Figure 16.1: Trend in suicide rating in United States between 1999 and 2010 The rate of suicide showed a steady gradual increase between 1999 and 2008, but it spiked in 2008 with the onset of the economic recession and increased even further in the next two years. The straight black line beyond the dotted vertical indicates the expected trend, given the trend for the previous 8 years. The red line shows the actual suicide rate. As you can see, the actual rate far exceeded the expected trend, suggesting that the recession was a precipitating cause of suicides.

(Based on data from Reeves et al., 2012.)