HONG KONG/SEOUL - CHAN Kiu-hung thought about committing suicide when she discovered that her retirement nest egg had been lost with the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

'I was in despair. I lost my appetite and couldn't sleep at all. We lost all our money. It was very painful,' said Ms Chan, who came out of retirement to work as a maid, and her husband as a lift attendant, to make ends meet.

Suicides generally increase during times of economic troubles, experts say, and Asians may be particularly susceptible as the region has among the world's highest suicide rates.

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