high suicide rates is more afflicted by mental health issues than one with lower rates. What would you say?

No, it is down to policy and culture.

Simply put: I could purposely crash my car and it would not be counted as a suicide or homicide.

While there are a lot of reasons for that to be the case, my point is the numbers are not representative of our current position.

A more holistic approach measuring alcohol and drug abuse, domestic violence, social media sentiment, and workforce participation.

Unfortunately, all of which are indicating that the majority are collectively suffering.

If the claim that "Suicide is not a quantitative measure of mental health" means that such large fluctuations in the suicide numbers across many jurisdictions with differing underlying rates can't be used to inform any opinions about the impacts of the pandemic on mental health then I emphatically disagree.

I don't know who said you can measure mental health without accounting for the environment, I never made that claim! I literally said "I don't think it is "safe to say" much of anything about suicide rates or individual motivations, it is a complex issue."

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