Econocide  

The BBC has an article on a new word that has emerged as a result of the economic downturn, "econocide" - 'Econocide' to surge as recession bites . At first I thought this meant the intentional destruction of economies, but it actually refers to suicide as a result of adverse changes in economic circumstances.

It is the most iconic image of the 1929 Wall Street Crash: financiers, having lost their fortunes, jumping to their deaths from the windows of skyscrapers.

Now, 80 years later, American psychologists have coined the phrase "econocide" to describe a wave of suicides they say is linked to the current global economic crisis.

The suicides of Irish property baron Patrick Rocca, London-based financier Kirk Stephenson, Chicago real estate mogul Steven Good, French financier Rene-Thierry Magnon de la Villehuchet and German billionaire Adolf Merckle have all made headlines around the world in recent months.

All were successful men who had lost large sums of money as a result of the worldwide economic downtown.

But it is not just high-profile financiers who are paying for the recession with their lives.

Last month, former British soldier Bill Foxton killed himself after losing his life savings in an alleged $50bn fraud run by Wall Street financier Bernard Madoff.

"People think econocide is a problem on Wall Street but it is also affecting people on Main Street, ordinary families who have lost their homes, their jobs, their savings," says Dr Leslie Seppinni, who has treated 14 people with suicidal feelings related to the economy in the last two months.

"I've seen people who are still going out every morning, pretending to go to work, because they can't face telling their family they've lost their job," she says.