The Highest Suicide Rate in the World: Professor Helen Epstein Visits the Inuit in Nunavut
Nunavut’s capital, Iqaluit. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
People in every society take their own lives for myriad reasons. Certainly, mental health issues such as depression and substance abuse are important risk factors for suicide everywhere. But such disorders often have social causes, and it’s worth asking if there are any that might explain the particularly high suicide rate among young Inuit. A clue lies in the forced, rapid, and harrowing transition to modernity. Mastering technology was easy, but psychological and emotional adaptation has been far more difficult.
Post Date: 01-06-2021