In the West I think alcohol is a massive factor, when talking about the moods of large numbers of people in those days. It is no accident that alcoholic drinking was banned outright for some time, despite the deep cultural roots.
booze has been around for thousands of years. it's not good for you but it's also not a new phenomenon driving suicide numbers up.
IMHO it's a combination of low wages, high cost of living, and scrolling/gaming/streaming/porn addiction. we don't know how to talk about it yet but it's fucking people up. human brains were not ready for what the internet has become
If anything I suspect booze reduces suicide numbers. For some people it's an escape that makes life tolerable.
I'm thinking of a book whose title eludes me at present. It's by a doctor, talking about their ER experience. One of their frequent fliers--and one time he talked a bit about why. He had been a sniper in Afghanistan (Afghani, fighting the Russians), he drank to keep from killing himself because of the horrors he had experienced.
People with alcohol use disorder are many times more likely to commit suicide. Alcohol makes depression worse in the long run, even if someone finds some temporary comfort from a bottle.
Booze - yes. Culture around booze… not exactly. Serious drinking was reserved for festivals and generally frowned upon. Nowadays… it’s much more common and much more abused. And modern alcohol is getting stronger and stronger, same with other drugs.
I’m curious - are you American? I’ve had some former coworkers (non-Americans) who used to work in San Francisco and it sounded like they encountered a culture of drinking at work that I’ve never seen in Germany or Austria. I remember one story about every Wednesday afternoon a booze cart would go through the office and people would get absolutely hammered on hard liquor (while still at work!)
I don’t know if this was specific to that (large, household name) company or if that’s emblematic but it sounded like a very bad idea (they had more stories of excessive drinking but that was the one I recall off the top of my head).
No. Lithuania. Here drinking culture reached bottom of the barrel during Soviet era. It’s getting somewhat better as the old generation heads for greener pastures. But it’s still pretty bad with full-on alcoholism being tolerated.
I envy some parts of German drinking culture. E.g. seemingly preferring light beer over heavy drinks. But having visited many music festivals in Germany… You guys got some issues too :D
