Research indicates that increasing the minimum wage would help lower suicide rates, as Washington-based journalist Jason Cherkes confirms, who covers the mental health profile and is writing a book on suicide.

In this report, published by the New York Times, author Jason Cherkes said that over the past two years, he had contacted nearly every week with the director of the suicide prevention department in the US mental health system to review the number of suicides.

The author reviewed with the department the demographic data of the dead, their psychological diagnoses, and how they committed suicide, in addition to all their interactions with the mental health system, from clinical trials to final notes from final treatment sessions.

Not only did many people who commit suicide need medical attention, they were also starving (pixels)

Childhood shocks and economic deprivation

The writer stated that he realized over time that the diagnostic signs of "bipolar" disorder and "severe depression" had nothing to do with understanding death by suicide

Cherkes notes that the problems of these patients often began with childhood trauma and ended with economic deprivation.

A woman - who later died by suicide - told her therapist that she had to sell her jewelry to cover her expenses, while another therapist asked his therapist how to get a sofa for his apartment.

In fact, many of the people who committed suicide not only needed medical care, but were already starving.

Research has shown that there is a relationship between people's ability to pay rent each month and their mental health.

Corona fears and mental health crisis

In addition to increasing social mobility and addressing inequality, the author believes that raising the minimum wage will contribute to lowering the suicide rate in the United States, and said that the Covid-19 pandemic has raised concerns about the upcoming mental health crisis;

So the issue of wage increases should be discussed as both an important economic imperative and a mental health policy.

In their book The Death of Despair and the Future of Capitalism, the couple Anne Case and Angus Deaton - both economists at Princeton University - found that not only do people with a high school diploma or less educated earn less money than college graduates, but rather their chances of marriage and finding support in the church Less, in addition, this group is more likely to report feeling disappointed that their lives have been turned upside down.

Covid-19 pandemic has raised concerns about an upcoming mental health crisis (Shutterstock)

Raise the minimum wage

Spouses Kiss and Deaton support raising the minimum wage to $ 15 an hour, as a way to help combat this despair, and although they acknowledge that this may not work for the social isolation of the unemployed or the general career prospects of those with high school diplomas only, the wages are High can help low-income earners by providing a stronger safety net.

"The loss of good jobs for less-educated Americans not only harms those directly affected, it harms others by destroying many communities and lifestyles," the couple wrote.

And it may not take much effort to begin to reverse despair;

Last year, researchers at Emory University published results indicating that if the United States increases the minimum wage by $ 1 an hour, the suicide rate could drop by about 6% among adults with a high school diploma or less.

University of North Carolina researchers: A $ 1 an hour salary increase could cut about 8,000 suicides (Getty Images)

This is what studies revealed

A 2019 study from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that increasing the minimum wage by 10% would reduce suicides - not caused by drugs - among adults whose educational level is limited by 2.7%.

In another study published in 2019, researchers from the University of North Carolina (North Carolina) - in the city of "Chapel Hill" in the United States of America - reported that a salary increase of one dollar per hour could reduce about 8 thousand suicides from 2006 to 2016. .

The relationship between raising the minimum wage and decreasing suicides may be partly due to fewer financial crises that cause major stress.

Oscar Jimenez Solomon, a researcher at the Institute of Psychiatry in New York State and the Center for Poverty and Social Policy at "Columbia" University (Columbia), said that low wages can lead to the inability to meet basic needs, pay debts and make plans.

"These conditions make people feel completely besieged, so that they are possessed by shame and despair, and they feel that there is no way out for them, so increases in the minimum wage can save lives," Solomon added.

In addition, reducing financial stress on the family leads to enhanced mental health within families.

Between 2005 and 2010, social work professor Carolina Houseman Staubel interviewed girls aged 11-18 in New York City who were receiving a mental health briefing after they attempted suicide, and her research revealed how girls in families are affected. Immigrants are stressed by financial pressures and the absence of their parents who used to work in more than one job.

Many girls felt like a burden or that their futures were hopelessly limited (Getty Images)

The lives of low-wage workers are valued

The author quotes Dr. Hausmann Stabil, who stated that "the issue of inequality and poverty undermined the well-being of their families in a way that directly affected their well-being and led to their suicidal thoughts."

Many of the girls said they felt like a burden or that their futures were hopelessly limited, even as they aspired to bigger goals.

Often the low-paid jobs are the only job opportunities or last resort;

That is why Congress should recognize that raising the minimum wage is not just about giving these workers slightly better salaries, but it can also mean improving national mental health and sending a clear message that the lives of low-wage workers are valuable.