The Urge to End It [NY Times]

[wlotus]

By SCOTT ANDERSON
Published: July 6, 2008
Is suicide the deadly result of a deep psychological condition — or a fleeting impulse brought on by opportunity?

“What was immediately apparent,” Rosen recounted, “was that none of them had truly wanted to die. They had wanted their inner pain to stop; they wanted some measure of relief; and this was the only answer they could find. They were in spiritual agony, and they sought a physical solution.”

If more people understood the truth of that statement, there would be more compassion for people who have experienced suicidal thoughts and/or attempts.

Comments

[faerie-spark.livejournal.com]

Tell them, woman! There's such a stigma to sharing suicidal thoughts to others, that the thoughts blow out of proportion, and often lead to the act, whether it succeeds or not.

Can you imagine how that works with impetuous teenagers? (the hotline I used to volunteer with shared some research with us, stating that teens have a very short lapse between thinking about suicide and trying it)

And when people do talk about how suicidal thoughts can be a cry for help, they speak with negativity and derision.

Having said that, I have talked to people who genuinely wanted to die, who had thought through all their options and really decided that that was what they wanted to do (we're talking about people experiencing a devastating pileup of family problems, health problems, aging problems, financial, problems, etc). Of course, I never knew whetehr they were able to move through to a calmer frame of mind, or whether talking to me had even provided any relief.

Apologies for the mini-essay. You made me think....

[wlotus.livejournal.com]

I appreciate the mini-essay. And I don't have to imagine how that works with impetuous teenager or adults who have strugged with that kind of emotional pain for decades. I know all too well from personal experience.

[mmmmgreen.livejournal.com]

A little too close to home right now. That inner pain... she's a bitch!

[far-gone.livejournal.com]

If you like reading about how people think about suicide, naamah_darling has written some very interesting pieces on that in her LJ. She battles bipolar and has some really interesting perspective on it.

[rockbirthedme.livejournal.com]

That was ... surprisingly difficult to read. I don't usually have a problem reading about the issue of suicide, but that brought back some frightening memories.

I know now -- and I think I knew at the time -- that it was a good thing that there were no effective means at hand when I considered suicide. There were very few things I could have done to attempt, and the only thing worse than the way I was already feeling was my fear of screwing up an attempt so badly that I survived. I guess maybe spending that whole time feeling like I couldn't get anything right had a minor upside to it, after all. *sour grin*

[astragali.livejournal.com]

I remember that when my dad was deeply, deeply depressed, he said something to my mom about how life was too difficult and was painful. She was all "But what about all the things I do to make life pleasant? Don't they matter at all?" and I didn't really know how to explain it. It wasn't that they didn't matter, and if he were not depressed he'd notice. But the pain he was in was so overwhelming that he couldn't think of anything but how much it hurt.

[ruthiebgr8.livejournal.com]

When you add the message from churches about how suicide is a sin but Heaven is your home and a marvelous place that we're all itching to get to....Makes one even more suicidal. The only thing that stopped me from committing suicide was wondering how my children would survive through their grieving. If not for my kids, I would have been dead 5+ years ago

[wlotus.livejournal.com]

My word, yes. With that teaching in my background, it is no wonder death seems like the perfect way out when the pain gets to be too much.