A year's worth of suicide attempts
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https://abc7news.com/suicide-covid-19-coronavirus-rates-during-pandemic-death-by/6201962/
Doctors at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek say they have seen more deaths by suicide during this quarantine period than deaths from the COVID-19 virus.
The head of the trauma in the department believes mental health is suffering so much, it is time to end the shelter-in-place order.
"Personally I think it's time," said Dr. Mike deBoisblanc. "I think, originally, this (the shelter-in-place order) was put in place to flatten the curve and to make sure hospitals have the resources to take care of COVID patients.We have the current resources to do that and our other community health is suffering."
The numbers are unprecedented, he said.
"We've never seen numbers like this, in such a short period of time," he said. "I mean we've seen a year's worth of suicide attempts in the last four weeks."
Kacey Hansen has worked as a trauma nurse at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek for almost 33 years. She is worried because not only are they seeing more suicide attempts, she says they are not able to save as many patients as usual.
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John Muir Health includes two of the largest medical centers in Contra Costa County: John Muir Health Walnut Creek Medical Center, a 554-licensed bed medical center that serves as Contra Costa County's only designated trauma center; and John Muir Health Concord Medical Center, a 244-licensed bed medical center in Concord. Together, they are recognized as preeminent centers for neurosciences, orthopedics, cancer care, cardiovascular care and high-risk obstetrics.
John Muir Health also offers complete inpatient and outpatient behavioral health programs and services at our Behavioral Health Center, a fully accredited, 73-bed psychiatric hospital located in Concord.
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I know I'm stating the bloody obvious, but this is just awful.
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I know I'm stating the bloody obvious, but this is just awful.
@Doctor-Phibes said in A year's worth of suicide attempts:
I know I'm stating the bloody obvious, but this is just awful.
As predicted:
https://nodebb.the-new-coffee-room.club/topic/243/and-then-what-do-we-do/16?_=1590167047344
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@jon-nyc said in A year's worth of suicide attempts:
Easy there, Nostradamus. This is one 240 bed hospital and they go out of their way not to share actual numbers.
Is what Copper posted in error?
https://www.johnmuirhealth.com/locations/john-muir-medical-center-walnut-creek.html
John Muir Health includes two of the largest medical centers in Contra Costa County: John Muir Health Walnut Creek Medical Center, a 554-licensed bed medical center
That's about ⅔ the size of Northwestern (with 1900 docs on staff) and a bit more than half the size of Duke.
Though you're right about not publicizing numbers.
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The head of the trauma in the department believes mental health is suffering so much, it is time to end the shelter-in-place order.
How do they know the suicide attempts are because of the ‘shelter in place’ order?
Give a few milliseconds of thought as to how ridiculous that claim is.
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Why is that claim ridiculous? I find it rather plausible, especially when it is combined with job loss, home violence etc.
The data is merely observational, of course, but it seems rather obvious to consider the lockdown stuff in the list of influencing factors.
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Because it again assumes the economic problems were caused by the shelter in place order as opposed to a collapse in demand that pre- and post-dates any such orders and exists in multitudes of places where no such orders have been issued.
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Because it again assumes the economic problems were caused by the shelter in place order as opposed to a collapse in demand that pre- and post-dates any such orders and exists in multitudes of places where no such orders have been issued.
@jon-nyc said in A year's worth of suicide attempts:
Because it again assumes the economic problems were caused by the shelter in place order as opposed to a collapse in demand that pre- and post-dates any such orders and exists in multitudes of places where no such orders have been issued.
But the argument in the part you quoted was specifically about forcing people to stay at home, and how that increases suicide risks. There's an economic aspect to it (as I pointed out), but that situation alone can be life-changing, even completely without regard to economic concerns.
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Again, the staying-at-home is mostly caused by the threat of the virus and not specific government orders.
This is a recurring type of denialism that has forever coursed through the arguments of the covid doves - that getting back to pre-virus life is simply a matter of issuing the right executive order.
(And I mean denialism in the psychological sense, not any reference to ‘climate denialism’)
Only non-witches get due process.
- Cotton Mather, Salem Massachusetts, 1692
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@George-K said in A year's worth of suicide attempts:
https://abc7news.com/suicide-covid-19-coronavirus-rates-during-pandemic-death-by/6201962/
First of all, I don't think that anyone in that news story is saying the suicide rate is up because of the stay-at-home order. The people are making observations of what they see, and they claim that's unprecedented. Draw whatever conclusion you wish, be it because of the fear of virus, the shutdown, whatever. The fact that there's been a serious uptick in self-injury is indisputable, at least at this one facility (though we don't, as you say, know specific numbers).
Secondly, as Klaus points out, there are significant psychological traumas that are occurring because of this - just ask my 4 ½ year old granddaughter who started wetting her pants about 6 weeks ago. It's a major disruption, and peeing your pants is one way of not coping, self-injury is another.
The increase in self injury and mental distress is not unique to Muir Medical Center either. Los Angeles crisis hotline has seen an increase of 8,900% (not a typo) in calls, and 20% express suicidal desire. Alabama has seen a 900% increase in calls.
Sydney University predicts an additional 750 to 1500 suicides per year for 5 years, a 25-50% increase.
There's been a huge increase in domestic violence calls to the police. D1 has never heard as many sirens in her Chicago neighborhood.
Finally, other places (Knox County in TN) have also seen an uptick in suicides. Granted the number is small (I believe only 3-4) and that doesn't make a trend. It does, however, make one notice.
When/if this all blows over, it will be interesting to look at the statistics.
So, as I said, you can attribute, or not, whatever cause you wish. The fact that this is having a huge emotional toll stands.
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You are right that government policy is one thing, and what would voluntarily do another thing (self-imposed isolation etc.). However, the two are not independent. Government and media paint a picture. That picture has a huge influence on what the public does. If they'd paint a different picture, the public would, at least in part, behave differently. Also, people do behave differently in countries with no or less strict lockdown policies (Sweden etc.). The economy is going down everywhere, regardless of lockdown policy, but that is mainly because nobody is spared from a global economic crisis.
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Again, the staying-at-home is mostly caused by the threat of the virus and not specific government orders.
This is a recurring type of denialism that has forever coursed through the arguments of the covid doves - that getting back to pre-virus life is simply a matter of issuing the right executive order.
(And I mean denialism in the psychological sense, not any reference to ‘climate denialism’)
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First of all, you’d have to be more specific- what policies? I don’t think I’ve ever commented on stay at home orders. I don’t they have much effect on behavior. At least the CA variety where anything you’d realistically go out for is excluded from the policy.
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Other policies about business closures - I’ve often made the point that the demand collapse seems to be mostly a bottom-up phenomenon, but that’s an empirical observation based on data that wasn’t available in early March when these policies were initially being implemented.
I was open to the idea that Sweden’s economy would continue apace. It just turned out not to be the case.
