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Is it not the case that Norway and dark places have a far higher suicide rate? Short answer: no. Longer answer: sort-of, but not recently. In the mid-20th century, there was a lot of suicide in northern latitudes in the summer, which actually led some to believe that too much light (16-20+ hours per day) was the culprit. Spring and summer have always been the peak seasons for suicide, violent crime, and new mental illness. So why is there less of that in warmer climates? The culprit isn't sunlight (either winter's lack of it, or summer's abundance of it) itself, but alcoholism (which is a contributing factor to a shocking percentage of suicides). Harsh winter climates can contribute to alcoholism-- however, a lack of economic opportunity is more devastating-- which is a chronic problem once developed, and can lead to a summer suicide. In 2014, the Nordic countries take alcoholism, mental health, and social services very seriously (much moreso than, say, the US) and don't have an unusually high suicide rate. In fact, people in Scandinavia and Canada are, on average, happier, healthier, and less suicidal than Americans. |