Inside The Rural Town Where The Suicide Rate Is The 4th Highest In The World

[maximus otter]

The suicide rate in a rural area of Wyoming has skyrocketed to become the fourth highest in the world, one coroner has claimed.

The unnatural deaths in Natrona County began last fall, and have continued into the new year.

Coroner Jim Whipps on Tuesday urged county commissioners to address the issue, after 12 people, mostly young adults, killed themselves over the past four months.

'If you extrapolate that out, that is like 36 to 40 suicides that I can expect this year,' five-year vet Whipps said. That would break a record set in 2019, he pointed out - when 28 people in Natrona County committed suicide.

The root cause, he said, remains unknown.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...wyoming-town-casper-fourth-highest-world.html

maximus otter

 

[Mythopoeika]

The suicide rate in a rural area of Wyoming has skyrocketed to become the fourth highest in the world, one coroner has claimed.

The unnatural deaths in Natrona County began last fall, and have continued into the new year.

Coroner Jim Whipps on Tuesday urged county commissioners to address the issue, after 12 people, mostly young adults, killed themselves over the past four months.

'If you extrapolate that out, that is like 36 to 40 suicides that I can expect this year,' five-year vet Whipps said. That would break a record set in 2019, he pointed out - when 28 people in Natrona County committed suicide.

The root cause, he said, remains unknown.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...wyoming-town-casper-fourth-highest-world.html

maximus otter

It's a nice-looking place, but it's miles from anywhere. I suspect those young people are just bored out of their skulls and see no future ahead of them. I know a bit of how this feels.

 

[Yithian]

I do not understand what these statistics mean.



Percent of what? It sure as hell isn't the population or even the youth population.

 

[brownmane]

Rural communities are having difficulties in dealing with mental health issues. Not only are resources scarce or non existent, but the pressures of trying to maintain a financial stable livelihood is affecting families. Depression and anxiety are on the rise in farming families who are struggling. Floods, droughts are amongst just a few factors in the difficulties rural communities are experiencing.

In Canada, there are now rural agricultural communities who are trying to set up mental health support networks to deal with the increasing suicide rates in farmers.

 

[Yithian]

I do not understand what these statistics mean.

View attachment 76620

Percent of what? It sure as hell isn't the population or even the youth population.

More quality reporting.

These numbers are not percentages, they're rates per 100,000 people.

 

[kamalktk]

Natrona has a population of 80,000 per wikipedia.

 

[kamalktk]

I do not understand what these statistics mean.

View attachment 76620

Percent of what? It sure as hell isn't the population or even the youth population.

The whole article is bad. For instance the dip to 27 from 18: "The county recorded 27 suicides last month, a slight dip from the 18 seen the year prior." Which doesn't match at all with "12 people, mostly young adults, killed themselves over the past four months."

 

[Spookdaddy]

There is a lot of misunderstanding and misreporting around the issues involved, but point clusters in relation to suicides are not unknown. Suicide contagion is another term that is sometimes used, although I think some mental health care professionals do not like to employ it. The most notable instance in the UK is probably the Bridgend cluster in the late noughties.

I'm not sure anyone really fully understands the processes involved.

The following is advice given to reporters by the UK's Independent Press Standards Organisation:

A wide body of research evidence shows that media portrayals of suicide, including information published by newspapers and magazines, can influence suicidal behaviour and lead to imitative acts, particularly among vulnerable groups or young people. The research shows that overly detailed reporting does not just influence the choice of method of a suicide, but can lead to additional deaths which would otherwise not have occurred.

This may seem far removed in context from the events in Natrona County, but the idea of 'imitative acts...among vulnerable groups' can, I suspect, be applied universally.

Of course, this puts authorities in a terrible bind - because in acknowledging and addressing the issue effectively, you really do have to discuss it, and you probably need to do that publicly.

 

[AnonyJ]

There is a often a correlation between rates of alcohol use and organic and synthetic drug use and overall suicide rates - especially when alcohol has been introduced into areas in the modern era (post 17th C).

 

[brownmane]

More quality reporting.

These numbers are not percentages, they're rates per 100,000 people.

I thought, after reading the entire article, that it is percentage of deaths that have been ruled as suicide. Though what the country’s definition of death by suicide is not clear. He refers to drug overdoses being a “fueling factor”. Drug overdoses are not always intentional suicides. If drug overdoses are high in the city then, unfortunately, this is not uncommon.

 

[Austin Popper]

Wow, is that article a mess! I've been looking for a more coherent one, but haven't found anything yet. I'll keep looking.

Wyoming is a curious place. It has the smallest population of any of the 50 states, though it has a land area similar to that of Colorado. Almost as many people live in Tucson, or Albuquerque, as live in the entire state of Wyoming. That's around half a million people. Colorado has almost exactly ten times as many people. The two states are similar in other ways, but they diverge politically. Wyoming seems to be determined to cling to extraction industries for its economic vitality, even though that's a dwindling resource. They have even gone so far as to pass laws intended to hinder the adoption of electric cars, for example.

I spent a fair amount of time in the state when I was driving tour buses. Nearly all of Yellowstone NP is in the state, so that's a significant part of the state's economy. Most of the state is beautiful, and empty. There are many interesting characters living there, as one might imagine, but people are generally few and far between.

Ms Popper interviewed for a job in Casper in 1999 or so. We spent a couple of nights there. The interview took a few hours, and she was surprised at the city government's proactive approach to dealing with things like drug abuse and urban blight. She thought the job sounded interesting, but we were both relieved when she did not get an offer. There was not a lot going on in town, and the Holiday Inn where we stayed featured a lengthy happy hour where free drinks were served in the bar. There were airlocks at all the doors, with the outer doors hard to open because of the very strong closers installed to combat the constant wind. I think we probably wouldn't have moved there, and I'm sure we wouldn't have stayed long if we had.

Now back to the search for some good journalism. I'm suspicious of the coroner's math, but there is no doubt he is dealing with a tragic and vexing problem.

 

[Austin Popper]

This article seems a little better, and may have been the main source of the other one. One thing is sure: I do not envy the coroner's job. Yikes.

https://cowboystatedaily.com/2024/0...e-rate-an-astronomical-top-four-in-the-world/

Here is another good article. It speaks to the mental health crisis so common in this part of the world. The county where we live has a very low population density, even for the Rockies, which leads to few resources spread too thin over a large area. Our property taxes are absurdly low, and there are only about 6,000 people in a county of over 3,000 square miles. The sheriff has to make hard choices every day. As far as I know, that department is the only law enforcement in the county, other than the state highway patrol. The sheriff's budget is around one million dollars per year. We don't have a lot of suicides, at least that I'm aware of, but drug problems and the associated crimes are rampant.

https://wyomingtruth.org/casper-native-investigates-wyomings-high-suicide-rate-in-new-documentary/

 

[brownmane]

This article seems a little better, and may have been the main source of the other one. One thing is sure: I do not envy the coroner's job. Yikes.

https://cowboystatedaily.com/2024/0...e-rate-an-astronomical-top-four-in-the-world/

Here is another good article. It speaks to the mental health crisis so common in this part of the world. The county where we live has a very low population density, even for the Rockies, which leads to few resources spread too thin over a large area. Our property taxes are absurdly low, and there are only about 6,000 people in a county of over 3,000 square miles. The sheriff has to make hard choices every day. As far as I know, that department is the only law enforcement in the county, other than the state highway patrol. The sheriff's budget is around one million dollars per year. We don't have a lot of suicides, at least that I'm aware of, but drug problems and the associated crimes are rampant.

https://wyomingtruth.org/casper-native-investigates-wyomings-high-suicide-rate-in-new-documentary/

Both articles are very succinct. The issues mentioned such as drug use, few resources, people not willing to talk about what is happening, I think, is common to very rural areas.