Denver Catholic

5 DENVER CATHOLIC | FEBRUARY 2021 A D E S PA I R I N G T R E N D While the pandemic may have amplified the hopelessness many Americans report feel- ing, data suggests that the catalyst for this decreased mental health existed well before COVID-19 hit our shores. In April 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a study that found the national sui- cide rate had increased by 35 percent between 1999 and 2018. What's worse is that the rate by which people commit suicide became greater after 2006, with an average increase of 2.1 per- cent each year. Perhaps most sobering of all, the CDC has reported for at the least the past 10 years that suicide – classified as "intentional self-harm – is among the top 10 leading causes of death in the United States, a country with the highest standard of living ever in human his- tory. Even more sobering is the fact that suicide is the second leading cause of death for people ages 10-34 – the very age range with the highest concentration of "nones." Suicide is most closely linked with poor mental health, but yet another 2020 study shed greater light on these "deaths of despair" and found that a despairing mind is not necessarily always linked to a mental disorder. The study was conducted in the wake of the release of the book Deaths of Despair and the Future of Capital- ism, and researchers developed a "despair scale" which measured levels of despair among young people based on seven despair indicators. What they found was both fascinating and alarming; despair – the leading cause of suicide, which is strongly correlated with drug abuse and alcoholism – is more appropriately linked to a downhearted state of mind than to mental disorders such as depression or anxiety. And while the pandemic may have contributed to this widespread despair, it is certainly not the sole cause. Anne Case, one of the co-authors of Deaths of Despairs, poignantly observed: "Deaths of despair are a long-term phenomenon that will be with us after the COVID-19 crisis is over." While the evidence is not conclusive, these findings still beg the question: could it be that our society's growing rejection of God and the subsequent rise of measurable despair are related? ⊲ Ever more people today have the means to live, but no meaning to live for." VICTOR FRANKL

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