Suicide rate in the DR?

May 29, 2006
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We just had three college kids commit suicide at the local college in the last few months, with two just last week. I got me wondering. What the suicide rate is like in the DR? I tried looking up some stats and it doesn't seem to exist there with any statistical relevance. Is it just that it is very rare, or are they not reported for religious reasons, such as where people can be buried? In general, Dominicans seem to be among the most mentally healthy people I've ever met.
 

jrhartley

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Sep 10, 2008
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they always have family that care for them , in europe or american people sometimes feel disconnected from their family
 

Matilda

RIP Lindsay
Sep 13, 2006
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i would have thought the rate is quite high here too. There must have 50 that I have heard of in this area over the last few years. All men.

Matilda
 

Matilda

RIP Lindsay
Sep 13, 2006
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50 are they so depressed that they cant marry you matilda ?

i am already married thank you JR. These guys will often tell their families before that they will kill themselves. Over women and money. The favourite here appears to be hanging, from trees in the woods.

matilda
 

dv8

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Sep 27, 2006
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i did a quick search in hoy newspaper and they report several cases of suicide in the last few months. nearly always men. on many occasions they kill wife/girlfriend or even a child before taking own life.
of course it says nothing about real statistics but can serve as an example.
 

Chirimoya

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Dec 9, 2002
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Statistics are published occasionally. As others have said, the overwhelming majority of suicides are male. Don't know how this compares to other societies and what the cultural reasons behind this are, if any.
 
May 29, 2006
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In the US those folks are called "Family Annihilators" The last one was the guy who flew a small plane into the IRS building in Texas. He set his home on fire with his family tied up inside, but luckily they were saved in time.
 

SantiagoDR

The "REAL" SantiagoDR
Jan 12, 2006
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The Puente Hnos. Patino over Rio Yaque Del Norte in Santiago is very popular for suicides.
Quite a few people jump off the bridge to their death each year.

This is the bridge one takes to get to the popular golf course, Campo de Golf Los Aromas coming from Santiago.

Whenever there is a large crowd on the bridge you just know it's another suicide.


SantiagoDR
 

suarezn

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Feb 3, 2002
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This is one of those things that we hardly ever heard of in The DR about 15 - 20 years ago, but I guess like globalization suicides have also come to The DR to stay and nowadays it is a lot more common. Common cases are the guys who kill their wifes / families and then kill themselves because the woman refused to get back with them, the young females who kill themselves over a jilted love or because they think their parents are too strict, etc

According to Wikipedia we do have one of the lowest rates in the world. Must be all the partying we do. It looks like the eastern European countries have the highest rates.

Anexo:pa?ses por tasa de suicidio - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre
 
May 29, 2006
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Yeah that is where I looked too. I'm thinking they aren't often recorded as suicides because it might prevent people from being buried in a church cemetery. Other Catholic countries have moderate suicide rates. I heard about an ex-pat who was killed in a motorcycle accident and one of the Dominicans I talked to about was somewhat shaken by the thought that he was cremated before his remains were shipped back to the US.
 

Luperon

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Jun 28, 2004
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I don't think the Dominican Government is capable of gathering an accurate statistic. If it were, they would find a profitable reason to lie about them.
 
May 29, 2006
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It was at Cornell in upstate NY. The two last week were both engineering students and I don't know about the other. The both jumped off the same bridge into a gorge. They still haven't found the second body because they lost it in the darkness before they could recover it. The gorge has 75' cliffs on either side. What was odd was that they were all Caucasian and statistically more than half the suicides are Asian exchange students.

After 3 Suspected Suicides, a Shaken Cornell Reaches Out - NYTimes.com

The bridge used to have open fencing and was about a foot lower, but they put in the covering so kids wouldn't be looking down into the gorge and getting ideas as much. Many kids cross the bridge everyday.

They used to have about two suicides a year there but they did some work to address problems early and it's been a couple years since the last one. This school year, it's already up to six. The problem is, once one happens, it can trigger more.
 

dv8

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Sep 27, 2006
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from cases highlighted in newspapers i can see that suicides in DR seem to spring from love story gone wrong: man is jealous, kills wife/gf and takes own life. extreme emotions involved. few stories mention drugs or depression.
to compare, i run "suicide" search in the largest polish newspaper. the cases reported are often among military or policemen. there are also stories about people who commit suicide in a prison cell either ater accidentally killing someone (car crash etc) or to avoid shame of a criminal case. not much in terms of unrequited love. maybe up north we are more cold blooded?
 

LaTeacher

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May 2, 2008
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Asian countries have some of the highest suicide rates - which would explain why Asian exchange student suicides are a bit more common. Catholics have some of the lowest rates, because if you commit suicide you can't repent to get into heaven.

People are buried here all in the same place - it doesn't matter if they're catholic or not, they're buried together, so I doubt that's the reason.

In the campos there is a lot of drinking fertilizers and such to die. We've had a few attempts by distant family members.

Once, I was in the emergency room with my kids and a family brought a woman in - half-dead. When the clinic staff told the sister that her insurance wouldn't cover it, it took them a minute or two to decide what to do. "Si ella quiere morir, yo no lo voy a pagar!"
 

tish

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Mar 10, 2007
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I?ve also heard that many school aged boys commit suicide in the campo. I?m not sure of the reasons though, but I?m guessing poverty and women or girls in their cases.

I also think that the government aren?t capable or don?t have the inclination to gather statistical data.

La Teacher, I?ve heard that there is a high suidical rate in India. The reason for this is because parents put alot of pressure on their children to do well in school. Unfortunately, not all kids can handle this pressure.
 

woofsback

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Dec 20, 2009
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in northern canada the native teen indians were doing it for awhile

i also read about suicide teen pacts in the states...

in our day life was slower and easier for us to keep up with.
there weren't as many things for us to have or do as there are today
sometimes they can't keep up wether it be mentaly or economicly...
they fall behind or feel like they aren't good enuf to belong...
no one to show them anything better....
life is getting worse to deal with daily and harder for them to deal with.

i'm sure most of us at one time or another felt like life would be sooo much easier if we were dead and didn't have to deal with it anymore...
then we wake up and realize what's right and work our way thru it...

some never wake up :(