What's wrong with western culture?

[Q Classic]

or it could just be a defect in boys.

[JohnT]

According to this table, the world's suicide rate is 19.3/100,000 and the US is just slightly above that at 19.8/100,000

http://www.uni-wuerzburg.de/IASR/suicide-table1.htm

[DaShi]

Clearly it is better to be Catholic.

[JohnT]

Here's the aforementioned chart:

[TheStinger]

Originally posted by DaShi
Clearly it is better to be Catholic.

Why?

[JohnT]

I'm not too sure the chart really supports the "Catholic" hypothesis.

[DaShi]

Statistics can be used to prove anything. Give me good ol' coincidence anyday.

[Solly]

"Statistics can be used to prove anything"

Bollocks. I think that is my least liked quote.

[DaShi]

9 out of 10 people agree with it.

[Solly]

Statistics can suggest something, but it's only a fool that allows a single statistic to prove something to him.

[Cruddy]

I think MOST of the answer lies in perspective.

A western kid thinks negatively about themselves if they don't excel. Consumerism is all, but once you reach the stage where you realise that your being sold 10 minues of happiness only, and that it will be junk in 5 years, your question is "what's the point?"

Suicide happens for many reasons. However, they all have one thing in common - that death seems preferable to living.

Think on this - all humanity's emotions are wired the same. We all "feel" to the same extremes. Even though a western kid might not physicaly "suffer" as much as others, the feeling of suffering is the same. Add in the tolerance factor - that suffering breeds tolerance - and it's very easy to see why westerners go off the deep end when exposed to trauma. We are not used to sudden, unexpected shock.

If you grow up, say, iin India, where death is a common sight on the street, suicide is seen as a waste of time. Why die because you are in pain today - you could be in bliss tomorrow.

I really haven't explained this well at all. Suggest you look up Alvin Toffler's "Future Shock".

[MikeH]

Depression has nothing to do with personal circumstances, if you think of it as an illness that can hit anyone then you are closer to understanding it.

Your brain distorts the world so that you can only see the bad. It doesn't matter if you are rich, successful, have loads of friends and a loving partner, you could still get depressed, get really miserable and kill yourself although hopefully in that situation someone would notice and help you out.

I don't think we all feel the same extremes, on an individual level some people are more emotional than others.

One of the things about depression is that it's a lot harder to be depressed when you are concentrating on day to day survival. Something we don't really have to do that much in the west anymore.

[DaShi]

So you're saying we should release wild tigers into the streets?

[MikeH]

I wasn't but it sounds like fun.

[JohnT]

In regards to India, this study (PDF document) estimates that the suicide rate in India is grossly underreported, and that the real estimate is about 95 suicides per 100,000. Officially, the estimates are about 8-12 per 100,000, but the data on Indian suicides is notoriously difficult to gather.

Other Sources: http://www.flonnet.com/fl1821/18210960.htm

http://www.med.uio.no/iasp/bertolote.pdf