Don't Actually Kill Yourself During The Holidays

By Sam Bakken in Miscellaneous on Dec 20, 2004 9:23PM

Here at Chicagoist we're behind in our holiday shopping and the stress is getting to us. And that stress has led us to thoughts of suicide. Other people's suicides that is. We'd never think of taking ourselves away from you people. We know it would ruin you.

We'd always heard that there's an increase in suicides during the holidays due to stress and the "holiday blues". Not true according to Dr. Karen Broquet, associate professor of clinical psychiatry and internal medicine at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, and other sources.

Stories about an increase in suicides during the holidays reflect a false perception perpetuated by news organizations that don't check out the facts, according to several studies on the issue.
The truth is that suicides actually drop during the Thanksgiving-to-Christmas season, said Dr. Karen Broquet, a professor of psychiatry at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in Springfield.
The American Association of Suicidology confirms that December has the lowest suicide rate of any month of the year. The National Center for Health Statistics has found that suicides drop by about 20 percent during the holidays.

If you need help or more information about suicide, go here. And don't do it, suicide is so cliche. It doesn't matter THAT much if you don't get your mother the perfect holiday dishcloth set. But if you are considering a Christmas Eve suicide, a web site about Chicago probably won't convince you otherwise. So do your family a favor and pre-order a cleaning crew. Mom doesn't want to wipe up brain, blood and bone—even with new Christmas rags.