Suicide: your thoughts?

i worked with the seriously mentally ill for 20 years,
no stranger human suffering-
when i got 50 i got hit with shingles for more than a year.
then a prostate problem , hernia, post herpetic nerve damage, fibromyalgia, arthritis.
cant work- sold everything- waiting more than 2 years to get an answer out of ssd.
I'm in moderate to severe pain going on year 4 ,now managed with some meds.
but what i was is long gone..i've been suicidal,certainly depressed..it's definitely an option in my mind. i got better things to do. places to go. more adventure awaits.
friends waitin on me, an end to the pain..sounds good to me..
Hunter S Thompson Plan.
live young- die fast.

reply to post by HomerinNC


I agree with you. I think there's a lot of negative connotations around choosing to end one's life and it's really sad. If I get sick and cannot function, I want the choice to end my suffering. It's MY life. I should be allowed to make the decision whether it continues or not.

Even people who aren't sick. If you don't want to live this life, I think there should be a legal means to end it.

reply to post by Libertygal

in most instances i know of, a person thought to be gravely disabled due to mental illness is is not easy to have committed against their will.. even with blood and police involvement, you'll be lucky to get someone held for 72 observation. i've had to be
involved in several instances of court proceedings where a judge takes in the reports
and witnesses and makes a decision. you may be court ordered to take meds or be
packed off to a hospital for 30-60-90 days. been there done that. wow- you better
believe these folks needed to be locked up! 4 years i worked on the locked wards.
thats all i was good for..one broken bone in my back still bothers me. but trust me-
sometimes you have to get a grip on people..disarm them..not get bit.. duck a chair.
or make sure they dont open up veins requiring 65 staples again. believe me-
if you were hospitalized and anywhere near coherent/not thought to be an imminent threat to yourself or others then you'd be shuffled out asap- to make room for a
real nut..usually in the outpatient programs i worked in there were a few folks that
drifted in and out. touch and go in crazyland.. one summer in phoenix we lost
two dozen to heat/drugs/mishap.
some very unique and special folks.
that go to an especially crazy heaven.
it to all of arizonas shame that so many go to arpaios jails.
that so many dont have the sanctuary of a humane reasonable system.
the systems as psycho as anybody as far as i could see.
experimental drug dispensers..that do work sometimes..
kinda spin the medicine wheel doc..
maybe you'll get lucky.
me- i like neurontin and cymbalta, dash of tramadol..
comfortably numb.

I have a few thoughts on the matter.
I do think every situation is different for sure.
But it's a cop out every time.

An old friend of mine whom was a drunken bi-polar male, recently cut himself in half by laying down in front of a moving train. I stopped keeping in touch years ago cause his life was just a party and I am raising a family. His mother said the train engineer saw him 500+ yards away, and was trying to stop. The engineer told her he was sitting up looking right at him, and just laid down over one track.

I'm sorry he is gone, but I have no respect for what he did to the engineer or his family.
I can pretty well say that was one of the least manly, most chicken skat piece of human behavior ever.

Another stupid, selfish, human act that makes me embarrassed to be one.
I know mental stability is the problem with the human mind, but damn...way to wuss out!

suicide is not the answer. people get depressed for a lot of reasons, many but not all are trivial. the media bombards our brains with all kinds of advertisements, they make you feel worthless if you don't look like a model or drive a nice enough car. our whole country is caught up with superficial and material things that don't matter. advertising tells you that when you acquire these things you will be happy and you will be complete and you will somehow be more special and clever than everyone else. if you just get this product or buy this car or wear this brand or take this drug all of your problems will be solved and life will be full of cute fuzzy animals and sunshine. well brothers and sisters this is not the case at all. we are so caught up on the material side of things that we ignore the spiritual side. not spiritual as in religion, but we just ignore the magic of life and of our world, we fail to realize how exceptionally lucky we are to be part of something so amazing and beautiful. you should be thankful for every breath you get to take on this earth, because there are millions who won't see tomorrow. instead we waste all of our time whining and crying about petty things that really shouldn't even matter. it has been said that to truly be free you first have to give up everything and hit bottom. this is true freedom. it is upsetting at first but when you give up your ego and your possessions and just go with the flow of life your priorities change. it just seems dumb to be in a p!ssing contest with your neighbor over who has a nicer lawn or who drives a better car or who has a bigger plasma screen when you think about the fact that in a few short years you are going to be a corpse rotting in the ground. if you knew you were going to die tomorrow how would you feel about your life? would you want to be remembered for your car, your house, or your possessions? or would you want to be remembered for who you were, for your actions, and for the children you left behind when you passed? you could die tomorrow, would you want to die knowing you spent your whole life obsessing over material things and constantly being upset and gloomy and depressed? basically just wasting your life away and making it difficult on yourself? wouldn't you rather die satisfied that you did all of the things you wanted to do in life? that you had fun and enjoyed this precious gift? or would you squander it and waste it and not appreciate it at all? you got to think is life really that bad? sure you might not be able to drive a mercedes and hook up with models but consider this.. have you ever went more than a week without a meal in your life? half of the world could answer yes to that question, could you? some people have lost a limb, had to start using a wheelchair, some have children with autism or mental retardation, some have seen their families raped and killed, lost their children when a cluster bomb exploded their home, some have starved to death or dehydrated, some are infected with hiv or they have cancer, the list continues.. so think to yourself do i really have it so bad? if the answer is no then maybe you should stop acting like a baby stop crying and actually enjoy your life while you still can. if you hate your life then devote all the time you spend feeling sorry for yourself to changing your situation. no one is going to change your life for you.

reply to post by SLaPPiE


That's why it's such a shame that people don't have a choice to do it in peace. They resort to these terrible means that involve other people. If we could just sit down with our families and inform them that we're ready to die and get medical help in doing it, then all this other involvement wouldn't happen. Yes, his family would hurt, but at least they'd know ahead of time and wouldn't have to pick his body up from the RR track or find their dad with his head blown open. That's really sad...

Religious ideas aside, two words come to mind selfish and cowardly.

Dying is easy, living is hard.

That said, I can understand that sometimes living just gets too hard for folks. When you factor in depression and bad circumstances, whether they are in or outside of your control, I can see how this would look like a good out.

I have a different view on this subject.. Lets just say I regret every second on being where I am. I don't like this planet or alot of the people on it.. There was a post a while ago around 1 of the times i really wanted to suicide But when i posted this post I didn't know someone here did it.. Anyway I think it is the right of the person who wants to suicide to suicide..

My problem is why I wont do it is I like to learn to much to do something.. I have a fairly good idea what happens if one suicides because of reading many NDE's so I don't want to deal with the things that happen after words..

I will suffer my life until I cant take it again and contemplate on suicide again.. It its the great thing about free will. You get to choose when its time to end your own life..

It don't matter though, people whine and bitch about it now but in a yr people say Thichheaded who.. So its a fix for the person who is doing it and a temp problem for the people around them.. So they can deal with a lil pain and grieving for a few weeks.. In the end I get what I really wanted and I get to fix what I screwed up on before.. The great joys of reincarnation or as I like to call it the reset button..

Anyway.. Maybe people shouldn't judge the person committing suicide until they way in their shoes for a while.. There is alot Suicides do not tell you and there is alot nobody knows except them.. So stop judging people who what they did that was bad and concentrate on what they did that was good.

Sorry if this is all jumbled but meh.. whatever..

reply to post by 2weird2live2rare2die

i hope you can hold on to that attitude
but- like i said- i got better things to do
than be running a guantlet of pain
day after day, year after year.
aint no fix to it .fubar sarge.
i'm just sticking around out of curiosity.
*SNIP*


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[edit on Mon Sep 6 2010 by DontTreadOnMe]

Originally posted by p51mustang
reply to post by 2weird2live2rare2die

 

i hope you can hold on to that attitude
but- like i said- i got better things to do
than be running a guantlet of pain
day after day, year after year.
aint no fix to it .fubar sarge.
i'm just sticking around out of curiosity.
figurin out who i may want to take with me
as i clean my gun.

And here is the perfect example of a danger to self, and a danger to others.

I too have shingles. On the side of my head. When i get a breakout, the pain causes massive headaches, ear pain, and skin sensitivity, the herpetic pain.

I was also in a major car accident in 1993, and my entire spine is a mess. I have had 3 major spine surgeries in all the areas of my spine. A cervical fusion, a thoracic 2 level fusion, and lumbar decompression laminectomy. I am facing an extreme lateral interbody lumbar fusion from L1-S1 in the not too distant future.

The accident was not my fault, someone else did this to me out of ignorance and negligence. I faced a life altering change in lifestyle, and short bouts of depression because my life as I knew it was ripped away from me. I was forced to forge a new frontier in my life. I faced this challenge with the best courage that I could muster, because I refused to give my life to this person, which is what I would have been doing.

I was angry for many years at her for what she did. She took things from me which can never be repaid, like the ability to play with my children, I can no longer care for my home the way I wanted, or tend to my gardens. These were things I loved and cherished.

I have been legally, fully disabled for 6 years. I still have a full time job with benefits and a 401b. I still have health insurance, and find satisfaction in earning and paying my own way.

Instead of looking forward to a career in Championship Bowling that I was working towards, and being a Youth League Bowling Coach, I changed my pathway and am doing things I always wanted to do.

I craft jewelry, I paint in watercolors, latex, and oil. I do all types of arts and crafts. Not only because of the enjoyment, but because it is all I can do - because I can barely walk.

Recently, I was diagnosed with a genetic disease called Ankylosing Spondylosis, which is a form of genetic arthritis that literally fuses the entire spine. I have severe pain in both sacroilliac joints, both legs, and my spine is fusing itself as we speak. It has already fused from C7-T10. Soon, I will have a brittle easily fractured spine called a Bamboo Spine.

I have been going to a Pain Management Center for 2 years, and when the pain gets worse, I get treatment. I am on enough medication to cope with the pain so I can continue to work, but a lot of serious pain medications, to be sure. I certainly wish it to be different, but this is the life I was dealt.

The point being, no matter how hard your life is, chances are, it could be worse. I could choose to wallow in self pity, or choose to do the best with what I have and what I can do.

Right now, I am in constant pain and have been for years, but I still try to glean the best from every day, one minute, one hour, one day at a time. Some minutes are better than others, and some are worse, but I still find joy in every day, because the little gifts of watching a kitten play, a baby smile, or see a freind get happily married are worth it to me.

Changing perspective is a hard thing to do, but I can testify that I think for the most part, it is the right thing to do - or to at least work towards. Giving up is never going to be an option for me. I will continue to work even if I have to go in a wheelchair, if and until I can no longer make that wheelchair work, I will get one with power.

There is joy in life, no matter the circumstances, and it is up to each of us to go and find it.


Edit because I speel gud.

[edit on 6-9-2010 by Libertygal]

Originally posted by Libertygal
And here is the perfect example of a danger to self, and a danger to others.

Most people who wish to commit suicide don't want to "take someone with them", they simply want out. And by the same token, it doesn't take a suicide desire to take someone else out. People kill each other every day without killing themselves.

There is joy in life, no matter the circumstances, and it is up to each of us to go and find it.

It's good that you can see life this way with all your issues, but it's a choice each person should make for themselves. I realize that even though I see and appreciate the joy in life, regardless of my circumstances, not everyone does. And it's reeally none of my business if they do or not.

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic

Most people who wish to commit suicide don't want to "take someone with them", they simply want out. And by the same token, it doesn't take a suicide desire to take someone else out. People kill each other every day without killing themselves.

The key word in your reply being "most". There are almost daily stories about Murder-suicides in the media, and even one is too many, so your reply doesn't really make any sense.

privateofficernews.wordpress.com...

Long Island NY July 23 2010 A fire-obsessed 14-year-old Staten Island boy is suspected of the unthinkable – setting his home ablaze as he murdered his family and then slitting his own throat with a straight razor.

Investigators believe C.J. Jones cut the throats of at least two of his younger siblings on Thursday, then ended his own life as the tidy apartment went up in flames.

Point being, it is illegal in many states, if not all, to attempt to commit suicide, or to commit suicide. One of the reason I cited was "being a danger to self or a danger to others'. I stand by that, regardless of if it is most suiciders or not.


Link\

All states allow the commitment of individuals who present a danger to others given the Supreme Court statements in Donaldson and Addington, dangerousness has firm support as commitment criterion.
Psychological evaluations for the courts: a handbook for mental health

definitions.uslegal.com...

A person may be dangerous to self and others when he or she have recently threatened or attempted suicide or some serious bodily injury. He or she may have demonstrated danger of substantial and imminent harm to himself and/ or others through some recent act, attempt or threat of the same.

www.cdc.gov...

During 1950-1993, the overall annual death rate for U.S. children aged less than 15 years declined substantially (1), primarily reflecting decreases in deaths associated with unintentional injuries, pneumonia, influenza, cancer, and congenital anomalies. However, during the same period, childhood homicide rates tripled, and suicide rates quadrupled (2).

en.wikipedia.org...

Though there's no national tracking system for murder–suicides in the United States, medical studies into the phenomenon estimate between 1,000 to 1,500 deaths per year in the US [3], with the majority occurring between spouses or intimate partners, males were the vast majority of the perpetrators, and over 90% of murder suicides involved a firearm. Depression, financial problems, and other problems are generally motivators.

The last and most striking link I will share is quite revealing:

www.bloomberg.com...

Murder, Suicide Rates Climb When Jobs Vanish and Economy Slows

So while it may not be "illegal" in the strictest sense of the word, it is certainly a basis for involuntary commitment for psychological evaluation.

The worst thing of all would be to ignore the above obvious cry for help.

And it's reeally none of my business if they do or not.

I have to politely disagree with that, because the person that lends thought to suicide is most likely not thinking right, hence the laws on involuntary committment. Especially when they ponder who take take out with them when they go. You may not wish to make it your business, that's all fine and good, but it should be anyones' business to try to save a life of someone who may have mental problems that they cannot solve on their own. Did I say, especially when it involves pondering who they will take with them when they go?

Edit to add a part I left out.


[edit on 6-9-2010 by Libertygal]

Originally posted by Libertygal
privateofficernews.wordpress.com...

Long Island NY July 23 2010 A fire-obsessed 14-year-old Staten Island boy is suspected of the unthinkable – setting his home ablaze as he murdered his family and then slitting his own throat with a straight razor.

That's about a lot more than wanting to commit suicide, though. An arsonist and murderer who kills himself does so he won't have to face the consequences of his actions isn't a suicide. It's an arson/murder/suicide.

When I'm talking about suicide, I'm talking about people who don't want to live any more, and wish to remove themselves (ONLY) from this life, not psychotic people who go on a killing spree and then take themselves out in a blaze of glory, so they won't have to face the consequences of their actions.

I'm not condoning killing other people. I'm condoning suicide. Suicide doesn't involve murder. Just because some people kill others and then themselves doesn't mean that suicides are murderers. You're trying to mesh the two together.

The thread isn't about Murder/Suicides. It's about suicides.

[edit on 9/6/2010 by Benevolent Heretic]

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


No, I simply responded to someone stating "has anyone ever gone to jail for committing suicide?"

I was pointing out that while suicide is illegal in most states, that people do not go to jail, they get committed. I am not meshing the two together, but they are two branches of the same topic, indeed.

Many people that contemplate suicide do not think of the repercussions of their actions, and can lead to involving others. I stated this is one of the reasons suicide is illegal. I showed an example with the article of the boy that killed his family and then himself. You are making suppositions about why he killed his family and himself. Fact is, no one knows if it was because he would have to face the consequences, but one thing I can say with full certainty is, he was mentally ill to have done what he did.

See how that works? Mentally ill, murder-suicide? Danger to self, danger to others?

In all honesty, suicide centers where people can go and die is wrong in and of itself, because people that are contemplating suicide are usually not thinking right, are not in their right mind, hence the laws making suicide an involuntary committment in every state because of danger to self and danger to others.

At the current time, there are no provisions for this in the US, except some limited ones for terminally ill patients.

For the mentally depressed the only right answer is to get them help. If and until those laws change, then it is everyones' responsibility to address the issue of contemplation of suicide seriously, as no one on a message board is able to judge what some may mean in some postings, and it would be better to err on the side of life rather than death.

Perhaps start a thread about changing the current legilations?

reply to post by Libertygal


An intresting point, but most that reach the point were they are actually going to kill themselves/suicide, want to do it quickly and painless, if they are in such a state of mind....no one is going to change there mind, least of all some strangers who get paid to deal with them...So if they keep at it and persist, all the while it's against the law to suicide, then not only are they in a world of pain, but they are locked up, and druged up, all of which is bound to make it worse....sooner or later they will snap....and instead of just killing themselves in a painless way they will want to take with them some of those who forced them and made it worse. It's like cageing a dangerous wild animal, then expecting them to live normally...nope chances are it will become more wild and dangerous, and as soon as they get the chance they would want to repay the ones who caged them, in kind...or if they cant then the next closest thing. You said it yourself "it could always be worse" maybe for them it is worser, maybe they have nothing to fall back on, such as a family or friend, or any numer of things. All in all since everybodys different, it makes sense that all who want to suicide are not all going to be the same.

quality of life...Quality of LIFE.

You ask whether it should be allowed? I laugh ... but not really. This is a joke millions upon millions of people contemplate suicide each day. Its always a damn trigger.


Idk. I really don't. Sometimes you think money...Thats the ticket money will make me happier...but its not true. Its the people who around you who placate you. I mean you would be totally fine, you know just doing your thing, but people say "things" that get you thinking. And when you start thinking you realize this is EXACTLY how I felt last year and the year before.
It never gets any better. Suicide is allowed but very few people do it because they think "well maybe next year". The thoughts are what screws people over. I mean even if you didn't believe in heaven or hell you are still waiting for whats around the corner. Still after years of semi happiness and utter disappointment you still do not have the cahones(I think thats how its spelled) to do the damn job.
Nothing changes the psychology of life. Nothing does. I swear.

its a selfish action for a weak person.
weak spiritually, mentrally, and physicly.
would never consider, ill fight to the bitter end.
and if anyone i knew did this, thats the last time i would think of the person after i say my goodbys, they would not be worth wasting another minute of my time on.

Theres close to 6 billion people.

If you don't want to be part of the party, leave.

Your choice. But in the end, no difference in the world.