Dallas Is Listed Among Those Cities Noticing a Rise in Calls to Suicide Hotlines

The USA Today headline's a little misleading: "Economy prompts more calls to suicide hotlines." Because six paragraphs in, the story notes: Calls to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline jumped 36% from 2007 to 2008, totaling 545,000 last year, says director John Draper. But callers were increasing before the economic collapse,...

By Robert Wilonsky

January 12, 2009

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The USA Today headline's a little misleading: "Economy prompts more calls to suicide hotlines." Because six paragraphs in, the story notes:

Calls to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline jumped 36% from 2007 to 2008, totaling 545,000 last year, says director John Draper. But callers were increasing before the economic collapse, and about half of the added calls in 2008 came from taking over a veterans' suicide line, Draper says.

Still, Draper says that a lot of folks calling are facing foreclosure. And Dallas is indeed among those cities posting a recent increase in callers -- great, one more thing we have in common with Detroit.

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