[Mick]

I mentioned suicides in the part of my post you didn't quote.  Overall mortality rates during the Great Depression went down, not up: https://www.pnas.org/content/106/41/17290

Mortality rates are not equivalent to suicide rates.  Mortality has to do with overall death and your study cites six separate causes of death.  In at least two parts of your linked document, it mentions that suicides went up, not down, particularly at the outset of the Great Depression.

In fact, suicide rates increased from 17.0 per 100,000 in 1929, to 21.7 per 100,000 in 1932, the nadir of the Great Depression.

https://www.history.com/news/stock-marke...depression

And in the last Great Recession, there were 115 suicides per million in 2007 rising to 124 suicides per million in 2010.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...my/279961/

I would not be surprise that suicides went up after the great recession, but there was also a secular pattern that continued into the recovery.

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db330.htm



Looking at the trendline, I would not have been able to pick up anything unusual happening in 2007/2008.  The trendline picked up in 2006, and continued on trend into the recovery.

BC

Doesn't surprise me much, it was a mild recession.  This feels more like a Great Depression.

Here.  Meticulous research, National Institute of Health.  And I quote: 
"Graphical analyses showed that the overall suicide rate generally rose during recessions and fell during expansions. Age-specific suicide rates responded differently to recessions and expansions. Nonparametric tests indicated that the overall suicide rate and the suicide rates of the groups aged 25 to 34 years, 35 to 44 years, 45 to 54 years, and 55 to 64 years rose during contractions and fell during expansions. "

Also from the 

"Conclusions. Business cycles may affect suicide rates, although different age groups responded differently. Our findings suggest that public health responses are a necessary component of suicide prevention during recessions."

Suicides during the Great Depression: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2765209/

" Suicide mortality peaked with unemployment, in the most recessionary years, 1921, 1932, and 1938."

I don't understand why this is such a difficult concept to grasp.  When people are most out of work, they're more likely to commit suicide.  Why can't we understand that?

[Mick]

I mentioned suicides in the part of my post you didn't quote.  Overall mortality rates during the Great Depression went down, not up: https://www.pnas.org/content/106/41/17290

Mortality rates are not equivalent to suicide rates.  Mortality has to do with overall death and your study cites six separate causes of death.  In at least two parts of your linked document, it mentions that suicides went up, not down, particularly at the outset of the Great Depression.

In fact, suicide rates increased from 17.0 per 100,000 in 1929, to 21.7 per 100,000 in 1932, the nadir of the Great Depression.

https://www.history.com/news/stock-marke...depression

And in the last Great Recession, there were 115 suicides per million in 2007 rising to 124 suicides per million in 2010.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...my/279961/

I would not be surprise that suicides went up after the great recession, but there was also a secular pattern that continued into the recovery.

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db330.htm



Looking at the trendline, I would not have been able to pick up anything unusual happening in 2007/2008.  The trendline picked up in 2006, and continued on trend into the recovery.

BC

Doesn't surprise me much, it was a mild recession.  This feels more like a Great Depression.

Here.  Meticulous research, National Institute of Health.  And I quote: 
"Graphical analyses showed that the overall suicide rate generally rose during recessions and fell during expansions. Age-specific suicide rates responded differently to recessions and expansions. Nonparametric tests indicated that the overall suicide rate and the suicide rates of the groups aged 25 to 34 years, 35 to 44 years, 45 to 54 years, and 55 to 64 years rose during contractions and fell during expansions. "

Also from the 

"Conclusions. Business cycles may affect suicide rates, although different age groups responded differently. Our findings suggest that public health responses are a necessary component of suicide prevention during recessions."

Suicides during the Great Depression: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2765209/

" Suicide mortality peaked with unemployment, in the most recessionary years, 1921, 1932, and 1938."

I don't understand why this is such a difficult concept to grasp.  When people are most out of work, they're more likely to commit suicide.  Why can't we understand that?