Anthony Bourdain has taken his own life

Anthony Bourdain is dead at sixty-one years of age. CNN made the announcement a short time ago, calling him “a gifted storyteller and writer who took CNN viewers around the world.”

The network added, “His love of great adventure, new friends, fine food and drink and the remarkable stories of the world made him a unique storyteller. His talents never ceased to amaze us and we will miss him very much. Our thoughts and prayers are with his daughter and family at this incredibly difficult time.”

Bourdain received the Peabody Award in 2013. The Smithsonian once called him “the original rock star” of the culinary world. He was a bestselling author and recipient of two Emmy awards and was considered one of the most influential chefs in the world.

He was in Strasbourg, France, where he was recording an episode of his CNN show, when he was found dead of an apparent suicide in his hotel room.

Suicide rates have increased 25 percent

This tragic news follows the death of fashion designer Kate Spade, who took her life last Tuesday. Her husband later said she had anxiety and depression and had been seeing doctors and taking medication for five years.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported yesterday that suicide rates increased 25 percent nationally from 1999 to 2016. They rose in nearly every state. In 2016, there were more than twice as many suicides as homicides.

According to the CDC, more than half of people who died by suicide did not have a known mental health condition. Factors contributing to suicide include relationship problems, a crisis in the past or upcoming two weeks, problematic substance abuse, physical health problems, job or financial problems, criminal or legal problems, and loss of housing.

However, other studies have found much higher rates of mental health disorders among people at high risk of suicide. “The reason most suicide decedents don’t have a known mental disorder is that they were never diagnosed,…