Tag: Bhutanese suicide rate

CDC fears “suicide contagion” in Bhutanese refugee population

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Here is yet one more story on the high rate of suicide in the Bhutanese refugee population in the US.  This time from New Hampshire via WBUR (Boston’s NPR station).  Hat tip ‘pungentpeppers.’

This New Hampshire woman’s father hanged himself on Thanksgiving day.  He was 73.

We only noted a link to the New Hampshire suicides in a post in January where we learned some refugees remaining in the camps were upset at the UN for splitting up families.  You might want to revisit that post because it gives some background as to how we have resettled 70,000 Bhutanese since 2007.   The number in the WBUR story is wrong.

The interview (read about the New Hampshire case) mentions the disappointment some refugees have when the US does not meet their expectations and with the Bhutanese it is pointed out that their culture does not have the same taboos about suicide as some other ethnic groups, or most Americans.

So, as the numbers grow, there is some speculation that “suicide contagion” could set in.

WBUR:

The numbers trouble the Centers for Disease Control, which began investigating the deaths a few years ago. By early 2012, it had 16 cases to look at from a three-year period. The CDC calculated a suicide rate higher than the national and global average, and it hasn’t changed since then.

SHARMILA SHETTY: The Bhutanese and I think in general just that part of the world, the perspective on suicide is very different from I think a lot of other populations and ethnicities.

LESSARD (interviewer): Dr. Sharmila Shetty was a lead investigator on the CDC report. She says the Hindu and Buddhist cultures don’t have strict taboos against suicide as, say, Muslim or Western cultures do. But beyond that, Shetty says the causes can be myriad and frustratingly unknowable.

[….]

SHETTY: There is this phenomenon called suicide contagion.

LESSARD: Shetty explains that if you know someone who ends his or her life, or you hear about it, you are more likely to do it yourself. That’s why she says it’s best to address the problem proactively. Following the CDC’s initial report, the national Office of Refugee Resettlement put a suicide hotline number on its front webpage.

Sounds good, but I wonder how many refugees call Washington if they are thinking about suicide?  Would you?

Excessively high Bhutanese suicide rate in US comes up in alerts again

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I think this is probably the same report we have mentioned previously, but since we have so many new readers lately and a lot of recent news on Bhutanese (Nepalese) refugees, it’s best to repeat it rather than to have some readers not know about it.

Bhutanese refugees in Atlanta.

For several reasons, mostly joblessness and family stress over money, Bhutanese refugees are killing themselves at higher rates than most people in the world.   Tell me again why we are going to legalize 11 million illegal aliens and bring in more immigrants when legal refugees can’t find work?  And, why are resettlement agencies actually lobbying for more job competition for their own refugees?

From the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) for the week of July 5, 2013:

During the period February 2009–February 2012, the Office of Refugee Resettlement of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported 16 suicides among the approximately 57,000 Bhutanese refugees who had resettled in the United States since 2008. In 2012, the office requested assistance from CDC and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s Refugee Health Technical Assistance Center to identify risk factors that might be associated with suicidal ideation among Bhutanese refugees. In collaboration with the Massachusetts refugee health center, CDC conducted a survey of randomly selected Bhutanese refugees in four U.S. states with large populations of resettled refugees*. The results indicated significant associations between ever having expressed suicidal ideation and current self-reported symptoms of mental health disorder (e.g., anxiety, depression, or posttraumatic stress disorder) and postmigration difficulties (e.g., family conflict or inability to find work). The findings highlight the need for development of culturally appropriate community-based interventions for suicide prevention and standard procedures for monitoring and reporting suicides and suicide attempts in the Bhutanese refugee population.

They killed themselves in Nepal at a pretty high rate too (must be something in their culture, or, LOL! in their genetic makeup?)

 ….the annual suicide rate among Bhutanese refugees resettled in the United States was calculated by investigators as 21.5 per 100,000; the age-adjusted suicide rate using the U.S. 2000 population as the standard was 24.4 per 100,000. Both estimates were higher than the estimated annual global suicide rate for all persons of 16.0 per 100,000 (1) and the annual suicide rate for U.S. residents of 12.4 per 100,000 (2), but were similar to the prearrival suicide rate in Bhutanese refugee camps in Nepal of 20.7 per 100,000 (3).

*The four states are these:  Arizona, Georgia, New York, and Texas.  But, since we have brought nearly 70,000 Bhutanese to the US, there are many other resettlement states experiencing challenges with joblessness and just plain overload of George Bush’s refugees.  Yesterday, we heard from Bhutanese in Manchester, NH, here.

Photo: There are many more photos of Bhutanese refugees in Atlanta, here, along with a story about them.