This is a subject I'd never really thought about until 10 years ago when a friend of my son's committed suicide at age 20.
Since then, one of my dearest friends killed herself at age 40, another person very close to our family made a serious attempt and was only saved by ambulance personnel, and then just a couple of weeks ago, a young man (20) that my wife works with killed himself.
Around 800,000 people die a year from suicide. That means that during the time it took you to read this post, someone probably died from self-inflicted injury.
I have no clue what drives people to suicide, but I do know that very little is ever accomplished by programs designed to reduce the toll. We've vacillated between never mentioning it to having open discussion, with no clear guide as to what to do.
A New Zealand program aimed at high school kids claims to be helping, yet it seems that suicide rates actually increase slightly in areas where the programs have been run.
It's also a certainty that the number is an under-count, with many men killing themselves in head-on crashes that are difficult to list as official suicide.
To me, one glaring problem is the celebration of death that seems to always take place when a young person pulls the plug. Funerals are lush affairs, the body looks beautiful and people sing the praises of the deceased. This seems to glorify and encourage other, and it's factual that suicides often come in clusters, and I'd personally like to see funerals solely focus on what a stupid and selfish move it is.
Untreated mental illness is possibly the biggest factor in it all, and my thoughts on the psychiatric/psychological industry are well known.
Is there an example of something that works long term in terms of prevention? And why do very similar countries have such stark differences? UK and NZ/Aust springs to mind immediately, with UK having far lower rates, despite possibly deeper poverty. I'm sure there are people here who have worked for help lines and all input is appreciated.
Since then, one of my dearest friends killed herself at age 40, another person very close to our family made a serious attempt and was only saved by ambulance personnel, and then just a couple of weeks ago, a young man (20) that my wife works with killed himself.
Around 800,000 people die a year from suicide. That means that during the time it took you to read this post, someone probably died from self-inflicted injury.
I have no clue what drives people to suicide, but I do know that very little is ever accomplished by programs designed to reduce the toll. We've vacillated between never mentioning it to having open discussion, with no clear guide as to what to do.
A New Zealand program aimed at high school kids claims to be helping, yet it seems that suicide rates actually increase slightly in areas where the programs have been run.
It's also a certainty that the number is an under-count, with many men killing themselves in head-on crashes that are difficult to list as official suicide.
To me, one glaring problem is the celebration of death that seems to always take place when a young person pulls the plug. Funerals are lush affairs, the body looks beautiful and people sing the praises of the deceased. This seems to glorify and encourage other, and it's factual that suicides often come in clusters, and I'd personally like to see funerals solely focus on what a stupid and selfish move it is.
Untreated mental illness is possibly the biggest factor in it all, and my thoughts on the psychiatric/psychological industry are well known.
Is there an example of something that works long term in terms of prevention? And why do very similar countries have such stark differences? UK and NZ/Aust springs to mind immediately, with UK having far lower rates, despite possibly deeper poverty. I'm sure there are people here who have worked for help lines and all input is appreciated.
via International Skeptics Forum https://ift.tt/uohm2vd
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire