You’ve got to be careful about this.
The suicide rate may be the highest it has been in 50 years. However, what is the relationship between the number of suicides today + attempted suicides compared to the suicides 50 years ago + attempts?
Today, thanks to the NRA and spineless politicians, we have more guns out there than at any other time in our history. So it stands to reason that the lethality of means to commit suicide is much greater than it has been than at any other time in our history. So…if you were contemplating killing yourself in 1968, you probably could do it but there is less likelihood that you had a revolver in the next room. Today you have a revolver on your hip, one in the next room, one in Mom’s purse, and another in the car. All lethal.
Additionally, the psychology of suicide is one where you may just do it if you’re serious. But often, you see where a police official is talking someone off a bridge. They don’t want to kill themselves, they want someone to listen. In 1968, if you were going to hang yourself, you have to find somewhere to do it (likely indoors), get a rope, a chair or platform and get to work. The same with carbon monoxide in the garage, methane in the oven, etc… It was a process that gave the person with suicidal thoughts a few moments of reflection and of course a point to back out of the enterprise. Today? Pull the trigger and you’re dead. So even if you did the calculations above, you really don’t know how many unreported suicide attempts there were where someone started their car and turned it off at the first sign of asphyxiation or stood on a chair with a rope around their neck and backed out….
Solutions? More controls on firearms to start. We all know that won’t happen with the Blob though.