Suicide Hotline Calls Rise As Economy Sinks
In one disturbing sign of the times, calls to suicide hotlines are on the rise.
"USA Today" reports the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline saw a 36-percent jump in calls from 2007 to 2008.
They received a total of 545-thousand calls last year.
Officials cautioned that half that increase came from taking over a veterans' suicide line.
And calls were increasing even before the recession began over a year ago.
Phone callers to another hotline just for housing foreclosures are telling counselors they feel isolated and alone.
Among other suicide hotlines that say their calls are spiking as the economy tanks are those in Dallas, Pittsburgh, Detroit and suburban San Francisco.
Directors of hotlines in places as different as Boston and Gary, Indiana say losing jobs or homes is putting people into a suicidal funk.
Willie Perry, who coordinates the hotline in Gary, says people's depressions are getting deeper.
She added, quote, "We try to help them up by the bootstraps, but the bootstraps are a lot lower than they used to be."
(Copyright 2009 by Newsroom Solutions)
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