Why the high suicide rate in Colorado?

The Chilling Mystery of High-Altitude Suicides

U.S. counties above 4,000 feet have twice the suicides as counties at 2,000 feet. Is it because there's less oxygen in the air, or is something else going on?

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/xwnpxj/the-chilling-mystery-of-high-altitude-suicides?utm_campaign=sharebutton&fbclid=IwAR1bbNkq3RQWCLtOUAqJE_f900cwHCP0rw8fz3rxhbgY_pZiAojybMO9X9c

I would be depressed to live in the southeastern part of the state. Seemed more like Oklahoma than what I thought Colorado would be

I live in Northwest Montana, about half an hour equally from the Canadian border and Glacier National Park. Summer here is as close to God's Country as you will find on this planet, but winters are beyond brutal with the constant temperatures below zero, several feet of snow on the ground for months at a time, regular 40+ mph winds, and worst of all, the 5-6 hours of true daylight in the winter months. Vitamin D deficiency is just the tip of the iceberg with the physiological effects of slugging it out for a full winter in this area, and the suicide/depression/addiction rate shows for it.

Hmmmmmmmm wrote:

I live in Northwest Montana, about half an hour equally from the Canadian border and Glacier National Park. Summer here is as close to God's Country as you will find on this planet, but winters are beyond brutal with the constant temperatures below zero, several feet of snow on the ground for months at a time, regular 40+ mph winds, and worst of all, the 5-6 hours of true daylight in the winter months. Vitamin D deficiency is just the tip of the iceberg with the physiological effects of slugging it out for a full winter in this area, and the suicide/depression/addiction rate shows for it.

why do you live there and what do you do for an occupation?

ohia wrote:

Hmmmmmmmm wrote:

I live in Northwest Montana, about half an hour equally from the Canadian border and Glacier National Park. Summer here is as close to God's Country as you will find on this planet, but winters are beyond brutal with the constant temperatures below zero, several feet of snow on the ground for months at a time, regular 40+ mph winds, and worst of all, the 5-6 hours of true daylight in the winter months. Vitamin D deficiency is just the tip of the iceberg with the physiological effects of slugging it out for a full winter in this area, and the suicide/depression/addiction rate shows for it.

why do you live there and what do you do for an occupation?

I work for Glacier NP, and fell in love with this place as a kid before moving up here post-college. As with any high-alpine region of our country (Taos, the Sierras, San Juans, southern Rockies, etc.), living through the winters is a small price to pay for the privilege to live here full-time in the spring, summer and fall.

I was surprised to read of the supposed high suicide rate in colorado, and i actually wonder if this even a meaningful statistic?

I live in one of the wealthy ski towns of colorado. I am a transplant, and have lived in many other places.

There are things not to like about the culture here, but those aspects exist everywhere, to one extent or another. For example, modern america is full of places where you can easily be an anonymous human getting lost in the shuffle. Your neighbors don’t know your name. If you died, nobody would miss you very much, and your job would be farmed out to somebody else.

But this is not unique to colorado.

We have more than enough days of sunshine.

Our economy is more than decent in most parts of the state.

I wonder if there is a measurement explanation, rather than a quality of life explanation?

In some places, i can imagine that a person dying of a self inflicted wound would be listed as “lost too much blood causing heart to stop” while in another place, the box marked, “likely suicide” would be acceptable to check, with no additional red tape.

Is it possible that colorado only scores high in classifying deaths as likely suicide, while other states have to list the biology that caused the heart to stop beating?

Correlation Causation

Large populations of veterans and Native Americans probably helps skew the statistics. Add to that the lack of mental health resources in rural areas.

https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/2015/comm/percent-veterans.html

http://worldpopulationreview.com/states/native-american-population/

This, above anything else. There is definitely a sense of hopelessness among multi-generational "natives" to these beautiful areas that are being pushed further and further out due to the massive influx of wealthy Californians and Seattlites moving in to the areas. Rent and housing prices have skyrocketed due to demand, and individuals and families already living on the fringe of extreme poverty are strained and stressed even further.

Maybe being relatively far distance from hospitals and decent healthcare, a therapist, a psychiatrist ? It worries me that if you collapse in Las Animas /Otero County etc, a helicopter may have to fly you 50miles west to a hospital in Pueblo. If you’re hiking a 14’er and break a leg, you probably spend hours up there getting roasted in the sun (or days, but I hope not if it’s a touristic route) before anyone finds you and a rescue helicopter may be needed to take you out of there.

The "feeling terrible while living in a beautiful mountain range" creates an interesting Juxtapose. Wonder if they feel so terrible and not worthy at the same time, that it creates more of a rift in their mind. Like an "I am not worthy to be here because if I can't be happy here, I cant be happy anywhere" type situation.

I live in Colorado and didn’t know about this. It seems strange as the states listed with the highest rates are truly wonderful places to live (for the most part).

A few thoughts:

I think people move to these parts when they’re fed up. It’s a last stand if you will. For the majority (and for me) it worked. But unfortunately, for those hurting just too much, the sunshine, vastness, and kind disposition of the people isn’t enough.

There is a different kind of attitude in the Rocky Mountains and Alaska for that matter. People sort of leave you to yourself and stay out of your business - until you ask for help and then they’ll help you. If you don’t seek help, however, it probably won’t be given.

The ski resort towns are a very small slice of the area and not indicative of the culture as a whole. For the most part, ski resorts are temporarily filled by the coastal elites (and Texans) during the visiting seasons. So I don’t think the income/resort thing has much to do with it. Being poor has nothing to do with deep sadness.

Anyway, if you’re reading this and need help, please reach out to someone today and ask for help. This life ain’t easy and we all need someone to help pick us up from time to time.

Lots of people being exposed for cheating in races would be my guess since we all know that makes people kill themselves.

I also notice that Florida extends further west than Detroit!!

XY wrote:

I also notice that Florida extends further west than Detroit!!

Than all of Michigan, it extends into Wisconsin!

Like any state, there are no simple answers to explain suicide rates. The rates have gone up since the early 2000s, but were already high when pot was legalized in 2013-2014.

https://www.coloradohealthinstitute.org/research/suicides-colorado-reach-all-time-high

And demographically the rates are highest in the more rural counties, especially in the southwest part of the state and eastern plains. For the most part these are not rich counties like the cities or ski resort areas. A high proportion are by gun.

Another article that was interesting:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/relay.nationalgeographic.com/proxy/distribution/public/amp/adventure/adventure-blog/2016/05/16/why-are-ski-towns-suicides-happening-at-such-an-alarming-rate

I draw different conclusions that seem obvious to me. It's more math than anything else. Suicides are rare and you'll always have a few in any population who unfortunately take their lives. California has over 4300 suicides in 2017 and Wyoming had 157. I'm not sure a per capita figure tells you much about anything other than math. Even on a per capita basis Wyoming's suicides are 0.02% of their population.

And you are insane if you think people in the west and mountain west are generally lonely and longing to be living in a crowded dirty city with everyone on top of you.

Of course in Chicago, so many people are murdered before they can get to the point of suicide. So there's that impacting Illinois figures.

ohia wrote:

Hmmmmmmmm wrote:

I live in Northwest Montana, about half an hour equally from the Canadian border and Glacier National Park. Summer here is as close to God's Country as you will find on this planet, but winters are beyond brutal with the constant temperatures below zero, several feet of snow on the ground for months at a time, regular 40+ mph winds, and worst of all, the 5-6 hours of true daylight in the winter months. Vitamin D deficiency is just the tip of the iceberg with the physiological effects of slugging it out for a full winter in this area, and the suicide/depression/addiction rate shows for it.

why do you live there and what do you do for an occupation?

I am a bum. So depressing