Suicide

Antidepressant Prescriptions Increase 130% for Teenage Girls

/ SupremeCmdr / Leave a comment

The increasing rate of mental health disorders among children and adolescents is a concerning trend that has been observed for several decades, with survey studies revealing dramatic increases in anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideation.1 In the United States, suicide ranks as the second leading cause of death for those aged 10 to 19 years and the third leading cause of death for those aged 15 to 24 years.2 Antidepressant Prescriptions and Mental Health – https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/153/3/e2023064677/196661/Antidepressant-Prescriptions-and-Mental-Health

Between January 2016 and December 2022, the monthly antidepressant dispensing rate increased 66.3%, from 2575.9 to 4284.8. Before March 2020, this rate increased by 17.0 per month (95% confidence interval: 15.2 to 18.8). The COVID-19 outbreak was not associated with a level change but was associated with a slope increase of 10.8 per month (95% confidence interval: 4.9 to 16.7). The monthly antidepressant dispensing rate increased 63.5% faster from March 2020 onwards compared with beforehand. In subgroup analyses, this rate increased 129.6% and 56.5% faster from March 2020 onwards compared with beforehand among females aged 12 to 17 years and 18 to 25 years, respectively. In contrast, the outbreak was associated with a level decrease among males aged 12 to 17 years and was not associated with a level or slope change among males aged 18 to 25 years. Antidepressant Dispensing to US Adolescents and Young Adults: 2016–2022 – https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/153/3/e2023064245/196655/Antidepressant-Dispensing-to-US-Adolescents-and?autologincheck=redirected

Between 2020 and 2022, antidepressant prescriptions for girls aged 12-17 skyrocketed by 130%. Antidepressants Increase 130% for Teen Girls, Drop 7% For Boys – https://brownstone.org/articles/antidepressants-increase-130-for-teen-girls-drop-7-for-boys/

Yikes.

I’m Taking Your Phone Away (and you didn’t do anything wrong)

/ SupremeCmdr / Leave a comment

The study found that those who had high and increasing addiction to mobile phones and social media platforms were at a higher risk of suicidal behaviors and thoughts. At year four, almost 18% of kids reported having suicidal thoughts, and 5% said they had suicidal behaviors. Teens with ‘addictive’ phone use more likely to be suicidal: Study – https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5360042-teens-addiction-social-media-phones-suicidal-thoughts/

Here’s the link to the JAMA article https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2835481/

Yikes!

Ugh… Kids These Days!

/ SupremeCmdr / Leave a comment

While cocaine was once the drug of choice, bankers are now reportedly turning to the ADHD medication for work days that can last as long as 22 hours, along with nicotine patches and energy drinks. 90-hour-a-week Wall Street bankers snorting lines of Adderall at their desks – https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/12/15/90-hour-a-week-wall-street-bankers-snorting-adderall-desks/

It never ceases to amaze this Old Underwriter how people manage to find creative ways to kill themselves.

An Extended Period of Wandering

/ SupremeCmdr / Leave a comment

Now, I’m ‘no one,’ a retired, forgotten old man who dithers away the days.

”Depression can ensue, fueling excessive alcohol use, accidents, or, in the most extreme cases, suicide. Of all age groups in the United States, men over age 75 have the highest suicide rate, by far. Older Men’s Connections Often Wither When They’re on Their Own – https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/older-men-connections-isolation-loneliness-navigating-aging/

At the minimum I have a plan. Sell the house, buy a van and do an upscale conversion so I can sleep in it. Travel. Spend time in Oklahoma and Colorado.

Drink more Knob Creek (not when driving).

OOPS. Didn’t wait until the unthinkable.

Scary Charts – 02.06.23

/ SupremeCmdr / 3 Comments

To the extent that the Fed knows anything, it knows this, and really, really wants to force that blue line down into negative territory if possible. But it also knows that doing so will send prices spiraling out of control – which is another way of saying the dollar will crash (not necessarily against the euro and the yen, which have similar problems, but against oil, lumber, eggs, milk, cars, and all the other things voters buy regularly). The result? Political and financial chaos.

Welcome To the Death Spiral — https://rubino.substack.com/p/welcome-to-the-death-spiral

YIKES!

On a positive note I’ll likely be dead when the SHTF.

ADHD, financial distress, and suicide in adulthood: A population study

/ SupremeCmdr / Leave a comment
Abstract

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) exerts lifelong impairment, including difficulty sustaining employment, poor credit, and suicide risk. To date, however, studies have assessed selected samples, often via self-report. Using mental health data from the entire Swedish population (N = 11.55 million) and a random sample of credit data (N = 189,267), we provide the first study of objective financial outcomes among adults with ADHD, including associations with suicide. Controlling for psychiatric comorbidities, substance use, education, and income, those with ADHD start adulthood with normal credit demand and default rates. However, in middle age, their default rates grow exponentially, yielding poor credit scores and diminished credit access despite high demand. Sympathomimetic prescriptions are unassociated with improved financial behaviors. Last, financial distress is associated with fourfold higher risk of suicide among those with ADHD. For men but not women with ADHD who suicide, outstanding debt increases in the 3 years prior. No such pattern exists for others who suicide.

Science Advances 
30 Sep 2020:
Vol. 6, no. 40, eaba1551
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aba1551 — https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/40/eaba1551

Here in the US we’ve seen an steady increase in ADHD diagnoses.

ADHD diagnosis throughout the years: Estimates from published nationally representative survey data — https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/timeline.html

And an alarming increase in suicide.

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/suicide.shtml

Then my mind wanders to drugs (to drugs, not due to drugs).

To summarize, the psychiatric side effects of methylphenidate are quite similar to those of cocaine and amphetamines, giving more support to the idea that almost all CNS stimulants will produce a similar clinical picture. A person using cocaine can experience nervousness,57,58 restlessness,58 agitation,57 suspiciousness,60 paranoia,61–63 hallucinations and delusions,61,63 impaired cognitive functions,64 delirium,65 violence,57,58,62,65,66 suicide,67 and homicide.67–70

Methylphenidate Abuse and Psychiatric Side Effects — http://Prim Care Companion J Clin Psychiatry. 2000 Oct; 2(5): 159–164. doi: 10.4088/pcc.v02n0502

I just hope I’m wrong.

Quote for Today – 09.19.20

/ SupremeCmdr / Leave a comment

Higher education committed suicide with its dual racketeering model. First was the college loan racket, in which schools colluded with the federal government to jam too many “customers” through the pipeline who didn’t belong there, and who buried themselves under a lifetime debt obligation they could never escape. The second was the intellectual racket of creating sham fields of study that contaminated all the other “humanities” with poisonous bullshit theory, and eventually even invaded the STEM disciplines. Covid-19 screwed the pooch on all that, scotching the four-year party-hearty in-residence part of the deal. For now, who needs an online class in Contemporary Sexual Transgression ($2000-a-credit) when you can just click on Porn-hub for free? Hundreds of colleges and universities will be going out of business in the years ahead.

James Howard Kunstler — https://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/things-going-by/#more-‘