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On the other hand Utah has one of the higher suicide rates in the country[1], and leads the country in use of antidepressants[2]. Despite being tongue-in-cheek

by Dobbs 10y ago

On the other hand Utah has one of the higher suicide rates in the country[1], and leads the country in use of antidepressants[2]. Despite being tongue-in-cheek I think the lesson is not so cut and dry. In my personal, anecdotal experience, a lot of the behavior in Utah is forced to keep up the image of a particular life style. 1: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6345a10.htm https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6345a10.htm 2: http://articles.latimes.com/2002/feb/20/news/mn-28924 http://articles.latimes.com/2002/feb/20/news/mn-28924

cookiecaper 10y ago
Statistics about Utah must always be taken with a grain of salt, even larger than is typically appropriate for gross/large-scale generalizations. People know that Utah stats are seen as a proxy for the success and/or failure of Mormonism and will distort findings to accommodate their agenda. A quick example of this is that after Prop 8 passed in CA, a "study", using data sourced from a single, unnamed "top 10 pay site vendor" was published claiming that Utah had the highest incidence of online porn use in the US. That myth stuck for a while, but PornHub started releasing state-by-state traffic reports on its blog and have repeatedly and clearly debunked it. By those numbers, Utah regularly ranks in the bottom 10 states for online porn use. Regarding depression, Mormon leaders explicitly encourage people to seek mental health treatment if/as necessary, and actively work to destigmatize the use of antidepressants, so increased use in Utah should not be a surprise. Leaders have told them it's OK, so they proceed without the guilt that may be unresolved in other areas. Just conjecture here, but maybe a correlation between suicide and antidepressant use is a signal that antidepressants are inadequate and/or, at least in some cases, potentially counterproductive, rather than a signal that the populace is less happy vs. the baseline.
- narrowrail 10y ago
  I've had so many jack-mormon friends over the last 20 years. We'd drink beer and whiskey, and smoke a joint. Anti-depressants are straight-up drugs. It's like removing the fructose from fruit and leaving the fiber. The mormons I've known that were still devout wouldn't even consume caffeine. Edit: Over the last 30 years my 3 best ski days were at Solitude, Snowbird, and Alta. I just wish you all had more realistic laws for beer and weed.
ScottBurson 10y ago
A joke I heard once is that entering Provo you see a sign: "Have a Nice Day. It's the Law."
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
thedevil 10y ago
My personal experience is consistent with your second point. But I'd be careful about making conclusions from the suicide/antidepressant statistics. It's shown to be highly correlated to altitude. I've included a couple links from google search to demonstrate the point. That being said, the Mormon/LDS church does cause some psychological hardships for certain groups such as LGBT and ex-mormons... at least in my anecdotal experience. suicide rate map: http://akinokure.blogspot.com/2015/03/higher-suicide-rates-out-west-due-to.html http://akinokure.blogspot.com/2015/03/higher-suicide-rates-o... altitude map: http://weather.unisys.com/usgs/ http://weather.unisys.com/usgs/
- coryfklein 10y ago
  How do you account for the uptick in the suicide rate since the introduction of the Mormon policy of excommunicating gays and disallowing their children from baptism? The altitude certainly didn't increase...

by Dobbs 10y ago

cookiecaper 10y ago

Statistics about Utah must always be taken with a grain of salt, even larger than is typically appropriate for gross/large-scale generalizations. People know that Utah stats are seen as a proxy for the success and/or failure of Mormonism and will distort findings to accommodate their agenda. A quick example of this is that after Prop 8 passed in CA, a "study", using data sourced from a single, unnamed "top 10 pay site vendor" was published claiming that Utah had the highest incidence of online porn use in the US. That myth stuck for a while, but PornHub started releasing state-by-state traffic reports on its blog and have repeatedly and clearly debunked it. By those numbers, Utah regularly ranks in the bottom 10 states for online porn use. Regarding depression, Mormon leaders explicitly encourage people to seek mental health treatment if/as necessary, and actively work to destigmatize the use of antidepressants, so increased use in Utah should not be a surprise. Leaders have told them it's OK, so they proceed without the guilt that may be unresolved in other areas. Just conjecture here, but maybe a correlation between suicide and antidepressant use is a signal that antidepressants are inadequate and/or, at least in some cases, potentially counterproductive, rather than a signal that the populace is less happy vs. the baseline.

narrowrail 10y ago
I've had so many jack-mormon friends over the last 20 years. We'd drink beer and whiskey, and smoke a joint. Anti-depressants are straight-up drugs. It's like removing the fructose from fruit and leaving the fiber. The mormons I've known that were still devout wouldn't even consume caffeine. Edit: Over the last 30 years my 3 best ski days were at Solitude, Snowbird, and Alta. I just wish you all had more realistic laws for beer and weed.

ScottBurson 10y ago

A joke I heard once is that entering Provo you see a sign: "Have a Nice Day. It's the Law."

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

thedevil 10y ago

My personal experience is consistent with your second point. But I'd be careful about making conclusions from the suicide/antidepressant statistics. It's shown to be highly correlated to altitude. I've included a couple links from google search to demonstrate the point. That being said, the Mormon/LDS church does cause some psychological hardships for certain groups such as LGBT and ex-mormons... at least in my anecdotal experience. suicide rate map: http://akinokure.blogspot.com/2015/03/higher-suicide-rates-out-west-due-to.html http://akinokure.blogspot.com/2015/03/higher-suicide-rates-o... altitude map: http://weather.unisys.com/usgs/ http://weather.unisys.com/usgs/

coryfklein 10y ago
How do you account for the uptick in the suicide rate since the introduction of the Mormon policy of excommunicating gays and disallowing their children from baptism? The altitude certainly didn't increase...