View source for SGU Episode 823

=== Steve Explains Item #1 ===

'''S:''' All this means that a review of data from 2020 finds that death by suicide fell by six percent in the U.S. with similar numbers in other developed nations is science. And yeah, there was a lot of speculation about what was what the suicide rate was going to do during the pandemic because there's a lot of a lot of psychological stress associated with it. But in fact, it went down and I stress this was in, like developed nations with the exception of Japan where there was, I think, a slight increase.

'''C:''' But there's also a lot of weird exceptions with Japan and suicide. Cultural exceptions.

'''S:''' Yeah, exactly. They're they're an outlier baseline. And the U.S. had the biggest drop of six percent. But again, other similar nations. The idea is that it was probably when any kind of catastrophe or or a bad situation hits, there's an initial heroic stage where everyone sort of banding together.

'''C:''' And that's why I think this year next year is probably not going to look good.

'''S:''' Yeah. So there's definitely worry about a rebound. But also people may have been spending more time with family members and being under more careful observation just because they're not going out.

'''C:''' Yeah. And there's a protective mechanism. I mean, there's a protective factor of being around friends and family. The problem is that the people who are really isolated and who maybe are experiencing anhedonia and who are experiencing like low energy, that kind of pandemic fatigue that a lot of us are dealing with. I mean, you see similar things in the course of a bipolar disorder. If somebody sadly does die by suicide, it's often not as they're going down, it's as they're coming back out of it. And so, yeah, that's something similar here.

'''S:''' But they also here's one thing that may be sustainable is that they say it may also be the dramatic increase in the availability of telehealth services.

'''C:''' Yey! Hurray!

'''S:''' So if that's the case, if that turns out to be the case, that's something that should persist.

'''C:''' Yeah. Yeah.

'''E:''' Expand it.

'''S:''' Yeah, totally.

'''C:''' That's wonderful.

'''S:''' No, it's the best single thing to come out of the pandemic was the explosion of telehealth services in my completely biased opinion.

'''C:''' Mine, too. Mine, too.

'''S:''' But, yeah, it's been great. And so that would be if they can focus, if they could identify that as a significant factor here, that would be a further boost.

'''C:''' So many more people. Yeah. So many more people are able to be reached if they don't have to drive across town or get a babysitter all those different reasons.

'''S:''' It's also what my wife did, her Ph.D. in tele-mental health. And basically her research found that it's just as effective as in person.

'''B:''' You're so biased.

'''E:''' Great. That's great.