Suicide
 

Apparently it's a good idea to spread this around :confused:

SUICIDE

Throughout the world, about 2000 people kill themselves each day. That's about 80 per hour, three quarters of a million a year. In the U.S., there are more than 80 deaths from suicide every day, 30,000 every year. This is the equivalent of a fully loaded jumbo jet crash every fifth day. From another perspective, you are more likely to kill yourself than be killed by someone else.

"...without knowledge of proper dosages and methods, suicide attempts are often bungled, leaving the victim worse off than before. Many intended suicides by gunshot leave the person alive but brain-damaged; drug overdoses that are not fatal may have the same effect. One eighty-three-year-old woman obtained an insufficient number of pills and lost consciousness but did not die; her daughter ended up smothering her with a plastic bag."

The number of suicide attempts is also subject to dispute. Based on a range of studies, there are probably between 10-20 attempts for every suicide, or roughly 300,000 to 600,000 attempts per year in the U.S. Yet more than half of suiciders kill themselves on their first try.

The overall 4:1 male-to-female suicide ratio in the U.S. is reversed for suicide attempts. Between 70% and 90% (studies differ) of suicide attempts are by medicine/drug overdoses, roughly 15% by wrist cuts.

If you play Russian roulette with a six-shooter, your odds of dying are one in six; if you climb Mt. Everest they're also about one in six. The former is a generally-condemned form of suicide; what, then, is the latter?

Teenagers attempt suicide roughly 10 times more frequently than adults, although their fatality rate of 11.1 per 100,000 people is about the same as adults'. This is the third leading cause of death among 15-19 year-olds. For this age group, there were 5,174 motor-vehicle deaths in 1994, compared to 1,948 suicides.

About four times more girls than boys make suicide attempts, but boys are much more likely to die: about 11% of (reported) males' attempts were fatal, compared to 0.1% of females', a ratio of more than 100:1. This also gives a ballpark average of about 50 attempts for every fatality in this age group.

Compared to those of older people, adolescents' suicide-attempt statistics show two significant differences. First the fatality rate for boys is a hundred times that of girls, a much greater gender difference than with any other age group. The immediate reason is clear enough: most teenage girls use relatively low-lethality methods like drugs and wrist cuts, while a substantial number of boys use guns and hanging. The reasons behind these choices are not known.

There is no suicidal type, but the presence of the following factors make it more likely that a teen will have suicidal feelings:

previous suicide attempt
low self-esteem
helplessness or hopelessness
in trouble
abused or neglected
perfectionistic
gay/lesbian
a traumatic event
recent loss
abuse of alcohol and other drugs
disabled
loner - socially isolated
recent suicide of family member or friend

A case will be made that people shouldn't commit suicide and that, therefore, a manual telling them how to go about it is pernicious. This is like one of the arguments against sex education: "If they know how, they'll do it." Well, they do it anyway. Thirty thousand suicide deaths a year in the U.S. should make this clear.

That is the reality. And the methods people use all too often leave them neither dead nor fully recovered, but maimed and permanently injured: paralyzed from jumps, brain-damaged from gunshots, comatose from drugs.

One young woman took a drug overdose, expecting that her housemates would return soon. They were delayed. I would like to believe that, had she known about less lethal methods, she would be alive today.

The best way to find out whether a person is contemplating suicide is simply to ask him or her directly. Are you thinking of killing yourself? This does not put ideas into their head, but it does free them to talk about what is really going on and to reach out for help.

If the answer is yes.....

Ask them:
What method have you thought of using to kill yourself?
When do you think you'll do this?
Do you have the means (guns, pills etc)?

The more lethal the means, the more available the means and the more definite the time frame, the greater the risk.

Do not ever agree to keep someone's suicidal intentions a secret. Find out who or what they fear and attempt to agree on who can be trusted with this information, but do not wait to notify the appropriate individuals. Better to anger someone by revealing their secret, than to see them dead because you didn't tell someone who could help them.

If, based on your evaluation of the risk (lethal means + availability of means + time frame) the person is in imminent danger of attempting suicide, do not leave them alone. Stay with them until help arrives.

People who talk about suicide do it. About 80% of the time, people who kill themselves have given out definite signals or talked about it to someone.

People who are suicidal don't want to die. Most suicidal people are ambivalent about dying, they just want to stop the pain.

HOW TO PREVENT SUICIDE OF A FRIEND

Suicide prevention is not a last minute activity. All textbooks on depression say it should be reached as soon as possible. Unfortunately, suicidal people are afraid that trying to get help may bring them more pain: being told they are stupid, foolish, sinful, or manipulative; rejection; punishment; suspension from school or job; written records of their condition; or involuntary commitment. You need to do everything you can to reduce pain, rather than increase or prolong it. Constructively involving yourself on the side of life as early as possible will reduce the risk of suicide.

Give the person every opportunity to unburden his troubles and ventilate his feelings. You don't need to say much and there are no magic words. If you are concerned, your voice and manner will show it. Give him relief from being alone with his pain; let him know you are glad he turned to you. Patience, sympathy, acceptance. Avoid arguments and advice giving.

People already have the idea; suicide is constantly in the news media. If you ask a despairing person this question you are doing a good thing for them: you are showing him that you care about him, that you take him seriously, and that you are willing to let him share his pain with you. You are giving him further opportunity to discharge pent up and painful feelings. If the person is having thoughts of suicide, find out how far along his ideation has progressed.

If the means are present, try to get rid of them. Detoxify the home.

Persistence and patience may be needed to seek, engage and continue with as many options as possible. In any referral situation, let the person know you care and want to maintain contact.

It is the part of the person that is afraid of more pain that says “Don't tell anyone.” It is the part that wants to stay alive that tells you about it. Respond to that part of the person and persistently seek out a mature and compassionate person with whom you can review the situation. (You can get outside help and still protect the person from pain causing breaches of privacy.) Do not try to go it alone. Get help for the person and for yourself. Distributing the anxieties and responsibilities of suicide prevention makes it easier and much more effective.

Most people have suicidal thoughts or feelings at some point in their lives; yet less than 2% of all deaths are suicides. Nearly all suicidal people suffer from conditions that will pass with time or with the assistance of a recovery program. There are hundreds of modest steps we can take to improve our response to the suicidal and to make it easier for them to seek help. Taking these modest steps can save many lives and reduce a great deal of human suffering.

Suicidal Behavior

-Previous suicide attempts, “mini-attempts”.
-Explicit statements of suicidal ideation or feelings.
-Development of suicidal plan, acquiring the means, “rehearsal” behavior, setting a time for the attempt.
-Self-inflicted injuries, such as cuts, burns, or head banging.
-Reckless behavior. (Besides suicide, other leading causes of death among young people in New York City are homicide, accidents, drug overdose, and AIDS.) Unexplained accidents among children and the elderly.
-Making out a will or giving away favorite possessions.
-Inappropriately saying goodbye.
-Verbal behavior that is ambiguous or indirect: “I'm going away on a real long trip.”, “You won't have to worry about me anymore.”, “I want to go to sleep and never wake up.”, “I'm so depressed, I just can't go on.”, “Does God punish suicides?”, “Voices are telling me to do bad things.”, requests for euthanasia information, inappropriate joking, stories or essays on morbid themes.

A WARNING ABOUT WARNING SIGNS
The majority of the population at any one time does not have many of the warning signs and has a lower suicide risk rate. But a lower rate in a larger population is still a lot of people - and many completed suicides had only a few of the conditions listed above. In a one person to another person situation, all indications of suicidality need to be taken seriously.

Think what you like. *Shrugs* It's not like I wrote it, but I am interested in your opinions.

thats pretty interesting. thE #s r kinda scary

i dunno ive known of a few people who committed suicide and i basically shrugged em off like 'ok thats what they want to do. want to eb psusies, fine' so i really dont givashit about em. i dont feel bad.

i feel bad for the family though

its just like it siad 'if they want to do it they will' or whatever..... i guess its how some people want to go?

we all got to go somehow..

I'm afraid of death so I guess I'm lucky that way. I often wished myself dead when I was a teen, however me being afraid of death I lacked the resolve to do anything about it. I'm glad I lived on as I never would have experienced so many great things, and met so many awsome people, like Bloodrayne for example. My advice to anyone wanting to become a statistic is get over it and move on. Things always get better, even if they get worse for a while. It's sad to see the numbers that so many people are willing to throw their lives away like that.

I don't think people that commit suicide decide that suicide would be a better way to die than naturally... I don't think that they necessarily "want" to go that way... but instead they feel that there is no other option.

And it was probably people not giving a shit about these people in life, that contributed to them wanting to 'check out'.... for good.

there is no other option as in what? as in, 'theres nothing i can do, i should die. even tohugh itll hurt my family and friends so bad, so long as im not hurting anymore thats all that matters'

the 2 people i knew.. had families that loved them, were going to school, money, cars.. PLENTY of friends, really popular...2 guys, and why did they kill themselves? becuz they broke up with thier girlfriends. and they both had girls all over them as well.

hmmmmmmm. that is what im going off of. i give everyone a chance, but if thats what they want to do then im through with it. theres plenty of people in the world that arent constnatly feeling sorry for themselves, that arent incredibly self centered and selfish, that will take the time to actually think, than to act completely irratoinally... that i can spend time with, instead im goign to waste time on these people? not a chance in hell

I said that they 'feel' there is no other option. For whatever reason you feel that you need to commit suicide, I would say it is because you can't think of the steps you need to take in order to get yourself out of that state of depression at that point in your life.

I can only speak for myself, but I know if I ever did it (and I ain't) I know that hurting my family would be the last thing that I would ever want to do. Sometimes family and friends and the relationships you have with them can not compare to the 24 hour a day, 7 day a week battle that happens in peoples heads. Telling them that this world is shit, and it's not worth being here.

I have also known a couple of people that have killed themselves (friends of friends) and I didn't dismiss them and say 'whateva' I couldn't help but think - I wonder what shit was going on in their heads.

some people simply arent wired right to handle certain things life throws at them.

the one thing that seems to be constand it it is usually a suprise.
Anyone who lets you know they want to do it are usually looking for attention.
If they eventually go through with it it will be to spite the people who didnt think they'd do it.

the people who go through with it - well, you never see it coming.
hard to help people if they hide their problems.

not only that sometimes its a spur of the moment thing ..in a dark mood.


I always said that if i ever got to the point where i wanted to kill myself, i'd kill the person who made me feel that way ...
I'm wired fine, i have no chemical imbalances.
I always thing that no matter how bad it gets, i can ride it out and it'll get better.

there's a lot to see and do out there ... if your situation is bad .. radically change it .. what do you have to lose ? the risk of more suffering ? you'll get hurt ?
well, maybe not .. take the chance .. move to another country - work with people 100X worse off than yourself.

This might help some borderline depressives .. but people with the real deal ... they are sick .. mental illness isnt something you can reason with ..

Re: Suicide
 

I'm gona print loads of these out, and sell them on ebay listed as 'DIY Suicide Manual' .......$35.00 a piece.

It's a little strange for me that this thread has come up at this time. The day before New Year's Eve, I had to take my nephew to the hospital because he was acting very strange, very irrational and delusional. He's been in the psychiatric ward since last Thursday. He's doing much better, but obviously still needs some help with things. He's one of those people that keeps everything bottled up inside and doesn't talk about things that are bothering him, which I've always told him is a bad idea. With therapy and meds he's doing a lot better, I just hope it continues and he doesn't keep things bottled up anymore.

Sounds like me.....well besides the hospital part..

My Wife’s girlfriend was cheating on her husband, (we did not know about it) he found out one night. He started beating on her, drug her into the basement, and choked her to the point she passed out. Their daughter, 14 at the time was on his back hitting and screaming the whole time for him to stop. Once he did he ran upstairs, got a 10-gauge shotgun and barricaded himself in the bathroom threatening to kill himself. His Wife finally regained conciseness and her and the Daughter ran out of the house to a neighbors and called the police.

All the while James had got the phone and called his Mom and Brother telling them what had happened, how he couldn’t live with himself, or knowing about his Wife’s infidelity, or the possibility of his going to jail. The Police surrounded the house and talked to him for hours. They finally decided to break into the house, when they did, he blew his head off with the shotgun.

That has been about 3 ½ years ago, both his kids and his Wife do not seem to even care. Both of the kids are into drugs, Their Daughter is now working at a strip club as a dancer, and their Son dropped out of High School. I know that this more then likely would not have happened if James were still alive, (I’m not saying he could stop everything, but a positive Male presence in the home can help).

I was a not real good friend of James, but he was a tough Son-of-a-Bitch, and this was so far out of what I’d ever expected him to do. His family’s reaction really suprises me too. All of this transpired in a matter of 6-8 hours, and despite quite a few people’s efforts, he still killed himself, I guess my point is that all the warning signs in the world can’t prevent anything sometimes. But that’s just my opinion.

the wife might not care because she was already interested in someone else. plus he got violent with her.

i think its safe to say the kids definately have issues with it.

Through early morning fog I see
visions of the things to be
the pains that are withheld for me
I realize and I can see...

[chorus]:

That suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
and I can take or leave it if I please.

I try to find a way to make
all our little joys relate
without that ever-present hate
but now I know that it's too late, and...

[Chorus]

The game of life is hard to play
I'm gonna lose it anyway
The losing card I'll someday lay
so this is all I have to say.

[Chorus]

The only way to win is cheat
And lay it down before I'm beat
and to another give my seat
for that's the only painless feat.

[Chorus]

MASH
The sword of time will pierce our skins
It doesn't hurt when it begins
But as it works its way on in
The pain grows stronger...watch it grin, but...

[Chorus]

A brave man once requested me
to answer questions that are key
'is it to be or not to be'
and I replied 'oh why ask me?'

'Cause suicide is painless
it brings on many changes
and I can take or leave it if I please.
...and you can do the same thing if you choose.

thank you Louden Wainright the 3rd :)



i know i spelled that horribly.

I used to have gold fish in a tank, when i was a kid. They used to eat the same food all the time.... wonder whether that drove them to near suicide?

that .. and the fact that they eat where they shit.

and piss, but dont they have a 3 second memory... so in effect they'd have new suicide thoughts every 3 seconds.

50 first Dates ? only - with fish !

or Groundhog Day...

or .....


or.......


or that one with ......




i forgot

old age...... you will forget things now, just get used to it :p

hell, if i can get used to wearing Depends, i can get used to anything !

eh? how do you wear 'Depends' ? what are they

Adult diapers

why the hell do you Yanks change the names of things all the time? ...whats wrong with calling the incontinence pants?

gets me.

Too hard to pronounce...doesn't quite roll off the tongue like "shit drawers" or something.

Depends is the brand name.

Wait...wasn't this a suicide topic???

Ok -- if I wasn't before -- now I am totally convinced that we are capable of ruining any topic whatsoever. No matter how serious the content.

*shakes head*

AH WELL!


http://img2.imagevenue.com/loc59/32079_jesus.jpg

exactly

NICE. shit, whether suicideal or not i think any fuckin whiner shuold do that! but the sad thing is, a lot of people will go through things like that and learn absolutely nothing

but i did learn something. for whatever reason, these peopel were hard headed enough to go through with it. theres no way out except the pussy way. better to feel nothing than to feel pain.. like they are the only ones to have ever gone through shit in life. "oh woe is me, no one has ever felt my pain"

ill feel bad, and ill wonder for ac ouple minutes. but then thats it. we'll get no answers, theyre dead. i stop givin a shit about them and only worry about those closest to them

the first guy, was going to UCSD (TOP public school in the natoin), just bought a new car (celica). broke up with his gf. 2 weeks later, calls her in the morning. she doesnt pick up, so he leaves some sappy ass message 'ill miss u so much. i stil love you'. leaves a note of some sort near the telephone to his family. several hours later his car is found smashed into a wall, no brake marks.. so he did on purpose

2nd guy. broke up with HIS gf. also going to school, has a car, family..... mother walks into his room on mothers day to say hello, hes hanged himself

how fuckin pathetic are they? ive yet to hear of a truly SAD SAD story, most the times its some bullshit that people kill themselves over.

but ya. doesnt seem as though either of these people were thinkin? what if his car exploded or some jukn killed somebody else? what a great thing for mother to remember every mothers day (be it hallmark holiday or not). thats the very first thing i think of if im feelin like that, cuz my mom is fuckin weird like me (but more foreign) and i could imagine that look on her face. i could NEVER do that to them. shit, i coudlnt even do that to my dogs.

SO. like i said, ill feel for the family, definitely. but those 2 can burn in hell for all i care...

Re: Suicide
 

My opinion was this post was so long I forgot what I read 33 paragraphs ago. This could qualify as a short story!!!

LMAO :D

I think about suicide alot...but I don't think I could actually do it. :o

when you're 90 and dying of incurable cancer .. then think about it ...

when you are a kid with a lifetime of experiences and chances to change the situation you are in now ahead of you.. thinking about it is a waste of energy.

try thinking about what it would take for you not to bother thinking about it anymore.

Yeah that is true, but sometimes stuff happens and you do start thinking about it.

You have probably heard this before, but things do get better the older you get. You know yourself better, you know the kind of people you want to have for friends and only give your time to those good people, you discover a bigger world other than high school etc.

Oh, I have heard it before...I'm just impatiently waiting to see some damn results!

:D

I felt alot like doing this when i was younger. infact i tryed but as usall I couldn't even do that right!! now i still get badly depressed but killing myself is no longer an option. just wishing the shit would stop!! You feel like just one more thing is gonna shove you over the edge. I am having a hard time right now. I cryed most of the night. I want things to be better but it all seems to big.

When you look at whats going on in the world now [ tsunami's, Iraq ] our little problems seem trivial. Sometimes you have to stand back and look at the BIG picture. Thing always seem to work themselves out.

The thought of suicide has never crossed my mind. Life is to precious and to short as it is.

I feel like i am two people half of me wants my life to stop and the other half would shit if it did!! So you see I AM TRAPPED!! No way out!!

i always figured no matter how much shit got thown at me i could handle it .. either weather it or bide my time until i could change it.
So far i was right ..

i went through a shitty loveless childhood,
being so broke i lived off of change i found (on peoples desks) on the nightshift of my shitty job - for 2 years ..
I weathered bosses that gave me ulcers, bad relationships i stck with, and a failed marriage that was called off while we were adopting a child from China.

i'm not going to mention the trivial things like a car being totalled 3 days after replacing a blown engine, failed furnaces or any other major financial setbacks that seem like they are going to kill you at the time
Shit happens as long as you are alive ... sometimes the balance is on the bad side .. the trick is to stay alive long enough to see the balance swing your way.
sometimes it just happens, sometimes the responsibility is on you to be strong enough to do something about it.

that being said ... if the problem is chemical/hormonal, etc ... its pretty hard for the rest of us to identify with it ...nothing i said above will apply.
Medication is probably the only answer.

I agree 100%.


Medication....and coming on this forum to vent , laugh, or just bullshit with people with common interest.






and beer