With age, the old saying goes, comes wisdom. Many years of experience and many more years of reflection and self-reflection supposedly result in people becoming much wiser over the years. This wisdom and knowledge is hard-earned, derived from a lifetime worth of hard work and facing up to the stress and pressure that life regularly throws at people. Granted, most of this knowledge and wisdom tends to be overlooked and, in some cases, can be totally irrelevant to the situation at hand, but should not be so easily dismissed. However, according to a number of recent studies, depression and suicide also appear to come with age. It appears that older generations are more likely to take their own lives, with the number expected to increase as the baby boomer generation gets older.
The elderly, statistically, are the most likely segment of the general public to commit suicide. Across the United States, the statistics prove this as a harsh fact and not merely some sort of passing trend. While the rate of 11 per 100,000 people may seem rather low, it really isn’t. Once one considers the relative population of the US, 11 suicide cases for every 100,000 people can roughly...