Psychiatric News (4/28) reports a study found that “suicide is a cyclical phenomenon that rises and falls every couple of decades” in America. The researchers “developed the Suicide Trends and Archival Comparative Knowledgebase (STACK), which contains detailed data from 1900 to 2021.” They found that the US has “experienced four significant upward trends in suicide deaths that started in 1900, 1920, 1960, and 2003; those rises peaked in 1908, 1932, 1977, and 2017, respectively, then trended downward.” The researchers noted the “highest suicide rates occurred during the 1910s and the Great Depression, averaging more than 17 deaths per 100,000 population. The lowest rates were seen around World War II and the mid-late 1950s, at just under 10 deaths per 100,000.” Furthermore, “suicide deaths by hanging have risen significantly and consistently in both males and females since the 1990s,” they said. The study was published in PNAS.
Related Links:
— “The Cycle of Suicide Across U.S. History, Psychiatric News, April 28, 2026