Call 888-647-0579 to speak with an alcohol or drug abuse counselor.

Who Answers?

Alcohol Abuse, Addiction Affect Suicide Rates

Factors that affect suicide rates include drug addiction and alcohol abuse. Studies also shows that being male, or part of a minority group, affects the incidence of suicide. New data from the CDC’s Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report shows that interventional programs should focus on alcohol treatment and rehabilitation to reduce the risk of suicide among minorities especially.

The study examined suicides reported in 17 states in 2005 and 2006. Almost one fourth had alcohol levels that exceed legal limits for driving when tested following suicide. The study was led by Dr. Alex Crosby of the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, showing that alcohol is a major contributor to suicide rates.

Crosby says that interventional programs that try to address suicide prevention should focus on alcohol as a cause. Public health policies should focus on how much alcohol is really contributing to depression, impaired judgment, and health problems related to the nervous system and behavior. In addition to alcohol treatment and rehabilitation, the authors propose higher tax rates and laws on alcohol to prevent a problem that is “considered ordinary behavior”.

Alcohol can worsen depression, making intervention important, especially among Hispanics and American Indian and Alaska Natives who have the highest rates of alcohol related suicides. Alcohol and drug rehabilitation programs can play an important role in helping to reduce the risk of deaths from worsening depression and hopelessness.

Given the findings that high alcohol levels are found in a large number of suicide cases, more alcohol programs should be developed. Dr. Eric Caine, chair of psychiatry at the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, N.Y. says, “Here’s more data on how something like alcohol is fuel on the fire, and we need to ask ourselves what we are going to do about it.” Raising alcohol taxes, and focusing on alcohol treatment programs should become a public focus to reduce the toll of alcohol consumption on health and suicide rates.

source: CDC

More Treatment & Detox Articles

Oldham is England’s binge-drinking capital

The country’s binge-drinking capitals have been revealed in research which shows a rise in the number of hospital admissions linked to alcohol. Official figures show a 33 per cent increase in drink-related cases seen by accident and emergency departments in England since 2005, the year in which controversial 24-hour drinking reforms were introduced by the….

A path to recovery

Michael Walsh lost 16 years to alcohol and cocaine addiction. Now sober, he’s trying to help others find their way out through a new secular peer-support group called LifeRing. Alcoholics Anonymous was instrumental in his recovery, but as an atheist, Walsh, now 41, struggled with the concept of the higher power found in AA’s program…..

Web intervention reduced students’ drinking

Heavy drinkers in the study were given an estimate of their peak blood-alcohol concentration. Heavy drinkers in the study were given an estimate of their peak blood-alcohol concentration. University students who received a brief personalized online assessment of their drinking habits reduced their alcohol consumption for at least several months afterward, a recent study by….

Warning over early exposure to alcohol

Giving children alcohol at an early age increases their risk of becoming drink-dependent at a later stage in life, according to new research. The claim challenges the long-held notion that introducing children to alcohol in small measures over time may prevent teenage binge drinking. The new study, by the US National Institute on Alcohol Abuse….

Co-occurring disorders

Co-occurring disorders, as the name suggests are the type of disorders that occur again. These disorders are mostly related to mental health problems and therefore the chance of the disorders affecting again is high in the patients who suffer mental imbalance or have self destructive tendencies or are impulsive in their behavior. The co-occurring….