Over the past decade the rate of suicide in middle-age Americans has had an alarming increase. The rate has climbed a shocking 28 percent as Americans faced recession, mortgage crisis, and other detrimental situations.

According to the Associated Press the government made the announcement on Thursday. The trend is more noticeable among middle-aged white men and women, there suicide rate has increased by 40 percent.

However rates in younger and older people have remained the same, while the suicide rate among middle-aged blacks, Hispanics, and other ethnic groups have seen little change.

The reason for the suicide rate increase in whites is obscure however the Associated Press posed some theories. One theory suggested that "the recession caused more emotional trauma in whites, who tend not to have the same kind of church support and extended families that blacks and Hispanics do."

"Another theory notes that white baby boomers have always had higher rates of depression and suicide, and that has held true as they've hit middle age."

Between the years of 1999 to 2010 suicide went from being number eight on the list of leading cause of deaths among middle-aged Americans to four, behind cancer, heart disease, and accidents.

"Suicide prevention efforts tend to concentrate on teenagers and the elderly, but research over the past several years has begun to focus on the middle-aged."

"The new CDC report is being called the first to show how the trend is playing out nationally and to look in depth at the racial and geographic breakdown."

The report also revealed that the way middle-aged Americans kill themselves has changes from drug overdoses to hangings seeing as drug overdoses do not always result in death.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the report, which was based on the death certificates. People 35 years to 64 years of age accounted for about 57 percent of suicides.