This is the VOA Special English Health Report, from voaspecialenglish.com | http A study says more people are killing themselves in European countries affected by economic troubles. David Stuckler, a sociologist at Britain's University of Cambridge, co-wrote the report. He says, "For the most part, the countries that have been more severely affected have experienced greater rises in suicides -- Ireland, Spain, the Baltics -- reaching up to sixteen percent in some of the worst affected countries, like Greece." Suicide rates in Europe had been decreasing. But then the international banking crisis hit in two thousand eight.The study looked at reports from ten European countries from two thousand seven and two thousand nine. Nine of the ten countries had a five percent increase in suicide rates between two thousand seven and two thousand nine. In Ireland the increase was thirteen percent. David Stuckler says the study found that suicide rates have not increased in countries where governments have helped get people back to work. Examples include Sweden and Finland. "We found that just giving money to people who have lost jobs to replace their income did not appear to help. Instead, giving people a reason to get out of bed in the morning, a hope in terms of searching for a good, meaningful job seemed to be the most beneficial to helping people cope."The findings appeared in the Lancet medical journal. Greece is suffering the costs of a huge public deficit. For over a year, the ...