Florestan Bronstein
United Highsec Front
The 99 Percent
484
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Posted - 2012.03.28 06:28:00 -
[3] - Quote
Soldarius wrote:I have yet to give my opinion on the actual events. However, to all those who say that that suicidal people don't speak out and just stay quiet, I'll just leave this here.
there's a difference between people who seriously want to kill themselves, people who want to be rescued and might end up killing themselves if that doesn't happen/they are not taken seriously and people who want to use their suicide to get back at their enemies.
I have suffered from depressive episodes for a long time and had my share of fun contemplating suicide.
It is very easy to kill yourself without anybody being able to stop you - if you actually want to. Most suicidals tend to mitigate that problem by imposing a host of additional restrictions - it has to be at a certain place, it has to be a certain (usually low success rate) method, it has to be "clean", it has to be this, it has to be that and most importantly the world that caused you all this misery has to know about it.
In short, they try everything to make sure their attempt won't be a successful one while still being a credible/legit suicide attempt. They crave the "theatrical scene" more than unspectacular death itself.
Some information on (teen) suicides to illustrate my point:
Three times more women attempt suicide than men, yet four times more men die by suicide than women.
"There are an estimated 8-25 attempted suicides for each teen suicide death; the ratio is higher in women and youth and lower in men and the elderly."
That's an abysmal success rate and my intuition is that many of the successful suicides are accidents (where the method proved to be more effective than expected or help didn't arrive in time) rather than fully intentional.
I was cured from any suicidal ambitions (but of course not from depression) when I had to stand watch for a few hours in the middle of the night with a live firearm. It was the kairos to commit suicide so to speak - none of my comrades were acutely aware of my problems, nobody could have arrived in time to stop me, headshots are very reliably lethal if done right (not the temple), no drama, no last words, no farewell letters, ... - it was the perfect moment and I did let it pass.
After that there was no point in romanticizing suicide - if I'm not willing to do it the most straightforward and reliable way, then I have to face the fact that maybe - deep down - I just don't want to die. If I had been fool enough to contemplate "soft" methods (pills, cutting your wrists, ...) I might have ended up killing myself by accident.
So yes, in an empirical sense you are probably right - people who try to kill themselves often send out signs before doing so and some of those who try will succeed.
If somebody tells you about being suicidal he either wants your help (good) or wants to make you feel bad about his death later on (bad). In any case you should probably take action to help the suicidal contribute his part to that horribly bad success rate and/or so you don#t feel bad about yourself if he/she happens to succeed.
But in spirit I have to side with the post you replied to - a person that just wants to be dead and nothing more has many ways to do so at his disposal and none of them entails alerting other people to his situation. |