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

Britain near top of Europe’s teenage binge-drinking league

The government faced fresh calls today to increase the price of alcohol, after research revealed that young people in the UK reported some of the highest levels of teenage binge-drinking, drunkenness and alcohol-related problems in Europe. British schoolgirls aged 15 and 16 are binge-drinking even more than their male classmates, with fresh evidence that their….

Teens Who Drink Are at Greater Risk for Alcoholism

Starting at Age 15 Increases Risk Six Times over Waiting Until 21 State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) Commissioner Karen M. Carpenter-Palumbo today recognized Alcohol Awareness Month calling on parents to help prevent underage drinking by learning the facts about alcohol and how they can take action to stop the early onset….

Combination Benefits Patients With Comorbid Depression, Alcoholism

Treatment that combines sertraline and naltrexone appears to be superior to treatment with either drug alone, as well as to placebo, for individuals with depression and alcohol dependence. Patients receiving the combination treatment were more likely to achieve abstinence and had delayed relapse to heavy drinking, according to a report posted in the March 15….

Legal drugs spark a boom in pill popping

MY “LEGAL ecstasy party pills” arrive in small, white medicine containers, complete with recommended dosage and a safety seal. “Herbal supplements,” reads the package, but these drugs promise far more – guaranteeing to “add extra kick to your partying” by meddling with the body and mind. It’s a drug high, but one that “will not….

Over-age drinking

December is the booziest month of the year, as Canadians increase their alcohol intake by about 35 per cent. That’s a lot of eggnog. That puts us even higher than the Italians, who drink about 30 per cent more than their monthly average in December, according to figures from a British think tank. At least….