Friday, April 22, 2011

Happy Places Tend to have Highest Suicide Rates




A study was done by researchers at the University of Warwick (UK), Hamilton College (NY), and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Fransisco. It used a sample of 2.3 million Americans and compared satisfaction with life and suicide rates in The US states. The study found that states with people who are generally more satisfied with their lives tend to have higher suicide rates than states with lower avergae levels of life satisfaction. For example, New York ranks 45th in life satisfaction, but last in suicide rates. Hawaii ranks 2nd in life satisfaction, but has the 5th highest suicide rate.


Their theory as to why this happens is that people in "happy" places tend to feel more harshly treated in life. The lows of life are more tolerable when others around them are unhappy too. People often judge their well-being by comparing themselves to others.


This totally makes sense. I often compare my well-being to that of my friends and it makes me feel bad. Its seem so easy for them to be normal and do normal things like work and maintain/build relationships, while i find it difficult.


Lesson:


Don't compare your life to someone else's. You can't control how happy or successful someone else is but you can focus on improving your life one step at a time. Compare yourself to yourself. Have you moved forward since last month? Last year? Have you persevered despite mental illness? Are you taking steps to help yourself? We can't all have perfect lives but we can make our lives better.


You can read the original article here:




Hope you're feeling well


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