Julius Tongol, Jackson Liu Professor Liss Intro to Sociology 27 September 2021 Puzzle Part I: 1. Why would someone commit suicide? Write down 3-5 reasons. a. Someone might commit suicide due to the following reasons: mental illness, stress, being bullied, substance abuse/overdose, Loss/fear of loss, abuse or potentially social isolation. Although these are reasons of why someone might commit suicide, it is not all the reasons why many might commit suicide. An example of this where the listed reasons might not be applicable would be where an anesthesiologist doesn’t fully anesthetize the patient, where the patient will feel the pain of lets say a scalpel piercing their skin during surgery (very very painful). 2. What is Montana’s suicide rate? Why does Montana have twice the national average? Write down 2-4 reasons. a. Montana’s suicide rate as of 2016 is 25.9 suicides per 100,000 people. This is a 38% increase from the suicide rate back in 1999 and almost double that of the national average of 13.42 individuals per 100,000 (NBCNews). This is caused by several reasons listed, but not limited to: strong gun culture, high rates of heavy alcohol consumption, and as does lack of daylight in the winter and high altitudes, which have been linked to depression. There are a lot of factors also contributing to Montana’s high suicidal rate, such as facing a projected $227 million budget shortfall, in addition to the governor cutting the state's health department and mental health funding. Although Montana officials are studying suicide prevention, many have feared that this is not enough to prevent suicide. Puzzle Part II: “Unhappiness Theory of Suicide” Montana Suicide Factors Substance Abuse/Overdose Montanans love to drink alcohol, consuming heavy alcohol at high rates. Montana has the second-highest ratio of bars to people in the U.S. Mental Illness Due to location, Montana lacks sunlight in the winter and is located at a high altitude, which has been linked to depression. Abuse The State of Montana has a strong gun culture which in turn can be abused if gun control isn’t taken seriously. It can easily be used as a weapon to kill or to threaten people into performing unnecessary actions. Loss / Fear of Loss Losing someone can trigger the action of suicide, espcially loved ones where you cared and loved for them. In Montana, Veterans and people who experienced loss are trying to do whatever than can to prevent loss, especially after the governor cut mental health fundings. Even with clients opening to help with this issue, it is believed that it isn’t enough to help. Bullying and Social Isolation In Montana, there is a significant population of veterans present. As many may know, veterans are marginalized in the U.S. not treated equally like others. In Montana, there isn’t enough care provided to veterans, putting them in a lower social class than the rest of the population. [When one veteran was serving in Iraq, he was hit by a bomb and it ended his army career. He then tried to commit suicide to get his frustrations over with, but his wife prevented it and reached out for help. When she reached out, they realized that there was no help in Montana and they needed to travel to VA (NBCNews).] Puzzle Part III: What is the difference between these two columns? Where is the source of the crisis? The difference between the two columns is that for the column on the left, it tends to be more of a personal issue. Let's take Mental Illness for an example; there are many people who have a mental illness and are depressed for many reasons. There are people who are depressed and rich and there are people depressed due to loneliness or loss. Since there are many reasons why one would even possibly think about commit suicide, the left column indicated the personal issues people are going through and not the public pressure that is affecting them. On the right column however, people are committing suicide due to the culture and social structure of Montana. Having a strong gun culture and many people abusing alcohol, it is a public issue, which can potentially force people to perform suicide; more of like a public pressure. The source of the crisis in the left column would be from the person itself, personal trouble. There is no way to debunk why one will commit suicide due to one of the reasons listed and why another wouldn’t eventhough they are going through the same issue. On the other hand, the source of the crisis on the right is from the social structure of Montana. Having many factors that can cause someone to commit suicide, many of the cases of suicide are from these factors. This statement, meaning that people are not committing suicide because it’s their personal issue, but because of the social structure they are living around. Works Cited Flory, Xavier. “Montana and ALCOHOL – an Abusive Relationship.” Flathead Beacon, 9 July 2014, flatheadbeacon.com/2014/07/09/montana-alcohol-abusive-relationship/. McCausland, Phil, et al. “Montana Had the Highest Suicide Rate in the Country. Then Budget CUTS HIT.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 28 Aug. 2018, www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/montana-had-highest-suicide-rate-country-thenbudget-cuts-hit-n904246. Schimelpfening, Nancy. “Why Do People Commit Suicide?” Verywell Mind, 19 Feb. 2021, www.verywellmind.com/why-do-people-commit-suicide-1067515.
