Economic Distress and Suicide: Japan and U.S.

From Brain Posts:

I learned from my Japanese colleagues last year that suicide rates in Japan increased significantly around 1998--a increase that has continued now for the last 12 years. Figure 1 here. Suicide rates increased to a larger percent in males (47%) compared to females (23%) in this period. My Japanese colleagues reported that psychological autopsy information suggested unemployment and divorce as common factors felt to be contributing to this increased rate of suicide.

Epidemiological work has now supported a link between regional unemployment in Japan and increased rates of suicides.

Japan has experience a prolonged economic malaise since 1998. Several sources have suggested the U.S. and Japanese economic cycles may be similar with the U.S. trailing the pattern in Japan by 10 to 15 years. Unemployment began increasing in Japan in 1998 and jumped dramatically in the U.S. beginning in 2008. The housing bubble in Japan peaked in 1996 and in the U.S. peaked in 2008. The possibility that the U.S. is entering a prolonged economic downturn similar to Japan raises the question of the mental health and suicide rate response. Is the U.S. vulnerable to an increased rate of suicides similar to that found in Japan? If so, what would a similar response look like and could mental health clinicians and public health officials do anything to reduce of minimize this type of risk.

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~ See also: Economic Distress and Farmer Suicides in Rural Punjab ~