I was told once upon a time that catholics have a much lower rate of suicide than any religion and I have found lately that the Mormons suicide rate is much higher does anyone know if this is fact or not?

I was a TBMolly mormon and BIC. I attempted suicide at 16. I was legally required to go to therapy for six months after my icu and then psych hospital stay. My parents chose a mormon therapist. I sat in the foyer durning church and skipped the classes and still was forced to attend seminary. Attempted again at 17. At 18 I moved out and was finally allowed to live my own life. I can't speak for anyone else but that is a snip of my story. I don't personally know any other mormon that has attempted suicide as far as I can think. My siblings have a slew of ocd, anxiety, and whatever else.. all tmbs. Two of them, if I include a sibling in law, take medicine (obbiously not saying that is a bad thing). My parents made a huge deal about my hospital bills for YEARS and made me feel bad and guilty about the cost even though it hardly exceed a year of what they pay in tithing. They are much better and more supportive now though and I probably couldn't get better parents these days.

I would like to add I heard UT has a good suicide rate but idk if that is true. I am on the east coast Also, all the time I was suicidal I denied I had depression and claimed to be perfectly happy. I was pperfectly fine I just wanted to die. I was almost as shocked as my parents about what happened. They said they had no clue even though they forced me onto antideprs 6 months earlier (given by a general mormon doctor without a psych eval or anything) which probably made me more depressed and I started cutting during those six months. Everyone thought I was so much better because all those pills did was make me hyper. I overdosed on them the night before on purpose and the morning I attempted suicide I was feeling on top of the world.

People at high altitude commit & attempt suicide at a higher rate than the population at large in the US.

White people commit & attempt suicide at a higher rate than the population at large in the US.

Utah is ranked #15 at 14.3 suicides per 100,000 people (see here http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/suicide-20-states-with-highest-rates/8/). The average is 12 suicides per 1000,000 people in the US (see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate)

It's difficult to break down suicide by religion, if only because a hard-core Mormon and a completely non-attending Mormon will generally get lumped into the same category when it's broken down that way.

I work in a utah hospital that I won't disclose & work with pediatric psych patients--cutters, suicide attempts, etc. I would say that more than 90% of my patients are LDS. I don't know if it's by virtue of living in utah that the rate is high but it doesn't reflect the population since LDS folks are right around the 50% mark in utah now & no longer the overwhelming majority. I think it is a very interesting statistic. It is not the same demographic with the adult psych patients.

Both of my attempts were around the time I was suppose to take the sats. They told me they get a slew of kids around that time (I had already taken them once before) because of the pressure. Do you see any connections in UT?

It's actually fairly consistent all year with a drop off around holidays & when school lets out which is different than the adult psych patients. There are a lot of adults in crisis around holidays. Kids are usually excited for the fun stuff & seem to postpone self-harm during a time when they might miss something exciting.

Uh-oh---the funny thing about those antidepressants is they start working & patients "come back to life" & have the energy to deal with their unhappy feelings. Cases like yours are quite common. That is why you will notice that one of the side effects on an antidepressant is suicidal thoughts.

it's a bitch to track this, I've been tracking it for years, and only now finding *some* limited LDS vs non-LDS stat trends.

The "high altitude" defense is pretty f'ing stupid. I have heard three LDS psychologists bring this up at conferences.
No other social group at "high altitude" suffers these stats.

The suicide belt isn't only high altitude, either.
The fact is, if you're 14-19 in the intermountain west, you're a very high risk statistic. Girls complete 50% less than boys, while attempting 2.25X more than males. Males are simply better/more committed to it than girls.

"Better Off Dead..." the mormon mantra. It does sink in.

The high-altitude thing is pretty universally known; it's not just an LDS thing. That's why Coloradans and New Mexicans are considered to be at higher-risk. See, eg, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3114154/

Correlation holds outside the US for altitude and suicide when controlling for culture and other factors, so I'd say it's a legitimate consideration.

Alpiner Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The high-altitude thing is pretty universally
> known; it's not just an LDS thing. That's why
> Coloradans and New Mexicans are considered to be
> at higher-risk. See, eg,
> http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC311415
> 4/
>
> Correlation holds outside the US for altitude and
> suicide when controlling for culture and other
> factors, so I'd say it's a legitimate
> consideration.


I'm not saying it's unknown. I'm saying it's not causal nor correlated.
Factor in that it's not an issue in any other high-altitude portion of the USA. Factor in New Mexico's numbers, or even eastern Colorado's numbers, and it doesn't compute.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21883411
Read the hypothesis behind the findings, and it's only slightly ridiculous.
"Of reported suicides, 5% were at high and 83% at low altitude, but unadjusted suicide rates per 100,000 population were higher at high (17.7) than at low (5.7) altitude. High and low altitude victims differed with respect to race, ethnicity, rural residence, intoxication, depressed mood preceding the suicide, firearm use and recent financial, job, legal, or interpersonal problems. Even after multivariate adjustment, there were significant differences in personal, mental health, and suicide characteristics among altitude groups. Compared to low altitude victims, high altitude victims had higher odds of having family or friends report of a depressed mood preceding the suicide (OR 1.78; 95%CI:1.46-2.17) and having a crisis within 2weeks before death (OR 2.00; 95%CI:1.63-1.46). Suicide victims at high and low altitudes differ significantly by multiple demographic, psychiatric, and suicide characteristics; these factors,rather than hypoxia or altitude itself, may explain increased suicide rates at high altitude."

Factor in a county-by-county stat rate for 100% of Utah, approx 50% of Nevada, 50% of Idaho, 50% of western Colorado, 50% of Wyoming, 50% of Northern Arizona, and then remove the Native American stats from the compilation. The result is still exceptionally higher than anywhere else in the entire world, when comparing areas of similar economic and sociograph"ic data.

For the conspiracy theorists out there....Since 1970, there has always been a Mormon at the highest ranks of the CDC, Attorney General's office, or nimh levels (still is). During recent interviews (one with NIMH Director-level, one with CDC statistician) I asked the question "Why isn't the LDS faith ever factored in to any conversation about the Suicide Belt?"

The responses were identical, along the lines of "what do you expect, the boss is Mormon."

Factoid;President James O. Mason, former Assistant Attorney General, former director of the CDC, us currently serving on the board of North Star, an LDS-based, Utah organization that "trains the gay" out of homosexuals. He also happens to be a Seventy.
(No, I do not believe there is a direct link between the CDC staying away from religion-suicide statistics and the first presidency)


It is better to die chaste than to live unchaste. The salvation of your very souls is concerned in this.To this we testify."
-LDS First Presidency Message "We Believe in Being Chaste," Ensign, Sept. 1981, 3


I believe that this concept, this "permission to die" at a subconscious level, plays a greater role in teen suicides in the intermountain region, than does high altitude.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/25/2014 11:59AM by ishmaelnomore.

wrong place, sorry



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/25/2014 09:35AM by Dorothy.

All attempts should be taken seriously. Even if they are female, very few attempt for attention. Males are more likely to use a gun. Females are more likely to use pills. You can guess which is more likely to lead to an attempt vs. a completion.

I have a sister that attempted suicide at least three times...and we were raised Roman Catholic. A nephew that was also RC did kill himself. Also we know of two other early 20-ish aged males who have killed themselves in the last few years...if they weren't both RC, they were at least Catholic, and this is only in my small town area.

I attempted suicide three times as a member, none of the attempts were made when I living at a high elevation. For me it was mental illness combined with the pressure to be perfect and a husband that worked his ass off at his job and then gave more time to the church. The church and it's strains is a perfect place for suicidal folks to be pushed over the edge.

I attempted suicide 3x as a TBM. Was 'revived' to who knows what end.

Having lost a daughter and a brother to suicide, I just want to thank depressed folks for breathing. I'm in that club. Some days just breathing is hard work and noble work as it keeps a holy sh!t storm from raining down on loved ones. I have another brother, in SLC, very sick with depression. I told him, don't EVER believe the lie that people would be better off without you. It's not true. Yay breathing.

Another yay for breathing. I lost my mom and sis to suicide (no religious affiliation), and there are many days that all I want to be is dead. But I will not put my kids through what I went through. Some days it's a battle to breathe, but it's a victory, too.

Dorothy--you are awesome!! After working with psych patients and having a few close friends that committed suicide I totally agree with you. Yay breathing!! Take a minute to reach out to the people in your lives with depression and let them know you care about them. I'm often blown away when my young psych patients (or any age actually) think that no one would care if they were gone.

Kudos to you, Dorothy, and anyone else who lives in the wake of a loved one's suicide. I can understand days when breathing is about all I can do, and I'm hyperventilating at that.

I attempted suicide as a TBM. I had crushing depression and a debilitating case of OCD, based on guilt/worthiness issues of the LDS church.

I've been hospitalized numerous times, and spent 18 months in a group home, where I walked a very thin line between reality and
insanity.

Due to the support of some VERY kind and dedicated mental help workers and family members, I'm still here, and I'm living on my own. I no longer subscribe to Mormonism, and that choice has
improved my state of mind more than anything. I still struggle sometimes, as I have a genetic predisposition for depression, but the triggering factor, Mormonism, has been removed from the equation. It will probably take a lifetime to exorcise all the toxic programming of the church, but knowing I don't have to submit to a false, crazy-making organization has literally saved my life, and improved the quality of it considerably.


I understand all too well how desperate and anguished a person can become, and why they would seek suicide to end the mental pain that torments them night and day. I also know that my loved ones would feel this pain and anguish, too, if I ended it all. It's a real struggle, but I can honestly say, finding the truth of Mormonism has set me free in so many ways.

I know I must live my life one day at a time, and make sure I have support systems in place, like proper medication and a great therapist. I would encourage anyone who's contemplating suicide or has lost someone to it to seek help ASAP. Support is critical, and it can provide comfort and solutions that can honestly make life bearable, and sometimes, even restore a sense of quality to it that isn't possible by struggling alone.

God bless all who have survived thus far. Remember, religious dogma is man-made,and any religion that preaches fear and intimidation rather than love and compassion is in direct contradiction of what JC stood for. Don't fall for it.

Love and hugs,

Hap