The link between debt and stress is well documented, and with record unemployment and foreclosures around the country, it’s no surprise that people aren’t in the best of moods right now.

When highly educated people can’t find work and solidly middle and upper-middle class Americans find themselves targeted by bill collectors for the first time, the mental toll can seem unbearable. These types of pressures can really impact people, making them do things that they otherwise would not. That can be seen in the rise in various types of crime, especially shoplifting, that we’ve seen during these terrible economic times.

Now there’s some evidence showing that the recession is causing an uptick in the national suicide rate.

Everything from the anecdotal evidence from local coroners to the closely-watched statistics of  government and other sources hints at some causality here.

Even those at the very top of the social and economic ladder have lost all hope. Having been taken in the Ponzi scheme of convicted scumbag Bernie Madoff, French financier Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet took his own life in his New York City office. He was apparently distraught over having lost more than a billion of his clients’ (and his own family’s) cash in the fraud.

Needless to say, nothing is worth such an extreme decision, especially the loss of a job, home or savings because of our economic collapse. Even bankruptcy isn’t an end, but a chance at a fresh start.

If you or someone you know is unable to cope with their soured financial situation and is contemplating ending it all, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

Let’s all live long enough to make sure that the investment banks, mortgage predators and credit card leeches who caused this mess get their comeuppance. And remember that living well truly is the best revenge.