Why do people commit suicide?

[Ted Striker]

[Q Classic]

i've suffered through depression, and i'm just now coming out of one.

the first one... saa, i don't know what i was thinking at the time when i tried it. i was hurt, i was angry at myself, i couldn't see farther than the evening, i didn't want to think, or feel, or see, or believe in anything because i couldn't see a point to it.

life was hell. death would have been hell too, but i didn't care. easier to have someone hate you than you hate yourself.

of course, when it failed, i learned that claritin-d does not get fatal in the quantities i ingested. it does make you feel quite ****ty.

afterwards, i remember storing all of my prescriptions (none for the depression--i never got medication for that) in a bottle i called the "final solution"... i remember having claritin d, zyrtec, hydrocodone, atenolol (taken from my brother's prescription), and a few others... and it would have been used for a second attempt. when i got better, i kept it around as a reminder, and it wasn't until i left for college that i dumped everything. it scared the **** out of me.

in my most recent bout, i never seriously considered it, but those thoughts came there. sometimes, it was the same morbid what's the point i don't want to do anything anymore there's no energy to live type thing; the other times it was a morbid middle finger to the world, jumping out of the regenstein or off bartlett or reynolds; i didn't care if anybody else got hurt, so long as i told the world to go on and **** itself, because i was tired of being the *****.
the good thing is, those thoughts never were too serious, nor did they last longer than five minutes.
i still stayed away from staircases that led to open spaces; and stayed close to the wall when climbing the stairs up to my room, because looking down looked so far down, and so appealing, and all it would take is one instant, even if i didn't really want to do it.

[Faboba]

It depends what kind of suicide we're talking about. I plan to commit suicide at the end of a long, full life - Hemmingway style. Altzheimers runs rampant in my family and to be honest I'd rather top myself at 67 when I'm still me than live to be 83 but dribbling and occasionally thinking I'm four years old again. I might not get around to it, I might lose my nerve, I might get run over tomorrow, but as it stands now when I start to have major health problems, rapidly decreasing mental faculties and am becoming a major burden on whatever progeny I spawn ( if any ) I hope I'll have the good grace to do myself in so I can die with a little dignity.

[Faboba]

Originally posted by Elok
Umm, has anybody who responded to this thread had real, unmedicated depression?

I suffered a few serious bouts a couple of years ago but as they were all directly or indirectly linked to a girl I'm assuming it was most likely psychological rather than pathological. We don't tend to go in for psychiatric treatment in this country so naturally it was unmedicated.

Come to think of it the only people I know personally from Scotland who have seen psychiatrists ( or their lesser qualified cousin psychologists ) are those who were referred through the school due to 'behavioural problems'.

[Q Classic]

btw, adg, the reasons why people fall into depression are many. some are stupid and situational, like a breakup. others are more serious, like the loss of family. suicidal thoughts often arise because one's tired--of everything.

in my case, it's chemical. compounded with self-loathing (i have a good life. why the **** should i feel so bad? i have plenty of food, i'm in a good place, and i've got family and friends. there's no ****ing reason that i should feel so ****ing ungrateful when there are kids in the third world who don't have jack ****!), an internalized notion that it's all a matter of will, an injunction against revealing such details to even close family and friends... you can think how one quickly loses the will and energy to fight this beast.

not everyone has those conditions; some have other ones, some have fewer, some have more. in many cases, self-destruction is out of rage, either directed at one self or directed at the world and its circumstances, or exhaustion.

those suicide/homicide bombers probably can see no future for themselves; yes, they probably believe all of that bull**** that they're fed to train them, but deep down they probably have such rage at their circumstances and the world, and they're too exhausted to fight any other way. they want to die not to make a point, not to kill as many as they can, but they die because they want to go out in an attention-grabbing way as possible while giving the world and their perceived enemies the finger.

[Dis]

what I'm trying to figure out is if this is a modern thing.

It seems to me the more advanced our society gets, the higher our quality of life, the more depressed many people get. I don't understand why that is.

did do many people committ suicide in the 19th or 18th centuries?

[red_jon]

Originally posted by Dissident
what I'm trying to figure out is if this is a modern thing.

It seems to me the more advanced our society gets, the higher our quality of life, the more depressed many people get. I don't understand why that is.

did do many people committ suicide in the 19th or 18th centuries?

I thought about it too. Maybe less people killed themselves because of a fear of going to hell, or maybe it brought shame to their family so it was covered up, the death being made to look natural, or accidental.

[Az]

Personally, I think people had to work much harder to survive, so they didn't have time to whine. You can clearly see that all the suiciders in the times of old are "noble" to some extent. Romeo and Julia is the first example that jumps to my mind. I can name a couple of jewish middle-ages poets from Spain, but you really don't want to know about them.

[Q Classic]

i agree with azazel. these days, we have far more time for idle hands.

with idle hands comes the devil's work...

[CorpusScorpius]

Re: Re: Why do people commit suicide?

Originally posted by Kidicious


Because in almost every case the person is not thinking clearly. Usually they are suffering from mental illness. People don't always make the right choices for themselves. Some times they need help.

There are cultural differences.........Japanese ritual suicide for one.

[Q Classic]

There are cultural differences.........Japanese ritual suicide for one.

true, although seppuku/hara kiri has fallen out of favor recently.
that was mostly a function of the notion that the individual matter little compared to the lineage and the ancestry. to bring shame to it...

while that train of thought was common in east asia, it seems as if only the japanese took it that far. the other two thought it enough to disown the person and let him/her die unwanted in the streets.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Dissident
did do many people committ suicide in the 19th or 18th centuries?

Yes.

[st_swithin]

Depression sucks A55!! Chemical dependency to feel indifferent is WORSE! The drugs can help you 'stabilise' somewhat, but I don't like being chemically indifferent when I could be naturally indifferent (or pissed off at everything - it's pretty much the same for me).

Sorry about your Dad. But to tell people not to smoke because it makes some people sick isn't necessarily a solution to the sickness. I have sworn NEVER to quit smoking based on anyone else's say-so, simply because I enjoy so few things in this mixed-up, bizarre world of ours, that if a piece of Mir or Columbia falls out of the sky and lands on me when I'm lighting up, I shall die happy because I was doing something I enjoy. And generally, that's not something I can say for every minute of my life.

I used to pray for a massive myocardial infarction whenever I'd been at work for more than 24 hrs. Now I pray that I'm NEVER at work for more than 24 hrs. unless I really, really want to be there.

Even if the doctors tell you you're not crazy anymore, they only tell you that as long as you keep smiling and agreeing with everything they tell you. So smile and nod like a good little monkey, and then when you get out you can live your life the way YOU think it ought to be lived.

If you fvck up a suicide attempt, be prepared for your own mom to come in and say 'You couldn't even kill yourself properly?' Talk about needing therapy! Oh well, at least I don't have to talk to any more doctors or take any more steenkeeng drogs.

[Elok]

Ugh. What are you, a scientologist?
There is not sufficient time in my life for me to correct you as you need to be corrected. Your utter error is astonishing in its depth and complexity, like a 300-lb. tumor. I'm just gonna say that, if the "drugs" are doing their job, you will not feel indifferent, you will merely regain the ability to be happy and control your own emotions.
And cigarettes ruin your health to no intrinsic benefit. You might enjoy throwing rocks at hornets' nests too but it's still stupid. And tobacco IS a "steenkeeng drog." Get real, man.

[Atahualpa]

Suicide well hmm.

There was an experiment with rats sometime when they wanted to see how long they could swim. Now they put them into the water and they swam for 3 minutes then drowned.
Another time they swam for almost 2 hours (or such) and then died.
Because the last time they were illusioned a chance for survival.