The pandemic has been tough for many people during this pandemic, suicides have decreased about 5%, while those numbers dropped during the pandemic the drug overdose epidemic increased about 30%. This is very surprising because prior to the pandemic these trends were highly correlated. One reason for this massive increase in overdoses is the increasing popularity of fentanyl, “Preliminary data indicates that, while heroin overdose deaths dropped in 2020, deaths involving fentanyl grew exponentially”. Another reason for the increase in overdoses is the COVID restrictions that states placed that caused people isolate themselves. There has been no proven theory to describe why these trends suddenly diverted from each other. Economists have come up with theories to explain one of the trends individually, but have not found any evidence to explain the split.
Something to note is that although there is no theory to explain why trends diverted from each other, British researchers have said that this is because suicide experiences a disaster shock. British researchers have found evidence that following a disaster such as Hurricane Katrina the suicide rate decreased in the short run and then resumed exponentially in the long run. The researchers are worried that the decrease in suicide rates is just temporary and that the trend in the long term will follow closely again with the overdose rate.
source: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2021/8/12/22619913/covid-19-us-suicides-drug-overdoses-2020-fentanyl
4 comments:
One can only assume that being locked inside your house, away from your higher-risk family members can't be good for your mental health. I don't like to point out the obvious but, when left to our own devices and isolation bad things tend to happen. The big question I have now is, what can we do to slow and/ or correct this newfound trend of mental illness, suicide, and drug addiction?
The pandemic was clearly not good for mental health as the prolonged time stick inside affected everyone in some way. It is interesting that suicide dropped yet drug overdose skyrockted. I myself would assume that those numbers would be flipped instead. I could see suicide rates dropping as maybe a result of families/households being so close and together through the pandemic which would help struggling people.
I find it extremely interesting that the suicide rates had decreased during the pandemic although there was a heightened amount of reported adverse mental health conditions because of Covid-19. During the pandemic symptoms of anxiety disorder and depressive disorder increased considerably and these are usually the first signs of suicidal thoughts. It would be interesting to look into what caused suicide rates to drop since symptoms that usually go hand in hand with suicide increased, but suicide rates did not.
I agree with Madyson and and find it very shocking to see that the suicide rates have decreased. I remember watching news during peak pandemic days and all I saw was how people were depressed and not in a good mental state. I would have assumed that the suicide rates would go up, let alone decrease. It is also interesting to see the correlation between suicide rates and drug overdose to split up. I wonder what caused that. Probably more research would answer that. I do hope that the drop in suicide rates is not temporary because of disaster shock.
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