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For an opposite example in Japan the stay-at-home order actually reduced the number of suicides[0]. Maybe mental health treatments being so expensive in the US

For an opposite example in Japan the stay-at-home order actually reduced the number of suicides[0]. Maybe mental health treatments being so expensive in the US plays a large role in this and the quarantine is just the trigger. [0] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/14/japan-suicides-fall-sharply-as-covid-19-lockdown-causes-shift-in-stress-factors https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/14/japan-suicides...

TeMPOraL 6y ago
That, or access to said services - which usually depends on the job you have, and many Americans suddenly found themselves without one. A blogger/psychiatrist shares some examples of how this plays out in general: https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/04/24/employer-provided-health-insurance-delenda-est/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/04/24/employer-provided-heal... Relevant in particular are all those examples following the pattern of "$something happened, had to switch insurance, now I can no longer see the doctor that helped me over the years, and the new one starts from scratch/does something that essentially cancels the effects of years of therapy". Now throw in the pandemic, and I can easily imagine this starting to be reflected in suicide rates.
closeparen 6y ago
"When I don't drink water, I feel thirst" is a not a medical problem for your doctor to fix, it is a description of how humans work. "When I don't have social interaction, I feel despair" is the same. The healthcare system can at best poke the parameters of these systems around the margins. It's not going to eliminate human needs.
- mattigames 6y ago
  I would like to see some numbers on that, in general people that are mentally strong are less likely to succumb to suicide when isolation hits, and would explain why other countries such as Netherlands and Japan are seeing a _decline_ of suicide rates, decades of being unable to afford mental health are probably a factor in that; I admid there is a good chance it's not as big of a factor like I imagine, and accumulated stress factors seen only in America are to blame.
- TeMPOraL 6y ago
  It's not the same. Unlike with water and thirst, "when I don't have social interaction, I feel despair" is not true for many people, and for those for whom it is, it really depends on what they consider "social interaction" and how much they really "don't have" it. You could do a rough ordering of quality of social interactions, lowest to highest: no interaction, text messages, IMs, phone calls, video calls, face to face meetings. Most people these days have access to at least phone calls, and my guess is that more than 50% can do video calls with most of their social circle. It's not perfect. Drinking rain water instead of a hot tea isn't ideal either - though it will sustain your life. Point being, it was expected that limiting people's meatspace interactions will cause psychological pressure to build up, but the extent and seriousness of it is far from obvious.
- csharptwdec19 6y ago
  True... But I'd argue that at least 25-50% of the US population is in a 'marginal' mental health situation to begin with. Humans do tend to try to 'patch' these holes in various ways; A big theme in Pink Floyd's 'The Wall' was filling the empty voids in your life with material/social wealth can come crashing down fast when you finally run out of gas, or those things that you're using to prop you up. IOW, these people probably weren't in great shape before, but now that they don't have their crutches they finally crumble.

TeMPOraL 6y ago

That, or access to said services - which usually depends on the job you have, and many Americans suddenly found themselves without one. A blogger/psychiatrist shares some examples of how this plays out in general: https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/04/24/employer-provided-health-insurance-delenda-est/ https://slatestarcodex.com/2020/04/24/employer-provided-heal... Relevant in particular are all those examples following the pattern of "$something happened, had to switch insurance, now I can no longer see the doctor that helped me over the years, and the new one starts from scratch/does something that essentially cancels the effects of years of therapy". Now throw in the pandemic, and I can easily imagine this starting to be reflected in suicide rates.

closeparen 6y ago

"When I don't drink water, I feel thirst" is a not a medical problem for your doctor to fix, it is a description of how humans work. "When I don't have social interaction, I feel despair" is the same. The healthcare system can at best poke the parameters of these systems around the margins. It's not going to eliminate human needs.

mattigames 6y ago
I would like to see some numbers on that, in general people that are mentally strong are less likely to succumb to suicide when isolation hits, and would explain why other countries such as Netherlands and Japan are seeing a _decline_ of suicide rates, decades of being unable to afford mental health are probably a factor in that; I admid there is a good chance it's not as big of a factor like I imagine, and accumulated stress factors seen only in America are to blame.
TeMPOraL 6y ago
It's not the same. Unlike with water and thirst, "when I don't have social interaction, I feel despair" is not true for many people, and for those for whom it is, it really depends on what they consider "social interaction" and how much they really "don't have" it. You could do a rough ordering of quality of social interactions, lowest to highest: no interaction, text messages, IMs, phone calls, video calls, face to face meetings. Most people these days have access to at least phone calls, and my guess is that more than 50% can do video calls with most of their social circle. It's not perfect. Drinking rain water instead of a hot tea isn't ideal either - though it will sustain your life. Point being, it was expected that limiting people's meatspace interactions will cause psychological pressure to build up, but the extent and seriousness of it is far from obvious.
csharptwdec19 6y ago
True... But I'd argue that at least 25-50% of the US population is in a 'marginal' mental health situation to begin with. Humans do tend to try to 'patch' these holes in various ways; A big theme in Pink Floyd's 'The Wall' was filling the empty voids in your life with material/social wealth can come crashing down fast when you finally run out of gas, or those things that you're using to prop you up. IOW, these people probably weren't in great shape before, but now that they don't have their crutches they finally crumble.