Studies
Young Men Attempting Suicide Have Emotional Problems Pre-Puberty
“Teenage and young adult men who make serious suicide attempts often had emotional problems at age 8, while most suicidal women succumb to depressions that develop after puberty, Finnish researchers said on Monday. Nearly four out of five suicidal men tracked in a study in Finland had exhibited problems as 8-year-olds that were evident to their teachers or parents. ‘Most males who commit suicide or need hospital care after a suicide attempt have high levels of psychiatric problems at the age of 8 years,’ wrote Dr. Andre Sourander of Turku University Hospital in Finland and colleagues.” [Retuers]
And the main reason is…?
I feel like the study might not apply elsewhere, because when you live in Finland and it’s dark and freezing 8 months out of the year, you tend to develop problems early. Seriously.
So that explains why people are happiest in dark and freezing parts of the world?
One of the ingredient of happiness is drinking to excess on weekends, and stopping completely throughout the rest of the week…this obviously isn’t my opinion, because I don’t stop after the weekends.
I know a few people with seasonal affected disorder (depression from lack of sunlight). The good news is the treatment is a sunlamp, not drugs.
Scandinavia is much further north than us though, and I have read stats that some of those countries have high suicide rates.
I don’t know that these results apply to gay teens and young adults. For them, I think there’s good evidence that harassment is a key reason, and maybe the main reason, for serious suicide attempts. The post refers to “nearly four out of five” males. Gay guys are a small group; most or all of them might be in the remaining fifth.
Even in heterosexual young people, the presence of early childhood contributors doesn’t rule out the possibility that harassment may play a role. And yes, I can see how Finland’s cold, dark climate could lead to different results than for other areas.
@spb: I agree with your post. Every year I get depressed from late Sept to March. It got so bad that I had to see a psychologist and he said it was seasonal change disorder.