Fiscal Suicide
No, I’m not referring to what our country is doing to itself. I’m referring to the recent spate of suicides by people either in the financial industry or impacted by financial disaster. One such death was noticed by a TTWS reader, whose name I won’t use just in case he doesn’t want me to, who wrote:
Liz — For what it’s worth, thought you might find this interesting. Once again, the reaction to a high-profile suicide focuses solely on the life events that supposedly caused it. I’m not saying the job pressures didn’t play some role, maybe a very big one, in David Kellermann’s death. But the total focus on external events doesn’t exactly help anti-suicide efforts, especially given the percentage of suicide victims who suffer from mental disorders of one kind or another (I’ve seen numbers as high as 90 percent). Could the troubles at Freddie Mac have triggered an underlying mood disorder? Certainly. Could those troubles alone have led to this suicide? It’s possible, but it seems unlikely. Personally, I don’t necessarily mind some focus on his life’s problems, but I’d really like to see some mention of the possibility of underlying emotional problems. Why would this one person, among everyone dealing with this kind of recession-driven strain, kill himself, & leave a grieving family?
I hear what this reader is saying, but I actually do think the stress can prompt an otherwise “healthy” person to “snap” — and I use these words advisedly because I know they can be misused. Here’s an interesting reflection on the issue by Stephanie Desmon and Scott Calvert of the Baltimore Sun:
As economic crisis goes on, financial fears can push some over the edge
Perhaps replacing “healthy” with “sound,” or “stress-resilient,” and “snap” with “become overwhelmed” reduces the chance for misuse?
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