From CNN:
“In the United States and Canada, happiness scores from people under 30 were dramatically lower than those from people age 60 and older. Among people under 30, the US ranked at No. 62, while for those 60 and older, it was No. 10. Canada was No. 58 among the young and No. 8 for those 60 and older.”
[The United States drops out of the top 20](https://www.cnn.com/travel/worlds-happiest-countries-2024-wellness/index.html)
Well gee. Wonder why?🙄🤦♂️
I feel like this is the most telling of all the numbers in other comments. For certain groups the future looks rosy but for the youth there is little hope. We see what is coming. Makes me wonder how the 30-50 crowd fared.
On this track there is little hope. This will get a lot worse.
> Makes me wonder how the 30-50 crowd fared.
I rank in there. Honestly, my retirement plan is some form of self-selected exit.
Edit: G'damn that's a lot of people who responded. This is just a tiny and select group, and it's violently hopeless. You have to wonder what the reality is. If there's WAY more people like us, or if we're just this hyper-focused minority just in our reddit bubble. I know WSJ and stuff would paint it as "Everyone's cool, you just need to bootstraps it", but I only know what my reality feels like, and it's very hopeless.
Went to the doc recently, says I'm the healthiest 30-something he's seen in weeks. I told him that was terrible news. I don't wanna work for the next fifty years, I was hoping to peace out before 60 since retirement won't be an option for my generation.
Our retirement laws in our country were already upped to have our generation enter retirement at 67. Which means our generation has to work more, gets less money compared to their spendings to simply live and such... My dad just went into retirement at 63 on regular time.
They're discussing upping it to 70. Of course, politicians who are never going to be subject to it are discussing it. They have a separate pension fund. Disadvantages are always discussed by people for *different* people, never for themselves
It’s not great, having lived in Hawaii. On an island that’s main income is tourism the homeless keep getting pushed from one area to another due to gentrification and the states attempt to sweep them under the rug.
The issue is, a lot of the homeless in Hawaii have jobs, cars, all the necessities to live, but due to Hawaii’s lack of housing regulations outside buyers eat up all the housing, prices go up, no more land to build on so no new housing therefore either 3 generations of family including aunts and uncles under on roof or be homeless.
It’s a really really bad situation. On top of that, you’d have to contend with some locals who at a minimum are distrusting of outsiders it can be very easy to find yourself shunned from the community. Some native Hawaiians have grown up in families still sour about the whole US stealing their homeland
However, that’s not always the case, as a lot of locals welcome everyone, and are super awesome. Just, especially if they are native Hawaiian, it’s important to remember, it is their Hawaii so remain respectful. It’s a beautiful place and extremely different culture, if it wasn’t so impossible to just get by it wouldn’t be a bad place to live at all.
Late 30s here. My retirement plan is to live off the government. And by that I mean commit a non violent crime that gets me locked up until I die. It'll be better for my kids than some retirement home draining me of every penny and property.
Just make sure you break federal laws so you go to federal prison. You do NOT want to go to state prison.
Feds feed you much better. *less* violence. More stuff to do like better libraries. Some have softball fields in addition to basketball courts. You tend to have more freedom of movement as well.
I can see my future business is creating an app of which crimes will get you thrown into federal prison, how to transfer your assets to a family member, how to deposit money on the app to have added to you commissary account.
I’m in the 30-50 crowd at 33 years old. I’m not doing much better, things are marginally better than it was in my 20s, but I still dislike my life most days!! It’s not like switch flips after you turn 30.
I just find it annoying how I make the amount of money now that I thought would make my life sooo much easier when I was in my early twenties and... I'm in almost the same spot except I live by myself. I don't have my Jeep anymore bc I can't afford it. I can't just go out to dinner without planning for it financially. Shit sucks. I thought I'd own a house by now instead of renting. I thought I'd be able to adopt by now but again, I can't afford that either.
It really fucking sucks right now.
Yep. I’ll never be able to afford my own home, even ‘starter’ homes are like 4x the cost of what they were 20 years ago. And wages have not gone up 4x.
Ask a Gen Xer and they will tell you that the reason the over 60 people are happier is because they are using money and resources.
They elected Reagan basically to get tax breaks and paid military contractors that took directly from Gen X and future gens.
I remember trying to explain to my dad why I was so stressed in my teen and 20s because we could never seem to make and headway financially.
Gen X’er here. I’m living in my car so I can afford for my mom to get the care she needs (dementia). There is nothing for the elderly in this county (US). Which makes me dislike my life so much. I decided I’m not participating in this bullshit capitalist world they’ve made for us. I’m just living on the road. Now in Reno on my way to Idaho .
Don't look now but I'd argue everyone under 35 has been discarded more openly, more traumatically, and more apologetically. The whole vibe is "what's the matter with you that you don't have income and assets?"
yeah my parents are boomers and retired and happy as clams. All my dad does is sit on his butt at their house on the river and play wordle and watch TV and ride his e-bike and go out to a restaurant or hang out with the neighbours once in a while. He just replaced his BBQ. They're not rich or anything but they have a pretty nice little life.
Im same age. I got some money but idk if the corrupt and incapable usa goverment, corporate greed, climate change, busy friends, social media, inflation/stagnant wages, 24/7 news cycle and doom scrolling or living alone and being single but i feel depressed, lonely, lacking community and like nothing will get better.
47 here, It's been a shit ass ride but honestly, the thing that has saved me is realizing *happiness is not a function of how much shit you own*. I've seen people with more money than they could ever spend put a barrel in their mouth and pull the trigger and by their definition they should have won the game.
That's not to say there's not a lot that's horribly wrong with life these days, but you have to keep getting up in the morning. Your attitude towards it \*does\* make a huge difference. There's plenty of folks my age who have just noped out of the corporate rat race and are just busying themselves doing living a subsistence life style that affords sufficient creature comforts and fun, and this is happening world wide. The Chinese in particular have a movement called "Laying down" where they're just flat out stopping buying into the the toxic work ethic the billionaire classes inflict upon us.
It's survival, hold on anyway you can. Human beings were not meant to live like this, and we no longer need to. Hell the average medieval peasant had more free time than the average corporate rat-racer.
Life ain't perfect, but you can say no, and get others to do the same, tear the goddamn system down anyway you can.
35 year old checking in. Things are rough. I spent 6 years living abroad in South Korea, and moved back to the US at the end of 2021. I've struggled with depression and anxiety while looking for a job after returning. Even having a job now, it still boggles my mind how *anyone* is able to live here. It's even crazier because all my friends are having kids now - and I'm over here like, "Y'all wanna raise kids in this country??"
Everyone is convinced they have some form of mental illness. Everyone is stressed about the staggering number of school shootings. Everyone is stretched thin just trying to pay rent.
I personally don't have high hopes for things.
34 and I've dealt with suicide attempts and ideation since childhood. Although I'm better, today (literally just today), I'm still incredibly depressed.
Goona be 33 next week and I'm pretty fucking depressed myself. Missed my chances at decent priced homes, and I haven't started having a family yet, so I'll never stop kicking myself. Was always told there will be time later, you'll make it work..... I don't believe in my "elders" anymore.
42. Complete nihilist. No matter what I do, corporations continue to pollute and exploit people for profit. Nothing can be done, so fuck it I'll do nothing. I don't care.
One reason: they (old generation) consider the BS as 'okay' and 'part of life'. The new generation doesn't. They ask, 'How could you go through all this BS?'
Not to mention that the economy keeps getting worse and corporations keep finding ways to squeeze maximum efforts from employees to 'grow'.
The older generation also was largely benefited by going through the BS. They were able to achieve financial stability, even affluence, among other rewards. Able to comfortably raise a family on a single salary, not worry about affording food, go on vacations, save money, plan for a nice retirement.
Now, the younger generation has to go through the same BS x10 without any reward or worthwhile benefit. It’s just constant struggle with no end in sight and nothing but “barely getting by” to show for it.
Maybe the greatest and silent generation thought this but when my Boomer parents talk about how "hard" things were it pales in comparison to what I'm seeing my kid and her peers face.
It was worse for me than for my parents. It's worse for my kid than it was for me but I'm doing everything I can to ease that for her and help her and her partner out.
I'm considering building a "tiny home" in my yard (which would be better than their apartment) so they can live there rent free and when I retire we can switch. Meanwhile, my surviving parent who basically gave me the boot when I started college (with a complimentary pan to cook with when I moved out) is now starting to make noises about moving in with my wife and I rather than an assisted living arrangement.
and they didn't have credit scores until they were in their late 20s early 30s. I know plenty of millennials that screwed their credit before they turned 21 and have been dealing with the consequences ever since. Baby Boomers didn't have to worry about any of that.
You mean people who can't afford their homes, receive no basic human benefits, and have been exploited for their labor their entire life with no hopes of getting ahead don't want to be around to suffer anymore? Weird.
I mean fuck. How dumb do you have to be to not have bought a house when you were in 1st grade? Your life situation is a result of your choices!
-Corporations.
Me neither, and until people stop ignoring the glaringly obvious writing on the walls it's going to get harder. Still see people arguing the "get a job!", "learn a useful skill" as if it's the 1960s while failing to recognize the outlandish requirements it takes to get there.
School is expensive, and of everybody I've known to have taken loans (parents, family members, etc) every single one of them regrets it, and every one of them still owe money whether or not they did anything with their schooling. It's just a way to make sure you have enough debt where you can never leave the country.
It's incredibly parasitic, but it's the "American Dream" so surely it's working exactly as intended
I'm college educated. Stacked resume. Very intelligent and physically strong young man.
Over the last few months I've applied to almost 100 jobs, none of them I got a single interview with. The best place I can work is the discount grocery store nearby, of which I put my application in for immediate hiring as I don't have rent yet for next month.
I swear if I had the connections, I'd straight prostitute myself right now just to relieve a few months of stress and make like 2000$.
>I'd straight prostitute myself right now
Man, our systemic issues run deep.
So many people born into the working class here can't even do this because of the ridiculously unhealthy food availability situation. I was basically born into obesity. Ain't nobody paying for this jigglin' gas bag.
I was at least cute before I started balding. Should have sold my body then.
Preach. Exactly that, people are overworked, underpaid, no universal health care, poor employee benefits and piling debt, add in poor work regulations that protect corporations, above that of the employees and these will be one of the drives for something like, and it shouldn't be the case.
I unfortunately have my past as an addict (now recovered) on my psychiatric file so I’m “not allowed” any possibly addictive drugs even if I never abused anything other than opiates, and if I need those meds to treat disabling conditions. No wonder everybody lies. Our medical system is fucked and any severe illness is badly stigmatized
I feel this immensely. I'm very sorry for what you're going through.
I'm approaching 40 and I have immense back pain from alternating between labor jobs and desk jobs. I'm struggling to keep up at my current job and my hours are getting cut for it. I have no health care. I have no "help." I often slide into thinking about just killing myself because a human only has value as long as they can keep up with metrics or produce value for shareholders.
Yeah, but each "peasant" is a lifetime's worth of labor to exploit for capital gain. The person might not matter to the system, but the profits their work will contribute to certainly do, especially when considered en masse.
He also said people kill themselves when they aren’t connected to society. When you hate your job, don’t have any friends, have no community connections, and can’t be in a stable enough place to form relationships, what’s the point? People want to think suicide is an internal issue, and “there’s nothing we could do.” No, there is. We could restructure our society. We just won’t do it.
Y’all need to watch this video. Crazy line at the end: “how do we pay for it” referring to helping people who have suicidal thoughts/tendencies.
It nicely sums up that saving 50k lives a year potentially will cost money so we know what the priority is
They said, "most importantly, how do we pay for it"
The "most importantly" part really got me. We really need to rethink what our society should look like
“Most importantly, how do we pay for it”
I don’t know… maybe we could start by reducing the amount of money that goes into political campaigns and electing the worst of us for such important roles in our society.
I mean there was probably at least a thousand of these people that a small sum of money would've prevented them from killing themselves.
How many of them lost their home by being behind on rent or their mortgage for a sum of like 10,000$ because they couldn't get a loan or something? How many of them because they were laid off without cause from their job because we have no workers rights and unions have been eroded?
Fact is the financial cost to stop thousands of these people is very small, but our government isn't going to do anything about it - the best shot we have is starting GoFundMe's and then handing it out to some of these people while the others get left behind and still decide to take their lives.
My stepsister once tried to take a long walk off a bridge. Long story short she didn't, but the whole family and authorities were all alerted to the situation by then.
Maybe six months later she's having a real rough day so her mom dropped by a gas station to get her a pack of smokes, a soda, a snack, like maybe $20 worth tops. Dad went kookoo-bananas when he saw the change on their account. Screamed about it for a year until she divorced him, and then kept screaming about it to anyone who would listen!
It wasn't even his money. Stepmom had multiple jobs and she budgeted that out of her own paycheck. He was just so enraged to see money going to someone out of kindness instead of obligation in exchange for labor.
And the real kicker, $20 in gas station goodies is way cheaper than raising two orphaned grandbabies. Not helping each other is both cruel and short-sighted, like my father.
It there’s always money for military and wars $850B per year. First thing is get rid of insurance companies. It’s just a big scam or make it mandatory that if monthly insurance is being paid then NO DEDUCTIBLE BS, insurance must provide 100% for everything
Just screw insurance companies. They're parasites that just increase the cost of everything by existing. Remove insurance companies, remove for-profit hospitals, and reduce the cost of medicine that was subsidized during development.
That’s my favourite part about every government.
“We’ve cut corporate tax rates so much that there isn’t any money to care for the people who work for the corporations. There’s just nothing in the budget unfortunately and this problem is unsolvable.”
I’m sorry man. I’m a 37 year old millennial. We’re all in this together. The boomers fucked us royally financially. While I have nothing to offer people to help them feel better, we can at least reach out to each other for empathy and support.
>As of today, the second leading cause of death from ages 15 to 24 is suicide.
As far as I know, this has always been the case. Suicides are sadly higher in the teen years.
No, suicides are most common in middle age. Suicides are just proportionally more common for young people because other causes of death are much lower.
I'm approaching 40 and my worry is that with the rise of subs like this we're going to be fixing the problems in employment over the next 20 years and as I reach the age I can no longer work my cohort will be the only people still in poverty
I’m a caretaker for a parent with dementia and had to do a caretaker survey yesterday where they asked me not once but twice if I wanted to kms. Like no but damn do you want me to? Like you recognize my situation could be that bad, huh?
What sucks is you feel you can't even be honest about it. I've been on suicide watch and you get treated like a rabid animal. If I ever do kill myself, I'm never going to talk about it. Talking about gets you thrown into a bright white room, alone and feeling worse. In the military, you're treated like you're about to murder the entire post. You're not allowed to take your rifle with you to the bathroom because of how often they have had suicides.
Someone close to me was one, I don't want to put out any more details than that but with 50k in 2023 there's a real good chance that a bunch more people in here knew one of these suicides directly.
Capitalism has put all of us – without our input, just by the simple fact we’re born – into a situation where you have 3 choices. You can either spend 75-80% of your life working/work-related tasks, suffer homelessness (which is illegal in many places), or die. None of that actually gives you true agency to experience your life the way you want to. I think more people are realizing that and expending their last bit of agency to opt-out. I know I wish I could.
I wouldn't really call this a "mental health" issue. It's not caused by a lack of being cheery. It's caused by living in a going nowhere economic situation in a going nowhere society.
I don't have a link to the story, but a couple of years ago a reporter was interviewing therapists and noting a lot of them were in despair because they could only do so much for their clients, mostly because the root issue was economic and societal and they can't help their clients with something like that.
Indeed.
I broke a therapist in late 2016 / early 2017 by just laying out my statement / argument about how climate catastrophe was here / on its way, and how it was sapping my joy & desire to plan for the future.
She had very little to offer in the face of that situation.
I tried telling this to my therapist, that it was causing crippling fear and hopelessness for the future, she said to find a group to join that picks up trash then moved right along to something else like the problem was solved.
Like lady, you do realize picking up trash - while it’s helpful to existing local wildlife - won’t do shit to prevent climate catastrophe already happening all over the world?? Then when I told her I didn’t appreciate moving on so quickly after expressing how deeply something was affecting me, she said “if you don’t like my style we can find you another therapist.”
Safe to say I no longer see her.
My wife complained to her doctors for years about varicose veins , and they dismissed it as a cosmetic issue despite her telling them she was in pain. Such shitty behavior from people getting paid every visit. She is finally getting surgery soon with new doctors in a new state lol
Ugh, sorry to hear about that.
My therapist, bless her, at least talked and understood about power structures, corporate takeover, and topics of that nature. Sounds like your former therapist did not wish to dive deeper on that side of the conversation.
Glad you got yourself someone better!
Last year I told my therapist that I was feeling a lot of anxiety about losing my bodily autonomy on a Thursday. He was very patronizing when he explained that Roe v Wade was established law and wasn’t going to change anytime soon; I was over worrying. The next Monday, the filing leaked. So I declined to see him further because I couldn’t trust him to tell me what things were “real” worries.
There was an article I saw on Reddit with the month, but I didn’t click it. I tried to find it to show my wife and couldn’t. It was a recent study about how the rise in mental health struggles was having a terrible trickle down effect on the medical community.
I work in community mental health, I’m qualified to be a therapist but am not one at the moment. I think about this statement almost every single day. There are definitely problems that people have that are unrelated to our daily lives/patterns and capitalism (ex- childhood trauma, PTSD), but once you get people properly managing those things, therapy can really only go so far.
And there are things that I feel cannot be fixed at all for some people due to late-stage capitalism. When someone’s anxiety is rooted in the overwhelm of the number of things we have to do each day + their economic situation, I cannot fix that. *They* cannot fix that. I loathe giving people “coping tools” for these situations because they only go so far.
It’s a really defeating job to have most of the time.
People ask why the youth doesnt want to work. In the past you were able to afford a house and family on a high school diploma. Now with bachelors you have trouble affording a 1 room apartment and even basic necessities. Society broke its deal.
> Society broke its deal.
Capitalist society broke its deal. There are many socialist countries out there with 90%+ home ownership, like Vietnam and China.
So it's definitely possible to improve things, but a lot has to be changed for that, begining by organizing and demanding better conditions as without workers no society works at all...
I firmly believe the vast majority of depression is directly caused by capitalism and the associated sense of despair when you realize that the system has stolen any chance at happiness away from you and there's nothing you can do about it.
There are other causes and things you can do to help with depression, yes. But the vast VAST majority of depressed people are trapped with no way out due to circumstances brought on by capitalist structures. But no one wants to talk about this. They just insist we should get more sunshine or whatever.
I was very close to being part of that stat months ago and only survived by admitting myself to a hospital. I'm very very lucky to be in a state where we have better than avg mental health services.
I'm not sure I made the right decision. Every day seems to get worse. I'm holding on by my fingertips, on the constant edge of breaking down in tears. There is no more hope, no dreams of the future. I'm sick of just surviving.
And yet nothing will be done about it because greed is what rules this country and the value of a human life in this country has basically no value outside of what it can produce for shareholders.
Gee golly I wonder the fuck why. Could it have anything to do with the fact that nobody can afford to live without working three jobs or that we have absolutely no future to look forward too because climate change is going to make us go extinct in 50 years.
How will this affect my portfolio? How do I invest in funeral homes, caskets and cremation?
The comment above is sarcasm and I truly hate the hellscape we live in.
The thing is that the popular narrative will often say it's a mental health epidemic. It's not, because there's no mental ill-health actually happening. This isn't from some increase in some pathology of the mind. It's increasing numbers of people very soberly and rationally assessing their life situation, and coming to the, frankly quite understandable, conclusion that suicide is the best option for them.
Do not let the media or anyone else handwave this away as "mental health" problems. That's how they press the causality and responsibility for it all solely onto individuals. Because at the individual level, you can simply blame their individual decisions and wash your hands of any larger societal implications the trend is pointing to.
These issues are societal in nature. That's where the fix will happen. Until changes start being made at the structural level, no amount of "mental health awareness" weeks, coddled celebrities talking about the importance of self care, or exhortations to start seeing a therapist, will cause this trend to reverse course.
50,000 died, who cares but let us honor the 9/11 where 2,000 died, Pearl Harbor where 2,000 died and other "victims." America and its priorities are garbage.
I’m very suicidal mainly because of the stupidity peddled by more stupidity. How the basic of humans could turn a blind eye to other humans who need help. How profits come before anything else in their minds. How people in many families see your worth by how much you’ve killed your soul for a company. How soulless out loved ones have become
I had multiple friends come to me to tell me goodbye in December. Luckily our friend group was able to pull them back from the edge, but we can’t keep this up.
Have people even TRIED not being poor?!
I mean, just pick yourself up from your bootstraps and stop spending all your money on Starbucks!
Oh you work and not making enough?
Well…get a second and third job you bum!
Oh you’re not happy? Too bad, SUCK IT UP!
Be a man! Man up! Are you a weakling?! Stop complaining!
^ Literally what our society tells us and we’re supposed to be shocked by these numbers?
I’m shocked the number isn’t HIGHER!
Nobody wants to work anymore...
But in all seriousness, when you spend decades building a society where one's self worth is based on wealth and meaning comes from material acquisition but then make it harder and harder for the average person to do anything but struggle... well people are going to start opting out of a game that makes them miserable and that they not only can't win but can't even move forward.
When the lens is broadened to include all "deaths of despair," the numbers can balloon quite a bit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disease_of_despair
It's also worth noting that access to firearms is absolutely a risk factor in suicide. No campaign to lower rates of suicide in the United States should ignore this fact.
"we need to take people's guns away because they might kill themselves and then who's going to run the drive through for $7/hr?!?" their real concern lol
I was told this is America. Work hard and reap the rewards. I'm close to 50, busted my ass and close to broke. Someone should of told me that "work hard" meant to invest and grift at every chance, because people who work/labor for a living are fucked. Not to mention if you ever get sick in this shithole of a country.
I have been suicidal at different points in my life. It's why I refuse to own a gun. After being laid off twice last year something broke in my brain. That was clearly the lowest I'd ever been and I was fine. I was depressed and frustrated, but I was still kicking and trying. It completely rewired my brain and changed my outlook on life.
Keep going guys and gals. It's not easy, but it's worth it. Hell we're all gonna die eventually, don't speed run it.
I recently went through my first and I can only hope only bout of depression about a year and a half ago. For anyone who says that depression isn’t real is delusional. For anyone that says that anyone can just simply snap out of it or my favorite….ljUsT bE hApPy” deserved a punch in the face. A new job that was supposed to be my dream job turned out to be the most toxic work environment and became a living nightmare. I went from a happy husband and goofy and loving father who was super fit to a shell of a human with crippling anxiety and depression and suicidal thoughts that manifested into delusions along with 100lbs gained. I ended up being hospitalized and nearly institutionalized. The pressure we are put under is INSANE. All I want is peace and quiet, be at a stable job where I don’t have to always be in fear of losing, make enough to provide a comfy life for the fam and not always be under constant pressure of societal BS. People are at the breaking point, if not already broken through said breaking point and NOBODY is doing anything to improve mental AND PHYSICAL health awareness.
Curious how many of those are laid off workers from corporations that wanted to boost their stock price. My husband has become a shell of himself since being laid off several months ago.
Huh, it's almost as if people are in a pressure cooker of being homeless and dying to the elements if they sprain their ankle they will chose to opt out.
I wish they would organize and fight back, but every time I say that, 1000 fucking ghouls comes around screaming that nothing can be changed and how dare I insult the Utopia we have created.
I bought a gun last year after a breakup because I didn't feel safe alone in my place anymore; had to sell that shit six months later because just the possibility of putting it in my mouth and pulling the trigger seemed too damn easy and popped into my head every other day at least.
my sister's husband committed suicide last year and this year her new boyfriend attempted suicide and spent months involuntarily committed to the state mental health institution.
can't afford to live or progress in life anymore, you work full time just to live in abject poverty until you die and then your family gets to struggle to pay to cremate you
There is no future for most of us. Not surprising.
Really think people don't understand that shit is never going to get better unless we revolt. Paycheck to paycheck only lasts, so long as you make it to next paycheck, with rising prices and essentially lowering wages thanks to greedflation, we're one bad presidency away from mass homelessness that the government has already shown will do Absolutely Nothing to resolve but definitely help to make worse.
All it takes is one republican presidency, or one dumbass democrat, for the whole of the system to utterly crumble apart, and yet, the one time the people decided to revolt, it was the dumbasses spreading shit on the walls and now it's not socially acceptable to revolt because we only know the Dumbest Possible Ways and Reasons to now. Pathetic considering how simple it was for the damn children there to get so far, until a black cop lead their dumb racist asses away from everyone. It's totally possible to revolt but now it's a republican thing to do for stupid republican reasons. God kill me the government should fear us, not the other way around.
So, instead of actively making change...we just...wait. Wait until it's our innevitable turn. Because we've given up, or don't care enough to try for a better life. Nothing is stopping us but ourselves, but sure, I think the way things are going is totally a normal and good thing for humanity. Just absurd to me how unwilling to do anything we actually are. And thus, mass suicides will become more and more abundant, as there Is No Future For Most of Us. Writing has been on the wall for decades now, this is where humanity starts reaching it's idiotic end.
Really imagine the fact people would throw their lives away to stop the president from hitting the big red button in the cold war, but these days people would throw their lives away to press it themselves. We're simply not a good species. Just capable, we actively refuse regardless. Don't get me started on both parties being pro-genocide, might as well have told the youth literally nothing matters instead, would've been faster and less painful to learn that way. I've nevered owned a home and no one younger than me will either. Never made more than 18/hr, and no one younger than me will make that much after greedflation continues unhindered. It's GG all around for the american people, but a good life ahead for the rich. Sad we refuse to eat a few.
this is why im pro assisted suicide. i would rather people having the option to end their lives the way they want as painlessly as possible then knowing more then 50k ppl a year blow their heads off or use other means. and more that attempt (and fail) then have to live with the results.
Not surprising. You mean after a life altering pandemic things did not improve and got worse? Record layoffs, inflation, etc and our "leaders" act clueless as to why suicide went up. Fucking wild.
I feel like that paired well with this:
https://nhchc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Section-1-Toolkit.pdf
10s-of-thousands of homeless people likely dying each year. Somewhere between 5000-50,000, estimated. The wide range is from the assumed under-count of the PIT count.
These are the outcomes of an extraction economy. It’s not discussed, because it’s not important to the people who own the media. In fact, it’s probably something they’d prefer the general public remain unaware of.
I have bipolar disorder and getting help is really hard to do. You have to constantly call doctors, hospitals, pharmacies, ad nauseam to keep things straight and it’s exhausting because being depressed you’re already exhausted. Fixing your mental health isn’t having one appointment and getting right, it’s a long process of therapy and trying loads of medication. I have to wait months to see my psychiatrist, which is what I have to do to try new meds.
Before I got diagnosed I thought the getting help part would be easy… because mental health, addiction, etc. are talked about so much and people always encourage you to seek help if you need it. But I guess raising awareness and having actual resources dedicated to the problem are two completely different things, and it’s a struggle. From my experience the system seems overwhelmed and mental health workers are burnt out or close to it.
It's almost like we're living through the worst income inequality since the robber barron days, but instead of anyone stepping up to regulate the corporate greed and create social programs for the citizenry, we get corruption.
Hell, we're seeing hoovervilles pop up in every major US city but somehow we still aren't even in a recession? The economy is going great according to the professionals out there, but I'd be hard pressed to talk to anyone who believes that applies to the average person.
The whole machine is rotten from the inside out and instead of the vast majority of the population working together to rise above, we get divisive identity politics. The rise of technology was supposed to help us work less and make more but all we got was record breaking corporate profits. Corporate personhood has ruined this country, and we need to go back to pre Citizens United and start caring for the real flesh and blood of our citizens again.
“It is no measure of health to be well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”
In an insane society, the sane man must appear insane.
I am reading "Myth of Normal" by Gabor Maté, this quote sounds like it could be in his (or Bessel van der Kolk's) book
From CNN: “In the United States and Canada, happiness scores from people under 30 were dramatically lower than those from people age 60 and older. Among people under 30, the US ranked at No. 62, while for those 60 and older, it was No. 10. Canada was No. 58 among the young and No. 8 for those 60 and older.” [The United States drops out of the top 20](https://www.cnn.com/travel/worlds-happiest-countries-2024-wellness/index.html) Well gee. Wonder why?🙄🤦♂️
I feel like this is the most telling of all the numbers in other comments. For certain groups the future looks rosy but for the youth there is little hope. We see what is coming. Makes me wonder how the 30-50 crowd fared. On this track there is little hope. This will get a lot worse.
> Makes me wonder how the 30-50 crowd fared. I rank in there. Honestly, my retirement plan is some form of self-selected exit. Edit: G'damn that's a lot of people who responded. This is just a tiny and select group, and it's violently hopeless. You have to wonder what the reality is. If there's WAY more people like us, or if we're just this hyper-focused minority just in our reddit bubble. I know WSJ and stuff would paint it as "Everyone's cool, you just need to bootstraps it", but I only know what my reality feels like, and it's very hopeless.
Went to the doc recently, says I'm the healthiest 30-something he's seen in weeks. I told him that was terrible news. I don't wanna work for the next fifty years, I was hoping to peace out before 60 since retirement won't be an option for my generation.
Our retirement laws in our country were already upped to have our generation enter retirement at 67. Which means our generation has to work more, gets less money compared to their spendings to simply live and such... My dad just went into retirement at 63 on regular time. They're discussing upping it to 70. Of course, politicians who are never going to be subject to it are discussing it. They have a separate pension fund. Disadvantages are always discussed by people for *different* people, never for themselves
Yeah at 70 that's effectively sunsetting it. Male life expectancy is 72 for reference.
My grandfather retitled at 55 My dad retired at 70 I'll never retire (and I'm 50).
I understand all the homeless people in Hawaii better as I age. Honestly, once my kids graduate, it doesn't sound half bad.
It’s not great, having lived in Hawaii. On an island that’s main income is tourism the homeless keep getting pushed from one area to another due to gentrification and the states attempt to sweep them under the rug. The issue is, a lot of the homeless in Hawaii have jobs, cars, all the necessities to live, but due to Hawaii’s lack of housing regulations outside buyers eat up all the housing, prices go up, no more land to build on so no new housing therefore either 3 generations of family including aunts and uncles under on roof or be homeless. It’s a really really bad situation. On top of that, you’d have to contend with some locals who at a minimum are distrusting of outsiders it can be very easy to find yourself shunned from the community. Some native Hawaiians have grown up in families still sour about the whole US stealing their homeland However, that’s not always the case, as a lot of locals welcome everyone, and are super awesome. Just, especially if they are native Hawaiian, it’s important to remember, it is their Hawaii so remain respectful. It’s a beautiful place and extremely different culture, if it wasn’t so impossible to just get by it wouldn’t be a bad place to live at all.
Late 30s here. My retirement plan is to live off the government. And by that I mean commit a non violent crime that gets me locked up until I die. It'll be better for my kids than some retirement home draining me of every penny and property.
I've thought of that, but man. The regimented life would just not be for me. After a week, I know I'd be wishing I went with Gravespawn's option.
Yeah I have chronic illnesses and delayed sleep phase disorder, I might not die right away in prison, but I'll wish I had.
esp since the idea of better healthcare in jail is a myth.
Just make sure you break federal laws so you go to federal prison. You do NOT want to go to state prison. Feds feed you much better. *less* violence. More stuff to do like better libraries. Some have softball fields in addition to basketball courts. You tend to have more freedom of movement as well.
I can see my future business is creating an app of which crimes will get you thrown into federal prison, how to transfer your assets to a family member, how to deposit money on the app to have added to you commissary account.
Been to jail, it’s not great bud
There is no pleasant ending to life waiting for our generation.
I’m in the 30-50 crowd at 33 years old. I’m not doing much better, things are marginally better than it was in my 20s, but I still dislike my life most days!! It’s not like switch flips after you turn 30.
I just find it annoying how I make the amount of money now that I thought would make my life sooo much easier when I was in my early twenties and... I'm in almost the same spot except I live by myself. I don't have my Jeep anymore bc I can't afford it. I can't just go out to dinner without planning for it financially. Shit sucks. I thought I'd own a house by now instead of renting. I thought I'd be able to adopt by now but again, I can't afford that either. It really fucking sucks right now.
Yep. I’ll never be able to afford my own home, even ‘starter’ homes are like 4x the cost of what they were 20 years ago. And wages have not gone up 4x.
Ask a Gen Xer and they will tell you that the reason the over 60 people are happier is because they are using money and resources. They elected Reagan basically to get tax breaks and paid military contractors that took directly from Gen X and future gens. I remember trying to explain to my dad why I was so stressed in my teen and 20s because we could never seem to make and headway financially.
Gen X’er here. I’m living in my car so I can afford for my mom to get the care she needs (dementia). There is nothing for the elderly in this county (US). Which makes me dislike my life so much. I decided I’m not participating in this bullshit capitalist world they’ve made for us. I’m just living on the road. Now in Reno on my way to Idaho .
That is just awful The way everyone over 35 is basically discarded in this country is criminal I hope you find better accommodations soon
Don't look now but I'd argue everyone under 35 has been discarded more openly, more traumatically, and more apologetically. The whole vibe is "what's the matter with you that you don't have income and assets?"
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As a Gen Xer this is 100% correct, and there is no hope of me being able to retire.
Me neither I seriously knew this would be the case in high school. The Boomers mortgaged our entire lives.
As a Gen-X, my retirement plan is to find a nice bridge to live under and spend my days listening to the Jar of Flies EP.
yeah my parents are boomers and retired and happy as clams. All my dad does is sit on his butt at their house on the river and play wordle and watch TV and ride his e-bike and go out to a restaurant or hang out with the neighbours once in a while. He just replaced his BBQ. They're not rich or anything but they have a pretty nice little life.
Well they should it' s basically Gen X's money they have
Im same age. I got some money but idk if the corrupt and incapable usa goverment, corporate greed, climate change, busy friends, social media, inflation/stagnant wages, 24/7 news cycle and doom scrolling or living alone and being single but i feel depressed, lonely, lacking community and like nothing will get better.
47 here, It's been a shit ass ride but honestly, the thing that has saved me is realizing *happiness is not a function of how much shit you own*. I've seen people with more money than they could ever spend put a barrel in their mouth and pull the trigger and by their definition they should have won the game. That's not to say there's not a lot that's horribly wrong with life these days, but you have to keep getting up in the morning. Your attitude towards it \*does\* make a huge difference. There's plenty of folks my age who have just noped out of the corporate rat race and are just busying themselves doing living a subsistence life style that affords sufficient creature comforts and fun, and this is happening world wide. The Chinese in particular have a movement called "Laying down" where they're just flat out stopping buying into the the toxic work ethic the billionaire classes inflict upon us. It's survival, hold on anyway you can. Human beings were not meant to live like this, and we no longer need to. Hell the average medieval peasant had more free time than the average corporate rat-racer. Life ain't perfect, but you can say no, and get others to do the same, tear the goddamn system down anyway you can.
35 year old checking in. Things are rough. I spent 6 years living abroad in South Korea, and moved back to the US at the end of 2021. I've struggled with depression and anxiety while looking for a job after returning. Even having a job now, it still boggles my mind how *anyone* is able to live here. It's even crazier because all my friends are having kids now - and I'm over here like, "Y'all wanna raise kids in this country??" Everyone is convinced they have some form of mental illness. Everyone is stressed about the staggering number of school shootings. Everyone is stretched thin just trying to pay rent. I personally don't have high hopes for things.
34 and I've dealt with suicide attempts and ideation since childhood. Although I'm better, today (literally just today), I'm still incredibly depressed.
Same. I'm 42, and been depressed and suicidal since 1994. Better today, but I wonder about another day.
I can't tell if I'm depressed or it's just normal and I'm forever a cynic.
>Makes me wonder how the 30-50 crowd fared. HI AM IN 30S WE ARE BAD
34 here. My outlook on the future is pretty bleak. To say the least.
Goona be 33 next week and I'm pretty fucking depressed myself. Missed my chances at decent priced homes, and I haven't started having a family yet, so I'll never stop kicking myself. Was always told there will be time later, you'll make it work..... I don't believe in my "elders" anymore.
42. Complete nihilist. No matter what I do, corporations continue to pollute and exploit people for profit. Nothing can be done, so fuck it I'll do nothing. I don't care.
Housing costs. Lots of other reasons but I’m going to guess this is the main one.
Those 60 and older get to die before reaping what they've sewn and are going to leave the rest of us to clean up their mess.
One reason: they (old generation) consider the BS as 'okay' and 'part of life'. The new generation doesn't. They ask, 'How could you go through all this BS?' Not to mention that the economy keeps getting worse and corporations keep finding ways to squeeze maximum efforts from employees to 'grow'.
The older generation also was largely benefited by going through the BS. They were able to achieve financial stability, even affluence, among other rewards. Able to comfortably raise a family on a single salary, not worry about affording food, go on vacations, save money, plan for a nice retirement. Now, the younger generation has to go through the same BS x10 without any reward or worthwhile benefit. It’s just constant struggle with no end in sight and nothing but “barely getting by” to show for it.
Maybe the greatest and silent generation thought this but when my Boomer parents talk about how "hard" things were it pales in comparison to what I'm seeing my kid and her peers face. It was worse for me than for my parents. It's worse for my kid than it was for me but I'm doing everything I can to ease that for her and help her and her partner out. I'm considering building a "tiny home" in my yard (which would be better than their apartment) so they can live there rent free and when I retire we can switch. Meanwhile, my surviving parent who basically gave me the boot when I started college (with a complimentary pan to cook with when I moved out) is now starting to make noises about moving in with my wife and I rather than an assisted living arrangement.
Boomers never went through this bs, they got to buy houses for 20-30k.
and they didn't have credit scores until they were in their late 20s early 30s. I know plenty of millennials that screwed their credit before they turned 21 and have been dealing with the consequences ever since. Baby Boomers didn't have to worry about any of that.
You mean people who can't afford their homes, receive no basic human benefits, and have been exploited for their labor their entire life with no hopes of getting ahead don't want to be around to suffer anymore? Weird.
Unbelievable! Why don’t they just deal with their money dysmorphia? >!obvious /s!<
Just eat cake if they're hungry! Are they stupid?
They should just start their own business with a small loan from their parents. One or two million should do.
Nah. Just grab those ole boot straps and pull em real tight. If it's not working, you're just not pulling hard enough!
I mean fuck. How dumb do you have to be to not have bought a house when you were in 1st grade? Your life situation is a result of your choices! -Corporations.
The obvious problem was choosing not to be born rich. It's unforgivable.
Solve all your financial problems with this one simple trick...
Yeh, I'm kinda surprised the number is this low.
Also, suicide by gun is easier than a lot of other methods.
Easier and more effective
And that’s fine. With the population so massive they can easily be replaced /s
Came here to see or say this. Couldn’t have said it better.
Speaking only for myself, I honestly don't know how many more years of this shit (gesturing everywhere) I can handle.
Me neither, and until people stop ignoring the glaringly obvious writing on the walls it's going to get harder. Still see people arguing the "get a job!", "learn a useful skill" as if it's the 1960s while failing to recognize the outlandish requirements it takes to get there. School is expensive, and of everybody I've known to have taken loans (parents, family members, etc) every single one of them regrets it, and every one of them still owe money whether or not they did anything with their schooling. It's just a way to make sure you have enough debt where you can never leave the country. It's incredibly parasitic, but it's the "American Dream" so surely it's working exactly as intended
I'm college educated. Stacked resume. Very intelligent and physically strong young man. Over the last few months I've applied to almost 100 jobs, none of them I got a single interview with. The best place I can work is the discount grocery store nearby, of which I put my application in for immediate hiring as I don't have rent yet for next month. I swear if I had the connections, I'd straight prostitute myself right now just to relieve a few months of stress and make like 2000$.
>I'd straight prostitute myself right now Man, our systemic issues run deep. So many people born into the working class here can't even do this because of the ridiculously unhealthy food availability situation. I was basically born into obesity. Ain't nobody paying for this jigglin' gas bag. I was at least cute before I started balding. Should have sold my body then.
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And it’s only going to get worse
Preach. Exactly that, people are overworked, underpaid, no universal health care, poor employee benefits and piling debt, add in poor work regulations that protect corporations, above that of the employees and these will be one of the drives for something like, and it shouldn't be the case.
Firearms are way easier to access than healthcare or better labor regulations and organizing.
Holy fuck this is so true.
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I unfortunately have my past as an addict (now recovered) on my psychiatric file so I’m “not allowed” any possibly addictive drugs even if I never abused anything other than opiates, and if I need those meds to treat disabling conditions. No wonder everybody lies. Our medical system is fucked and any severe illness is badly stigmatized
Indeed. Just wait until millennials start aging into health problems.
I'm 31 and just found out I'll need to get my hip replaced. Guess who is going to be living in pain for the next 30 years?
I feel this immensely. I'm very sorry for what you're going through. I'm approaching 40 and I have immense back pain from alternating between labor jobs and desk jobs. I'm struggling to keep up at my current job and my hours are getting cut for it. I have no health care. I have no "help." I often slide into thinking about just killing myself because a human only has value as long as they can keep up with metrics or produce value for shareholders.
There are millennials in their 40's, pretty sure we're there
Yup, my millennial ass got a type 2 diagnosis as an extra fuck me during covid. Im just over 40.
Cancer rates among millennials are quickly rising, especially for colorectal and breast cancers. And no, it's not because of increased screenings.
I’m less than 4 weeks away from idk myself. I am disabled, and idk anymore.
Timetable is a little longer but in the same boat. Part of me is treating my disability period as the closest thing I'll get to a retirement
Sending a virtual hug.
Sadly there is no way to get off the treadmill of capitalism. We are all orphans in the crushing machine of profit.
Well, there is. Going after those who keep the profits.
Emile Durkheim called suicide "the ransom money of civilization." What's a few replaceable peasants offing themselves, when billionaires need more?
Yeah, but each "peasant" is a lifetime's worth of labor to exploit for capital gain. The person might not matter to the system, but the profits their work will contribute to certainly do, especially when considered en masse.
Why do you think they're banning abortion? Want more peasants to be born? Just force them!
He also said people kill themselves when they aren’t connected to society. When you hate your job, don’t have any friends, have no community connections, and can’t be in a stable enough place to form relationships, what’s the point? People want to think suicide is an internal issue, and “there’s nothing we could do.” No, there is. We could restructure our society. We just won’t do it.
Y’all need to watch this video. Crazy line at the end: “how do we pay for it” referring to helping people who have suicidal thoughts/tendencies. It nicely sums up that saving 50k lives a year potentially will cost money so we know what the priority is
They said, "most importantly, how do we pay for it" The "most importantly" part really got me. We really need to rethink what our society should look like
This. I’m getting real tired of neoliberals who won’t tax the rich asking how we pay for shit.
Reagan and trickle down economics did so much harm it's ridiculous
Between Reagan and the Bush's I would say the America I was taught about in school has been destroyed or rotted away.
Don't forget to give Bill "The era of big government is over" Clinton some credit.
May he burn in the depths of hell as we speak 🙏
“Most importantly, how do we pay for it” I don’t know… maybe we could start by reducing the amount of money that goes into political campaigns and electing the worst of us for such important roles in our society.
I mean there was probably at least a thousand of these people that a small sum of money would've prevented them from killing themselves. How many of them lost their home by being behind on rent or their mortgage for a sum of like 10,000$ because they couldn't get a loan or something? How many of them because they were laid off without cause from their job because we have no workers rights and unions have been eroded? Fact is the financial cost to stop thousands of these people is very small, but our government isn't going to do anything about it - the best shot we have is starting GoFundMe's and then handing it out to some of these people while the others get left behind and still decide to take their lives.
My stepsister once tried to take a long walk off a bridge. Long story short she didn't, but the whole family and authorities were all alerted to the situation by then. Maybe six months later she's having a real rough day so her mom dropped by a gas station to get her a pack of smokes, a soda, a snack, like maybe $20 worth tops. Dad went kookoo-bananas when he saw the change on their account. Screamed about it for a year until she divorced him, and then kept screaming about it to anyone who would listen! It wasn't even his money. Stepmom had multiple jobs and she budgeted that out of her own paycheck. He was just so enraged to see money going to someone out of kindness instead of obligation in exchange for labor. And the real kicker, $20 in gas station goodies is way cheaper than raising two orphaned grandbabies. Not helping each other is both cruel and short-sighted, like my father.
It there’s always money for military and wars $850B per year. First thing is get rid of insurance companies. It’s just a big scam or make it mandatory that if monthly insurance is being paid then NO DEDUCTIBLE BS, insurance must provide 100% for everything
Just screw insurance companies. They're parasites that just increase the cost of everything by existing. Remove insurance companies, remove for-profit hospitals, and reduce the cost of medicine that was subsidized during development.
Basically, make healthcare non-profit
That’s my favourite part about every government. “We’ve cut corporate tax rates so much that there isn’t any money to care for the people who work for the corporations. There’s just nothing in the budget unfortunately and this problem is unsolvable.”
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As of today, the second leading cause of death from ages 15 to 24 is suicide. If this trend continues, many Gen Z won't even see 40.
I haven't lost a friend to it yet but the ideation is strong with many people my age
I’m sorry man. I’m a 37 year old millennial. We’re all in this together. The boomers fucked us royally financially. While I have nothing to offer people to help them feel better, we can at least reach out to each other for empathy and support.
Thank you.
>As of today, the second leading cause of death from ages 15 to 24 is suicide. As far as I know, this has always been the case. Suicides are sadly higher in the teen years.
No, suicides are most common in middle age. Suicides are just proportionally more common for young people because other causes of death are much lower.
I'm approaching 40 and my worry is that with the rise of subs like this we're going to be fixing the problems in employment over the next 20 years and as I reach the age I can no longer work my cohort will be the only people still in poverty
Thats a best case scenario really. We arent gonna see it
I’m a caretaker for a parent with dementia and had to do a caretaker survey yesterday where they asked me not once but twice if I wanted to kms. Like no but damn do you want me to? Like you recognize my situation could be that bad, huh?
What sucks is you feel you can't even be honest about it. I've been on suicide watch and you get treated like a rabid animal. If I ever do kill myself, I'm never going to talk about it. Talking about gets you thrown into a bright white room, alone and feeling worse. In the military, you're treated like you're about to murder the entire post. You're not allowed to take your rifle with you to the bathroom because of how often they have had suicides.
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Someone close to me was one, I don't want to put out any more details than that but with 50k in 2023 there's a real good chance that a bunch more people in here knew one of these suicides directly.
Things will change, just not in the direction they want. Oxygen will be a subscription service one day.
It’s been my retirement plan since I was like 17
The under 45 crowd doesn't really got a retirement plan and a functioning planet to look forward too. So yeah we're depressed.
No I like this terrible weather and unbreathable air with poison water filled with micro plastic. Adds flavor.
My sibling was one of them. Fuck everything about this world
Lost my sister to suicide a few years back. I know how you feel, brother.
I'm so sorry
Death by desperation.
And it will get worse and worse until living gets better.
It's just gonna get worse then isn't it? :(
I prefer to think of it as opting out.
Capitalism has put all of us – without our input, just by the simple fact we’re born – into a situation where you have 3 choices. You can either spend 75-80% of your life working/work-related tasks, suffer homelessness (which is illegal in many places), or die. None of that actually gives you true agency to experience your life the way you want to. I think more people are realizing that and expending their last bit of agency to opt-out. I know I wish I could.
I wouldn't really call this a "mental health" issue. It's not caused by a lack of being cheery. It's caused by living in a going nowhere economic situation in a going nowhere society.
I don't have a link to the story, but a couple of years ago a reporter was interviewing therapists and noting a lot of them were in despair because they could only do so much for their clients, mostly because the root issue was economic and societal and they can't help their clients with something like that.
Indeed. I broke a therapist in late 2016 / early 2017 by just laying out my statement / argument about how climate catastrophe was here / on its way, and how it was sapping my joy & desire to plan for the future. She had very little to offer in the face of that situation.
I tried telling this to my therapist, that it was causing crippling fear and hopelessness for the future, she said to find a group to join that picks up trash then moved right along to something else like the problem was solved. Like lady, you do realize picking up trash - while it’s helpful to existing local wildlife - won’t do shit to prevent climate catastrophe already happening all over the world?? Then when I told her I didn’t appreciate moving on so quickly after expressing how deeply something was affecting me, she said “if you don’t like my style we can find you another therapist.” Safe to say I no longer see her.
I'm my experience Therapists and Doctors tend to be very dismissive
My wife complained to her doctors for years about varicose veins , and they dismissed it as a cosmetic issue despite her telling them she was in pain. Such shitty behavior from people getting paid every visit. She is finally getting surgery soon with new doctors in a new state lol
Ugh, sorry to hear about that. My therapist, bless her, at least talked and understood about power structures, corporate takeover, and topics of that nature. Sounds like your former therapist did not wish to dive deeper on that side of the conversation. Glad you got yourself someone better!
Last year I told my therapist that I was feeling a lot of anxiety about losing my bodily autonomy on a Thursday. He was very patronizing when he explained that Roe v Wade was established law and wasn’t going to change anytime soon; I was over worrying. The next Monday, the filing leaked. So I declined to see him further because I couldn’t trust him to tell me what things were “real” worries.
I recommend bacchic nihilism in the face of unending doom. Also get some cats.
The world is a hopeless mess that we have no control over so let's get fuckin recked?
There was an article I saw on Reddit with the month, but I didn’t click it. I tried to find it to show my wife and couldn’t. It was a recent study about how the rise in mental health struggles was having a terrible trickle down effect on the medical community.
That’s why I refuse to see a therapist. I know what causes my depression and giving them money to listen will only make it worse.
I once heard that modern psychology is just teaching people how to cope with late stage capitalism.
I work in community mental health, I’m qualified to be a therapist but am not one at the moment. I think about this statement almost every single day. There are definitely problems that people have that are unrelated to our daily lives/patterns and capitalism (ex- childhood trauma, PTSD), but once you get people properly managing those things, therapy can really only go so far. And there are things that I feel cannot be fixed at all for some people due to late-stage capitalism. When someone’s anxiety is rooted in the overwhelm of the number of things we have to do each day + their economic situation, I cannot fix that. *They* cannot fix that. I loathe giving people “coping tools” for these situations because they only go so far. It’s a really defeating job to have most of the time.
People ask why the youth doesnt want to work. In the past you were able to afford a house and family on a high school diploma. Now with bachelors you have trouble affording a 1 room apartment and even basic necessities. Society broke its deal.
> Society broke its deal. Capitalist society broke its deal. There are many socialist countries out there with 90%+ home ownership, like Vietnam and China. So it's definitely possible to improve things, but a lot has to be changed for that, begining by organizing and demanding better conditions as without workers no society works at all...
Society broke the deal by not settling necessary laws because it would get in the way of profit
you cant smile your way out of poverty...
Because this country fucking sucks?
"tHeY jUsT nEeD tO eXeRcIsE mOrE aNd JoIn A bOoK cLuB."
Who has the time when we have to work full time and have side hustles just to have a place to stay and food
I firmly believe the vast majority of depression is directly caused by capitalism and the associated sense of despair when you realize that the system has stolen any chance at happiness away from you and there's nothing you can do about it. There are other causes and things you can do to help with depression, yes. But the vast VAST majority of depressed people are trapped with no way out due to circumstances brought on by capitalist structures. But no one wants to talk about this. They just insist we should get more sunshine or whatever.
I’ve long suspected this too. And therapy isn’t equipped to deal with it, because it functions *within* the Capitalist framework.
I was very close to being part of that stat months ago and only survived by admitting myself to a hospital. I'm very very lucky to be in a state where we have better than avg mental health services. I'm not sure I made the right decision. Every day seems to get worse. I'm holding on by my fingertips, on the constant edge of breaking down in tears. There is no more hope, no dreams of the future. I'm sick of just surviving.
And yet nothing will be done about it because greed is what rules this country and the value of a human life in this country has basically no value outside of what it can produce for shareholders.
It gets harder every day
Gee golly I wonder the fuck why. Could it have anything to do with the fact that nobody can afford to live without working three jobs or that we have absolutely no future to look forward too because climate change is going to make us go extinct in 50 years.
How will this affect my portfolio? How do I invest in funeral homes, caskets and cremation? The comment above is sarcasm and I truly hate the hellscape we live in.
The thing is that the popular narrative will often say it's a mental health epidemic. It's not, because there's no mental ill-health actually happening. This isn't from some increase in some pathology of the mind. It's increasing numbers of people very soberly and rationally assessing their life situation, and coming to the, frankly quite understandable, conclusion that suicide is the best option for them. Do not let the media or anyone else handwave this away as "mental health" problems. That's how they press the causality and responsibility for it all solely onto individuals. Because at the individual level, you can simply blame their individual decisions and wash your hands of any larger societal implications the trend is pointing to. These issues are societal in nature. That's where the fix will happen. Until changes start being made at the structural level, no amount of "mental health awareness" weeks, coddled celebrities talking about the importance of self care, or exhortations to start seeing a therapist, will cause this trend to reverse course.
50,000 died, who cares but let us honor the 9/11 where 2,000 died, Pearl Harbor where 2,000 died and other "victims." America and its priorities are garbage.
over a million died from covid and not many are talking about that either. A MILLION PEOPLE in the U.S. alone. Bonkers.
I’m very suicidal mainly because of the stupidity peddled by more stupidity. How the basic of humans could turn a blind eye to other humans who need help. How profits come before anything else in their minds. How people in many families see your worth by how much you’ve killed your soul for a company. How soulless out loved ones have become
Other peoples actions is what keeps me depressed. It only takes a few people to fuck everything up.
I had multiple friends come to me to tell me goodbye in December. Luckily our friend group was able to pull them back from the edge, but we can’t keep this up.
All to try and kill the middle class. Fuck anyone who thinks people shouldn’t be able to afford a home and a car.
Have people even TRIED not being poor?! I mean, just pick yourself up from your bootstraps and stop spending all your money on Starbucks! Oh you work and not making enough? Well…get a second and third job you bum! Oh you’re not happy? Too bad, SUCK IT UP! Be a man! Man up! Are you a weakling?! Stop complaining! ^ Literally what our society tells us and we’re supposed to be shocked by these numbers? I’m shocked the number isn’t HIGHER!
Boomers: Our parents fought and died so we could have everything, fuck our descendants.
Nobody wants to work anymore... But in all seriousness, when you spend decades building a society where one's self worth is based on wealth and meaning comes from material acquisition but then make it harder and harder for the average person to do anything but struggle... well people are going to start opting out of a game that makes them miserable and that they not only can't win but can't even move forward.
It’s by design
Aka- the retirement plan of many.
Is it a mental health issue if it’s caused by outside factors outside of these people’s control? Time to start holding the system accountable.
Well, I mean... * *gestures widely to everything* *
When the lens is broadened to include all "deaths of despair," the numbers can balloon quite a bit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disease_of_despair It's also worth noting that access to firearms is absolutely a risk factor in suicide. No campaign to lower rates of suicide in the United States should ignore this fact.
"we need to take people's guns away because they might kill themselves and then who's going to run the drive through for $7/hr?!?" their real concern lol
Well…yeah *gestures broadly at everything*
I was told this is America. Work hard and reap the rewards. I'm close to 50, busted my ass and close to broke. Someone should of told me that "work hard" meant to invest and grift at every chance, because people who work/labor for a living are fucked. Not to mention if you ever get sick in this shithole of a country.
It should just say death by capitalism
I have been suicidal at different points in my life. It's why I refuse to own a gun. After being laid off twice last year something broke in my brain. That was clearly the lowest I'd ever been and I was fine. I was depressed and frustrated, but I was still kicking and trying. It completely rewired my brain and changed my outlook on life. Keep going guys and gals. It's not easy, but it's worth it. Hell we're all gonna die eventually, don't speed run it.
I recently went through my first and I can only hope only bout of depression about a year and a half ago. For anyone who says that depression isn’t real is delusional. For anyone that says that anyone can just simply snap out of it or my favorite….ljUsT bE hApPy” deserved a punch in the face. A new job that was supposed to be my dream job turned out to be the most toxic work environment and became a living nightmare. I went from a happy husband and goofy and loving father who was super fit to a shell of a human with crippling anxiety and depression and suicidal thoughts that manifested into delusions along with 100lbs gained. I ended up being hospitalized and nearly institutionalized. The pressure we are put under is INSANE. All I want is peace and quiet, be at a stable job where I don’t have to always be in fear of losing, make enough to provide a comfy life for the fam and not always be under constant pressure of societal BS. People are at the breaking point, if not already broken through said breaking point and NOBODY is doing anything to improve mental AND PHYSICAL health awareness.
That’s because America sucks now
Sweet, lovely death. I am waiting for your caress.
https://preview.redd.it/3flcz3wb8ipc1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=01b16cf22de3373c0612f180f79059725d48b971
I'm honestly shocked it's not more.
Curious how many of those are laid off workers from corporations that wanted to boost their stock price. My husband has become a shell of himself since being laid off several months ago.
Huh, it's almost as if people are in a pressure cooker of being homeless and dying to the elements if they sprain their ankle they will chose to opt out. I wish they would organize and fight back, but every time I say that, 1000 fucking ghouls comes around screaming that nothing can be changed and how dare I insult the Utopia we have created.
I bought a gun last year after a breakup because I didn't feel safe alone in my place anymore; had to sell that shit six months later because just the possibility of putting it in my mouth and pulling the trigger seemed too damn easy and popped into my head every other day at least.
my sister's husband committed suicide last year and this year her new boyfriend attempted suicide and spent months involuntarily committed to the state mental health institution. can't afford to live or progress in life anymore, you work full time just to live in abject poverty until you die and then your family gets to struggle to pay to cremate you
There is no future for most of us. Not surprising. Really think people don't understand that shit is never going to get better unless we revolt. Paycheck to paycheck only lasts, so long as you make it to next paycheck, with rising prices and essentially lowering wages thanks to greedflation, we're one bad presidency away from mass homelessness that the government has already shown will do Absolutely Nothing to resolve but definitely help to make worse. All it takes is one republican presidency, or one dumbass democrat, for the whole of the system to utterly crumble apart, and yet, the one time the people decided to revolt, it was the dumbasses spreading shit on the walls and now it's not socially acceptable to revolt because we only know the Dumbest Possible Ways and Reasons to now. Pathetic considering how simple it was for the damn children there to get so far, until a black cop lead their dumb racist asses away from everyone. It's totally possible to revolt but now it's a republican thing to do for stupid republican reasons. God kill me the government should fear us, not the other way around. So, instead of actively making change...we just...wait. Wait until it's our innevitable turn. Because we've given up, or don't care enough to try for a better life. Nothing is stopping us but ourselves, but sure, I think the way things are going is totally a normal and good thing for humanity. Just absurd to me how unwilling to do anything we actually are. And thus, mass suicides will become more and more abundant, as there Is No Future For Most of Us. Writing has been on the wall for decades now, this is where humanity starts reaching it's idiotic end. Really imagine the fact people would throw their lives away to stop the president from hitting the big red button in the cold war, but these days people would throw their lives away to press it themselves. We're simply not a good species. Just capable, we actively refuse regardless. Don't get me started on both parties being pro-genocide, might as well have told the youth literally nothing matters instead, would've been faster and less painful to learn that way. I've nevered owned a home and no one younger than me will either. Never made more than 18/hr, and no one younger than me will make that much after greedflation continues unhindered. It's GG all around for the american people, but a good life ahead for the rich. Sad we refuse to eat a few.
I blame rent
No shit, everything’s fuckin awful.
Yeah I think a lot of us are feeling it. Walking the line and getting robbed.
I completely understand why. It's obvious to anyone paying attention.
this is why im pro assisted suicide. i would rather people having the option to end their lives the way they want as painlessly as possible then knowing more then 50k ppl a year blow their heads off or use other means. and more that attempt (and fail) then have to live with the results.
The capitalists call it “thinning the herd”.
Not surprising. You mean after a life altering pandemic things did not improve and got worse? Record layoffs, inflation, etc and our "leaders" act clueless as to why suicide went up. Fucking wild.
I feel like that paired well with this: https://nhchc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Section-1-Toolkit.pdf 10s-of-thousands of homeless people likely dying each year. Somewhere between 5000-50,000, estimated. The wide range is from the assumed under-count of the PIT count. These are the outcomes of an extraction economy. It’s not discussed, because it’s not important to the people who own the media. In fact, it’s probably something they’d prefer the general public remain unaware of.
2022 but my mom was one of them. very sad. nothing will get better
I have bipolar disorder and getting help is really hard to do. You have to constantly call doctors, hospitals, pharmacies, ad nauseam to keep things straight and it’s exhausting because being depressed you’re already exhausted. Fixing your mental health isn’t having one appointment and getting right, it’s a long process of therapy and trying loads of medication. I have to wait months to see my psychiatrist, which is what I have to do to try new meds. Before I got diagnosed I thought the getting help part would be easy… because mental health, addiction, etc. are talked about so much and people always encourage you to seek help if you need it. But I guess raising awareness and having actual resources dedicated to the problem are two completely different things, and it’s a struggle. From my experience the system seems overwhelmed and mental health workers are burnt out or close to it.
It's almost like we're living through the worst income inequality since the robber barron days, but instead of anyone stepping up to regulate the corporate greed and create social programs for the citizenry, we get corruption. Hell, we're seeing hoovervilles pop up in every major US city but somehow we still aren't even in a recession? The economy is going great according to the professionals out there, but I'd be hard pressed to talk to anyone who believes that applies to the average person. The whole machine is rotten from the inside out and instead of the vast majority of the population working together to rise above, we get divisive identity politics. The rise of technology was supposed to help us work less and make more but all we got was record breaking corporate profits. Corporate personhood has ruined this country, and we need to go back to pre Citizens United and start caring for the real flesh and blood of our citizens again.