An L.A. journalist's death by suicide still confounds years later. "Can we ever understand that?"

[douglas9]

Three years after her husband took his life, Sara Scribner wants to talk. She knows it won’t be easy, but the time is right. Suicide and mental illness have long been the subject of whisper campaigns and conjecture, but the pandemic, she believes, has changed that.

“Scott’s suicide has been the background noise every minute of my life,” she said, “but whenever I bring up his name in conversation, people get uncomfortable.”

In the age of COVID, however, the language of loss and vulnerability has become familiar, and expressions of grief, worry — even fear — are more easily shared.

“Talking is a means of letting in some light, but it is also devastating,” she said.

Scott Timberg was one of approximately 47,500 Americans who took their lives in 2019. The number decreased slightly in 2020, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is still looking at data for 2021, but over the last 20 years, the trend has been steadily upward.

Understanding why is a mystery. Theories range from untreated mental illness to symptoms of despair: unemployment, addiction, America’s slowly unraveling social structure. Although older white men like Timberg, who was 50, remain most vulnerable, recent increases among young Black people and Native Americans are notable and alarming.


https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-10-02/suicide-in-the-u-s-continues-to-rise-understanding-why-is-a-mystery-how-to-save-a-life

[cate94]

1. Thanks for posting

It’s a good article about a difficult subject.

[bucolic_frolic]

2. Religion and psychologists need to be replaced by genuine social support systems

Victims suffer from the abuse of the existing economic and hierarchical systems. They need unconditional humanitarian hope.

[SalamanderSleeps]

3. Sorted.

Extremely well put.

Faux meritocracies, like kings, die in bed; of the cancer they caused.

[happy feet]

4. Yes,

but don't dismiss that mental illness IS a physical illness of the brain. Suicides can/often happen - just because of psychological pain.

[The Jungle 1]

5. I do understand her need to talk about suicide.

When my brother passed my father wanted to talk about it. I didn't want to. That was a mistake.

[barbtries]

7. never too late.

i still talk about my daughter and i'm not stopping. she deserves it and we all do.

we have a bereavement forum here on DU and your thoughts are welcome any time. It's a very supportive space.

[The Jungle 1]

8. At first I was going to say it is to late.

Then I understood. I do still talk with my father but not so much with my brother. I need to do that.
Thank you.

[barbtries]

6. poverty not mentioned?

disclosure i did not read the full article.

the wealth gap and inequality must be impacting these numbers. my opinion.