Suicide is endemic to all countries, generations, and demographics. In the US, mortality rates due to suicide have increased by 30% since 1999. Researchers Mehmet Eskin and Nazli Baydar identify neoliberalism—the unceasing pursuit of unregulated profit and, therefore, endless consumption—as having an association with this change.

Neoliberal ideals include “grind culture,” wherein individuals value working long hours or multiple jobs to achieve material success and respect. In turn, people affected by neoliberalism are more likely to become results-oriented, focusing on every endeavor as a strict success or failure depending on the money earned. Neoliberalism stresses unregulated competition, where the “winner,” or the highest earner, is believed to have worked the hardest and, therefore, deserves disproportionate rewards. Unequal distribution of resources and privileges, built on long histories of racism, misogyny, and ableism, are glossed.

As neoliberal culture becomes ingrained, people may feel worthless or undeserving of success, no matter how hard they worked or what obstacles stood in their way. So the researchers, Eskin and Baydar, explain:

“According to the strain theory of suicide, strain precedes any suicide, and strain results from competing and conflicting pressures within an individual. Four sources of psychological strain are proposed: a) an effort to reconcile differential values, b) a discrepancy between reality and aspirations, c) relative deprivation, and d) inadequacy of coping resources.”

“From the perspective of the strain theory, the individual experience of suicidal ideation can be conceptualized as an expression of strain arising from structural barriers to accumulating wealth and the idealization of wealth as a means to attain happiness. Hence, neoliberalism may view the act of suicide as the freedom of choice to die in the face of individual failure to meet the goals of prosperity and success regardless of the circumstances of that failure.”

The authors’ survey showed that neoliberal values were positively and significantly correlated with suicide stigma. This aligns with the past research cited by the authors and supports the hypothesis that people that support neoliberal ideals may be othering people who commit suicide to distance themselves from it (and from their perception of a version of failure).

Furthermore, a positive view of help-seeking was negatively associated with acceptance of suicide. This means that people who, for instance, viewed mental health struggles as individual problems that should be solved on one’s own were less likely to understand suicide as an option for someone who might be depressed.

Notably, the authors did not find a significant effect of neoliberal values on suicidal ideation. But, the impact of suicide stigma on suicide ideation, as well as on the severity of suicidal thoughts, was significant. This might lead to a domino-effect interpretation, wherein neoliberalism is not the direct cause of suicide, but the world and culture fostered by neoliberalism lays the groundwork for increased/worsened suicidal ideation.

A criticism of neoliberalism is that it encourages individual hardship to earn personal success, thus prioritizing time spent working over health. People are challenged to make sacrifices for their goals, and those who sacrifice the most and work the hardest are supposed to be champions under neoliberalism. A damaging side effect of the individualism fostered therein is the isolation and internalization of failure that pushes people towards stigma and suicide.

madinamerica.com/2022/08/neoliberal-values-connected-increased-suicidal-ideation

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35872247/#:~:text=Conclusion%3A%20Our%20findings%20suggest%20that,ideologies%20in%20the%20suicidal%20process.

never thoughts of suicide im too alive

Seems like a reach

neoliberal grindset

commie values lead to higher risk of internet forum posting

Work is a religion in this sick f***ing country, grindset culture motherfuckers are soulless and idiotic

Neoliberalism is pretty broad term in this context
Are we taking about Japan? USA? Germany? It cited US data but lacks meat

Op literally disproves his own thread title in the last few paragraphs of the op

Just say economic conditions effect peoples wellbeing

It took a survey, views they associated with neoliberalism correlated with risk factors for suicide.

Limitation of this method is that not all questions necessarily indicate neoliberalism all the time, could also be another right-wing ideology. Also the participants were mostly white and democrat, so it might not be generalizeable. But overall it's good and interesting study start from.

I don't think you understand how psychological research works

Or that you actually read the articles lol

Yeah it’s a great start I’m iffy but interested to see what comes of this

That too ofc, but this is specifically about their own ideology informs their interpretation of their own conditions which is a mediating factor obviously

So interviewing white dem’s is their way of interviewing a fish in water if that makes sense

Wym

Nm

Meanwhile in r/neoliberal

crazy how capitalist values lead to more b****es

Capitalism outside neo-liberalism exists tho

Maybe i should go to grad school and churn out worthless studies like this for the rest of my life i mean until we overthrow capitalism

Get that academic money

did u miss that 2000 page thread from yesterday

What are neoliberal values?