[Boston Herald] Suicide prevention efforts in the Bay State are targeting male-dominated industries like construction in an attempt to slow skyrocketing rates among middle-aged men -- a troubling trend highlighted by the recent death of 52-year-old Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell, advocates say.
Friends and family of the prolific rock singer were stunned when he was found dead last week in a Detroit hotel room, which the medical examiner determined was a suicide.
"When someone famous kills himself, just like when someone famous dies of a heroin overdose, people say, ’Wow, that’s amazing.’ People don’t realize how enormous of a problem suicide is for middle-aged men in America and in Massachusetts," said Franklin Cook, director of community outreach for MassMen.org, which provides prevention resources to men struggling with suicidal thoughts.
The suicide rate in Massachusetts rose by 40 percent between 2004 and 2014, due in large part to the number of middle-aged men taking their lives.
Men 35-64 accounted for 44 percent of the total number of Bay State suicides in 2014. That toll rises to 67 percent for men 25-64.
"The increased numbers of fatalities is being driven by men in their middle years," Cook said.
MassMen, funded by the Department of Health, aims to tackle that issue by increasing education among those who work in construction -- the industry with the second-highest rate of suicide at 53.3 per 100,000 workers, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The farming, fishing and forestry industry had the highest rate.
MassMen is partnering with the local chapter of the Construction Financial Management Association to host a summit for construction officials June 20 in Needham, which Cook said will likely draw at least 100 people.
The construction business is so vulnerable to suicide for several reasons, one being the "tough guy" mentality that discourages help-seeking, according to Cal Beyer, a member of the Construction Financial Management Association, who has helped organize similar summits across the country.
"It’s a huge issue in the construction space, but for years it had not been quantified," Beyer said. "The references were always vague: the old school ’pull yourself up by your bootstraps, buck up, princess’ attitude. This is the way this is ingrained."
That is compounded by the irregular hours, separation from family, and physical and mental pressure of manual labor.
There is also heightened use of opioids and other illicit substances in the field, fueled by the frequency of soft-tissue injury and the emotional strain of isolation. Drug addiction only adds to the risk of suicide, Beyer said.
But approaching the epidemic of middle-aged male suicide by industry is one way to help reduce stigma, which is the first step.
"If we can get people to talk about this," Beyer said, "we can find solutions."
#5
Personally, I'd rather die than live in Massachusetts, so I can understand.
(Only semi ironic/sarcastic)
Posted by: ed in texas ||
05/24/2017 8:17 Comments ||
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#6
Wait till they get the idea to 'take some of the SOBs' with them. You think you have a problem with a very small community of Muslims in your midst, you ain't seen nothing if they get focused.
#7
Somehow a drug addled musician(?) is connected to working blue collar men? Someone needs to slow down their estrogen shots.
And yes I've lived in the area and was so happy to leave.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
05/24/2017 11:18 Comments ||
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#10
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
05/24/2017 11:23 Comments ||
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#11
Male-dominated industries such as construction, farming, fishing and forestry? What does that have to do with Chris Cornell of Soundgarden, a rocker? Any increase in the number of WOT vets committing suicide. Any link to unemployment? Any link to white-guy bashing?
This is from the Dhaka Tribune. The Righteous have been bitching and moaning about the statue of Justice outside the country's high court, complaining that it's a heathen goddess. I think the idea applies to us as well. The statues of Beauregard and Lee and Jefferson Davis have been torn down by our our version of the Hefajat. They're the same bunch who've been trying to distort the English language.
[Dhaka Tribune] I won’t pretend to understand the complexities of governance and politics in an ostensibly democratic nation such as ours, but surely one would agree that the core concept isn’t anything up for interpretation: People vote you to power, and you try to do good by the people.
It’s rarely as simple as that, of course, with multiple lines dividing the people itself, colouring each section according to their own nuances and quirks.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/24/2017 00:00 ||
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Link ||
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#1
Removing these statues of Southern generals is on a par with Nazi book-burning, the Taliban blowing up of the Buddhist statues in Afghanistan, and the ISIS destruction of religious antiquities.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Boston Herald] Suicide prevention efforts in the Bay State are targeting male-dominated industries like construction in an attempt to slow skyrocketing rates among middle-aged men -- a troubling trend highlighted by the recent death of 52-year-old Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell, advocates say.
