Cynthia Hubert for the Sacramento Bee: “When teenagers or younger adults take their own lives, the losses trigger society’s alarm bells. But it is older people, particularly men 65 and older, who have the highest rate of suicide of any age group.”
During the past decade, statistics show, older people have consistently had the highest rate of suicide in the country
“This is a generation of people who were raised not to ask for help when they are in emotional pain,” said Marilyn Koenig, founder of Friends for Survival of Sacramento, part of a national outreach program for those who have lost someone to suicide. “So this is their way out. But nobody wants their elderly parent or grandparent or spouse to die this way.”
Older people attempt suicide less often than those in other age groups but are more often successful, according to Patrick Arbore, director and founder of the Center for Elderly Suicide Prevention in San Francisco.
In all age groups, including 65 and older, men are far more likely than women to commit suicide, and white men have the highest numbers of all.
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Original Source: www.sacbee.com/296/story/1326955.html
NOTE: Patrick Arbore, who turned a one-man suicide help line into the renowned Center for Elderly Suicide Prevention and Grief Counseling at the Institute on Aging in San Francisco, died on May 27, 2023. The cause of death was cancer. Arbore was 75.