Suicide awareness month

[caketastydelish]

September (the month we just got out of) is suicide awareness month according to NAMI (national alliance on mental illness).

http://www.nami.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Inform_Yourself/About_Mental_Illness/By_Illness/Suicide.htm

Who is at risk for suicide?
The single biggest risk factor for suicide is a prior history of suicidal behaviors or attempts.
Over 90 percent of people who commit suicide have been diagnosed with mental illness.
Some of the mental illnesses most commonly associated with suicide include depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders (including borderline personality disorder), anxiety disorders (including posttraumatic stress disorder and panic attacks) and eating disorders (including bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa).
Substance abuse and addiction are associated with an increased risk of suicide.
More than one in three people who die from suicide are intoxicated, most commonly with alcohol or opiates (e.g., heroin, Percocet [oxycodone]).
The majority of completed suicides in America involve firearms and access to firearms is associated with a significantly increased risk of suicide.
Among youth aged 15 to 24 suicide is the third leading cause of death.
Older age is associated with increased risk of suicide; people above the age of 65 are at the greatest risk for death by suicide.
Chronic medical illness (including chronic pain) is associated with increased risk of suicide.
While women are more likely to attempt suicide, men are approximately 4 times more likely to die by suicide
People of all races and ethnicities are at risk for suicide.
People who feel socially-isolated (e.g., divorced, widowed) are at increased risk of suicide compared with people who have responsibility for family members (e.g., people who are married or people with children)
While scientists have not discovered one specific gene that causes suicide, it is known that people with a family history of suicide are at increased risk.
People with a history of trauma (e.g., childhood abuse or combat experience) are at increased risk of suicide.
Involvement in community or religious organizations may decrease the risk of suicide.
How can suicide be prevented?

As suicidal thoughts or behaviors are a psychiatric emergency, the involvement of properly-trained mental health professionals is necessary. For some people, this means making an appointment to see a therapist or a psychiatrist; for other people, it may mean calling 911 or going to the nearest emergency room. After they are evaluated by a mental health professional, some people may be able to continue outpatient treatment; others may require inpatient psychiatric hospitalization to manage their symptoms.

Ongoing psychiatric treatment is helpful for most people with suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Some forms of psychotherapy—including cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)—are useful in treatment of suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Psychotherapy can also be a helpful part in the ongoing treatment of people mental illness, something which further decreases the risk of suicide.

Alcohol and drugs are very dangerous for people at risk of suicide. Addiction—also called alcohol or drug dependency—puts people at increased risk of suicide and can also worsen other mental illnesses which further increases this risk. Additionally, people who are intoxicated or withdrawing from drugs and alcohol are more impulsive. This impulsiveness can make people more likely to attempt suicide and perhaps less likely to ask for help with their troubling symptoms.

Some medications may be helpful in reducing the risk of suicide in certain patients with mental illness. While antidepressants carry a “Black Box Warning” from the US-FDA regarding the risk of increased suicide, most people with depression or anxiety will be less likely to hurt themselves if they are taking an antidepressant medication. Most scientific studies of people with depression suggest that antidepressants save lives by preventing suicide because untreated depression is such a significant risk factor for suicide. Other medications may also be useful: for some people with symptoms of depression, lithium can be helpful in decreasing the risk of suicide. For some individuals with schizophrenia, Clozaril (clozapine) can reduce the risk of suicide. As with any other medical illness, a thorough evaluation by one’s physician—either a primary care doctor or a psychiatrist—is appropriate prior to starting most medications.

What can friends and family members do?

If they have concerns that someone close to them is suicidal, family and friends can be most helpful in encouraging their loved one to seek treatment. Some people may be afraid that they could worsen the situation if they bring up the topic of suicide with their loved one. While this is a common concern, scientific studies show that asking about suicide—and encouraging their loved one to get help—does not increase the risk of suicide. Rather, addressing concerns about suicide is helpful in preventing suicide.

Friends and family that are interested in learning more about suicide prevention are encouraged to follow the links included at the end of this review.

http://www.nami.org/MSTemplate.cfm?Section=E-mail_Network&Site=FaithNet_NAMI&template=/contentmanagement/contentdisplay.cfm&ContentID=160465

Suicide often has played a contentious role in faith traditions. Faith can be a strong factor in an individual’s recovery. However, when a person feels that they are in their darkest hour and that their faith appears to have deserted them, suicide may seem the only viable option remaining. It is then the responsibility of their faith community to neither condemn nor censure them, but to be understanding and supportive, to help the individual step back from the brink and regain their belief in the future.

NAMI has prepared a list of suicide awareness, responses and prevention resources for faith leaders.

We (at this forum anyway) have done a decent job of discussing rape culture, but personally I think suicide culture is also a real thing even though it does not get discussed. What is it? When someone is a victim of suicide (whether they be the actual person that did it, or someone that cared deeply about someone that did), they are thought of as 'losers' and are blamed when really it isn't their fault.

I'm going to use some famous examples.

For example, the suicide of Ryan Halligan.

You will find from that link one part that I find particularly disturbing:

He confronted the bully who had started the gay rumor after he found out he had made fun of how Halligan killed himself. At first he was so angry he wanted to go to the boy's house and "crush that little jerk," but he had time to think while stuck in traffic. Halligan reportedly said to the boy, "You have no idea the amount of pain you caused my son. And you're still bullying him now even when he's defenseless and you are still lying to your parents about it. I refuse to believe that you are so cruel and that you don't have a heart." Shortly afterward the bully broke down into tears and repeatedly apologized for what he did

This what I call suicide culture. Bullying people and then continuing to mock them even after they committed suicide and knowing you yourself had a hell of a lot to do with it.

Being someone that contemplates that topic myself (I've had some heavy duty suicidal thoughts myself as I was bullied when I was younger and one time I almost did so, and made a post on the internet about how I was going to do it on a different forum but the police came to my house and stopped me), I often look up what others think of suicide. Sadly, there's apparently just as many immature idiots that think people that get raped 'asked for it' 'deserved it' etc say the same thing for suicide victims.

A hell of a lot of people even think suicide victims are just too weak.

Do you know anyone personally that has died from a suicide? Some of my (non immediate) family has but I never knew them very well so I'd be lying if I told you it was a big deal. Still it is an important topic to be discussed. I think anyone that says suicides victims are 'too weak' is a monster.

 

[Synobun]

Known plenty of suicide victims. Both close and distant. I think anyone that says suicide victims are heroes are pretty sickening, myself. Like the recent suicide with the Glee actor... Meh. Suicide is bad. It's a shame. It shouldn't happen. I agree with all those points, but to call each and every single one of them a hero after they've taken their own life just seems... utterly devoid of meaning.

With that said, I also don't agree with the immediate knee-jerk reaction of people who say, "Go to a therapist." the moment they think a person has become suicidal. A barren room with someone paid to listen to you won't save your life in the long run. Friendship, support, and understanding will. Therapy will help, but therapy is useless without those three points.

 

[caketastydelish]

I didn't say they are 'heroes' only that that to call a suicide victim 'too weak' is pathetic.

Yeah, and as you said, a therapist alone does not solve everything, far from it. I go to one regularly myself and it's better than nothing but is no substitute from a circle of people that actually care about you.

 

[Borachio]

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/10/02/im-a-monster-belgian-dies-by-medical-euthanasia-after-botched-sex-change-operation/

A Belgian man has been killed by medical euthanasia after claiming that a botched sex change operation had turned him into “a monster.”

Nathan, born Nancy, Verhelst, 44, was given legal euthanasia, most likely by lethal injection, on the grounds of “unbearable psychological suffering.”

Wim Distelmans, a cancer specialist who carried out the euthanasia on Monday, is the same doctor who last year gave lethal injections to congenitally deaf twins who were frightened they were also going blind.

Explaining his decision hours before his death, Mr. Verhelst said he was “the girl that nobody wanted.”

He told Het Laatste Nieuws newspaper: “While my brothers were celebrated, I got a storage room above the garage as a bedroom. ‘If only you had been a boy,’ my mother complained. I was tolerated, nothing more.”

 

[El_Machinae]

I find suicide to be an extremely complex topic. Legal, I am 'for' assisted suicide. Morally, I am aghast at the level of mental illness that we just let percolate. Philosophically, I am very interested in the idea of 'consent', and I often point out that I never consented to being born, life is forced upon you. People can greatly resent that foisting, and not commit suicide, but suicide is the ultimate expression that the person didn't want to be alive.

 

[Kyriakos]

Well, i too am of mixed opinion on this.

I definitely would not urge anyone to commit suicide. Neither would i do anything which might trigger such a decision on their part (although it has to be noted that by now it would not have been any decisive factor of their urge to kill themselves).

That said, i can easily accept that some people just have very grave difficulties. Of the extreme kind. A person with elephantiasis (saw an example of that on a man living today, in east Asia), someone who cannot walk/use half of his/her body, victims of horrific accidents or attacks by wild animals, all those obviously can have a hugely more difficult existence than the average person (the average person having serious problems too, obviously, just not as extreme in their own nature).

A great issue i have with legalizing suicide is that you effectively create executioners. They will be doctors, of course, but i am not sure if it is healthy for a doctor to kill some of the people he comes into contact with, and moreover to meet people just so that he can help them be killed.

Another serious problem is that it is not easy to draw the line somewhere in regards to what should be seen as a "legitimate" plea for assisted suicide. If the person is depressed in a major way, should that be seen as enough? Some people survived major depression (i am one of them) and then life was not just easier, but actually very pleasant. Of course that is all theoretical when one is sunk into deep depression.

So the subject is multi-faceted and a tricky one for anyone, even if they aim to help others, one way or another.

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

I find suicide to be an extremely complex topic. Legal, I am 'for' assisted suicide. Morally, I am aghast at the level of mental illness that we just let percolate. Philosophically, I am very interested in the idea of 'consent', and I often point out that I never consented to being born, life is forced upon you. People can greatly resent that foisting, and not commit suicide, but suicide is the ultimate expression that the person didn't want to be alive.

This post sums up my sentiments about this.

 

[caketastydelish]

If someone is in terminal (physical) pain that's one thing. However no one should be able to legally commit suicide no matter how simply depressed they are.

 

[Borachio]

suicide is the ultimate expression that the person didn't want to be alive.

I wonder if this is true. Isn't suicide the ultimate in disillusionment?

Suicidal people want to live, it's just that the conditions of their lives disappoint them far too much.

 

[El_Machinae]

If someone is in terminal (physical) pain that's one thing. However no one should be able to legally commit suicide no matter how simply depressed they are.

Suicidal people want to live, it's just that the conditions of their lives disappoint them far too much.

Oh, likely that they want to live. The suicidal thought is that the present pain is too much, either in the moment or now-and-forever. I'll disagree with caketastydelish, psychological pain is a real pain. The question becomes of whether there's an expectation that the pain will be relieved. We talked upthread about massive physical disability, but a few tweaked neurons can make someone's life Hellish in a way that non-depressed people just cannot empathise with. Yes, if it's treatable, then we can 'force' someone into treatment. But, I don't know if we can 'force' someone into a living hell against their will ... they never consented.

What does this mean? It means that we need better diagnostics and better treatments. To refuse to fund these, but insist that the lives of depressed people are ours to foist is ... counterintuitive to me.

That said, a remarkable number of suicide survivors don't try again. Suicide is very often a 'heat of the moment' action. A medically assisted suicide would be anything but, and deserves consideration different from 'gun in the mouth' suicide interventions.

 

[Synobun]

Medically assisted suicide is very different than spur of the moment suicide. It's a completely different approach to your own mortality. When you're trying to commit suicide by yourself, you have to make the act. You have to jump in front of the train. You have to pull the trigger. You have to overdose. It's all you. From a personal standing, I could never do that. A deep value for consciousness rests inside of me so directly removing that forever is something that my body simply refuses to do. I imagine it'd take a horrific state of drugs to be able to do it and even then... iffy.

I do know, however, that if all I needed to do was prove I live in pain day in day out and then sign my name on a sheet of paper, I would have done it two years ago. The you gets removed and it becomes much easier to go through with it because the human brain is excellent at rationalizing things and would portray it like since you're not killing yourself directly, it's not suicide and you're just being killed and you're okay with that because hey, life sucks.