Public Opinon on Suicide

[evilfarmer]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/t...ie-youre-free/

This artificial just set me off. Anyone that knows me knows that I try to keep a tight reign on my temper and usually only lose it around my husband.

The Academy of Motion Pictures shared one of the best tweets I have seen in response to Robin Williams death. The Washington post decided that it was going to cause more suicides because it glorified his death. What the ever loving deity of your choice.

They go on to cite a study from the 1990's about a supposed drop in suicide rates after the media was stopped from over exposing their audience to the information. A) that will never work in the US because we have a little thing called freedom of the press, B) The study was a bunch of junk because they were looking at correlation not causation. I could do the same study and point to the ban on eating bananas to prove that it drops suicides.

Suicide sucks period but it isn't the disease. The disease is mental health and our treatment of it is horrid. I am bipolar and have social and general anxiety, I don't share this almost at all because you are either seen as attention seeking or a hypochondriac by the majority of the public. I have been suicidal and it wasn't due to hopelessness, it for me was due to not giving a shit. Not giving a shit and not feeling anything one day made me ponder I wonder what would happen. Luckily I was talking to a friend who lived above me when I opened my pocket knife so nothing happened.

This disease is not contagious like a cold, its not a matter of finding a deity that provides a since of hope to most people, its not a matter of being surrounded by happy people. Its a deeply personal and insidious turn of a persons mind against themselves that can be so slow growing you don't recognize it till you are so deeply down you are screwed in finding your way back out.

Ugg this makes me mad when people pull crap like this...

[telecom_goddess]

we do treat mental illness very badly in this country. I know countless people who have many many mental problems of one sort or another (usually a combo of them) and they can't get adequate help anywhere. It's nearly impossible to see an actual psychiatrist.

[bex1218]

I have struggled with the thought of suicide before. It is not an easy thing to get out of. Someone like Robin Williams have suffered for a long time it seems. No amount of help probably could have saved him at this point. And calling him a selfish coward is demeaning. I always say its a vicious circle. Its selfish for him to take his own life? Its also selfish of people who want him to stay around just so they don't hurt over his death.


Also the phrase "A permanent solution to a temporary problem" is also demeaning. Depression, bipolar, mania, etc are not temporary problems. Can it be helped? Sure, depending on if the person wants help, if they can afford help, and if it can be helped. But it is not curable at this point. Will it ever be? I don't know.

[crashhelmet]

The suicides of famous people are always an uncomfortable time. this article is correct in mentioning the risks of unintentionally glorifying it and promoting suicide contagion, aka copycat suicides.

When Marilyn Monroe died from a believed suicide (has it ever really been proven if it was actual suicide?), there were over 200 suicides reported the following month, an increase of about 10-15% over the norm.

However, to flag this tweet and say it's going to be the cause of Suicide Contagion and create Suicide Clusters is absolute bullshit. There may very well be an increase in suicides because of his death, but it won't be because of this tweet.

When Kurt Cobain was murdered by Courtney committed suicide, the media was smart enough to promote the use of hotlines, counselors, and others to help those in need. While there was no dramatic increase in actual suicides, there was a dramatic increase in calls to suicide hotlines following his death. That's what they need to do here and suppress the Werther Effect.

[Sleepwalker]

Suicide is an act, not a disease in and of itself. People commit suicide for many reasons, and many suicides are impulsive in nature. Just like bridge fences can reduce suicides, so can being careful around triggering news stories.

[Greenday]

One thing I've found interesting on Facebook is a lot of people talking about how they hate hearing people say that suicide is for cowards and such. I have yet to see one person actually say that about Robin Williams.

Health care for mental issues is absolutely pathetic in America. And there's plenty of reasons to fear getting it. There's still plenty of people who look down on you for seeing a therapist. God forbid you need medicine for help. You need meds to function? Pathetic! Hell, part of getting a security clearance involves revealing whether or not you are seeing a therapist or psychologist. And who they are, so they can talk to them to make sure you aren't a threat to national security. Even if you are going to therapy for stuff non-work related and it can't be used against you, it's still a negative for clearance. I fear getting help because I feel like it could hurt my clearance. I already have a strike against me for dating a foreign national.

[AccountingDrone]

I am not mentally ill, but I do plan on offing myself if certain conditions are fulfilled - Parkinsons runs rampant in my father's side of the tree, and my mom has Alzheimers, and I am suffering physical breakdowns. I am *not* going to be an out of my mind, shaking vegetative lump whimpering from pain in some 'rest' home bed warehoused. I am NOT going to put Rob through that if he does not predecease me.

[bex1218]

One thing I've found interesting on Facebook is a lot of people talking about how they hate hearing people say that suicide is for cowards and such. I have yet to see one person actually say that about Robin Williams.

Read the comment sections of news reports from that day on FB. Plenty of people have said it (of course you have to sift through thousands of comments to find em). Also, our lovely Shep Smith from Faux News called him one, too.

[patiokitty]

I had somebody call me a coward when I told them I had attempted suicide. I slapped them in the face for being an insensitive asshole. I told them that until they knew what it was like in my head they could just fuck off with their opinion. End of friendship.

[Rageaholic]

Read the comment sections of news reports from that day on FB. Plenty of people have said it (of course you have to sift through thousands of comments to find em). Also, our lovely Shep Smith from Faux News called him one, too.

Shep Smith? And here was me thinking he was one of the saner ones on Faux News.

[bex1218]

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/shepard-s...coward-remark/


Saner, but still up there .

[HYHYBT]

Supposing suicide contagion is a real thing, the idea makes me think of "Cash for Clunkers." How much is a real increase, that is, people who would not have killed themselves at all otherwise, and how much is people going ahead with it then who would have done it in a few weeks or months anyway?

[crashhelmet]

In my opinion, it's difficult to really figure out that number. They don't factor in unsuccessful attempts in their studies, and they never claim that every single suicide was a direct result of the initial suicide. So how much is accurate, i don't think anyone really knows.

It's believed that 90% of all suicide victims suffered from depression and/or other psychological issues and thus these suicides were most likely people that were already considering it, if not previously attempted it.

As for how the contagion works, it's believed to be a result of the person not thinking that they can go on without the person they lost, like a loved one or a relative. In the case of celebrities, and sometimes classmates/friends, it's typically the idea that "They had everything and couldn't escape it. How will I ever do it?" or something along those lines. Others are just so infatuated with the person that they feel the need to emulate them, even in death.

[Seshat]

I've been suffering suicidal ideation since my mid-teens - so about thirty years. Without Toth, and later, Bast to support me, I probably wouldn't be here: I met Toth when I was 17.

One can survive suicidal depression for a long, long time - but I would not term it 'living'. Survival, yes. Existance, yes. You need something - or someone - to live for. Lose that - and yes, death in such a circumstance can be contagious.

Should I lost both Toth and Bast, expect me to follow.

[Eisa]

I've been struggling with suicidal ideation since I was 9.

If something happened to my wife, yeah...I would follow shortly after.