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Suicidal thoughts?

How often do you have suicidal thoughts?


  • Total voters
    119

Nocapszy

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Okay. Now, what about when it becomes altered to the point of total despair?

To try to fix or not?
Fix? What's broken?

"My car drives when I fill the tank with candy"
"It needs fixed"
"But it works..."
"Not the way I want it to"

Who's to decide what's broken?
The mechanic, or by analogy, the doctors?

We can keep the body alive and trick the brain into thinking it's happy with pills, but that's not really a repair. It's more like a band-aid. Band-aids don't fix boo-boos, they just stop the bleeding so the body can fix itself. It doesn't always work though.

I pretty much agree, but if someone has family and people relying on them, it's safe to say that suicide would be selfish, even if they were suffering.

Dude... seriously?

What the fuck isn't selfish?
In the extensive introspective kick I've had for maybe a year or so, I can't remember a single thing I've done that was entirely selfless.
Everything helped me some way. Maybe you're talking about a matter of degree, but in a state where you think to subvert hundreds of millions of years of evolution, it's probably a safe bet that you're not calculating very well. In fairness, I don't think you can really hold that against them.
 

Magic Poriferan

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Oh, btw, I can't believe the statistics. Only 36% has never considered suicide?!?!

That's actually higher than I was expecting. It comes as no surprise to me at all that the majority of people have confronted suicidal thoughts at least at some point in their lives.

I put myself in the month range, but honestly, it happens around once every 1.5 weeks or so. I'm nearly in the one week range.
 

nolla

Senor Membrane
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That's actually higher than I was expecting. It comes as no surprise to me at all that the majority of people have confronted suicidal thoughts at least at some point in their lives.

I put myself in the month range, but honestly, it happens around once every 1.5 weeks or so. I'm nearly in the one week range.

Well, I take it for granted that people want to live. I really can't imagine that most of the people sit in their bath tube regularly with glass of wine in the other hand and razor blade in the other.
 

Magic Poriferan

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Well, I take it for granted that people want to live. I really can't imagine that most of the people sit in their bath tube regularly with glass of wine in the other hand and razor blade in the other.

That's not how it works, at least not for me, and I imagine not for most people who answered affirmatively.

What does happen though, almost once a week for me, is that some cause of negative sentiments, be it existential thoughts, frustration with desires of mine, or just self-loathing, will upset me enough to think "I should kill myself". That doesn't mean I ever get to the stage of being one step away from actually killing myself. It's just that I let negative emotions bring me to consider, with sincerity, that I should do it. I usually shake it off long before I get to the act.
 

nolla

Senor Membrane
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Would you mind giving some examples of these triggers that make you consider it? I assume there should be same kind of triggers for me too. For some reason you and I react to them differently.
 

Magic Poriferan

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Would you mind giving some examples of these triggers that make you consider it? I assume there should be same kind of triggers for me too. For some reason you and I react to them differently.

When I say existentialism, I mean thinking real hard about the poinless of existence, or the fact that free will may very well not exist, or that my emotions seem meaningful only because of the inborn delussions of the human mind. All meaning is an illusion of the human mind. That kind of thing.

Then there's desire. Knowing that I'm not able to do what I want, have what I want, and know what I want, and believing that I probably never be able to do. Further more, I can't even get rid of my own desires, so I can't get rid of that nagging for things out of my reach. Sometimes those unfullfilled longings lead to suicidal thoughts.

And the most rawly emotional/sentimental stuff is when I hate myself for not living up to my own standards. Or when I hate other people for not living up to my standards. It's all basically a matter of ethics. It makes me miserable, so I don't want to live, or don't think I should live.

I guess the fact is, my desires do sometimes have very emotional elements too, mainly when I'm feeling lonely.

Anyhow... What exact events trigger these trains of thought? There are all kinds. It's hard to even try describing it all, but's usually something very little that sparks the fire of my misery. It only takes one small thought to send my mind in the wrong direction. It builds up momentum.
 

nolla

Senor Membrane
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Ok, I have had all of those thoughts and emotions (as I suppose just about everyone has), but it just never got to the point I would think about killing myself. I guess I'm arrogant enough to think that against all odds there might be some reason for me to be here.

So, as I suspected, the same things that would get me depressed, makes some people to consider suicide. Then, there must be some line there that I haven't crossed. So it is more about at what kind of place these thoughts get you... You know, just before the thought of suicide comes into your mind.

Would you agree that once you have that idea of suicide as a possible option, it never goes away? A bit like if I quit smoking, the idea of lighting a cigarette right now never ceases to be an option...
 

Martoon

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My serotonin levels must be too high.
Is there a cure?
Oh, there is a multitude of cures for that. ;)

Also, I almost lost my sister when I was 6. She almost drowned right in front of me in the jacuzzi when her hair got stuck in it
That is horrifying.

Goodness I would never answer something like this publicly.
I think you just did, to some degree. ;)

I'd have to agree, though, that I'm sure you'd get more meaningful numbers if it were private.

As a general rule, the further from the equator, the higher the incidence.
Heh, the inverse would apply for me. Heat makes me feel crappy, and I always feel worse (and more inclined to depression) in the summer than in the winter. I don't think the equator would be a good place for me.

Depression and suicide, while they may be related in ways as yet not fully understood, are not always linked. I.e. you can be suicidal and not clinically depressed and vice versa.
On a related note, it's interesting that some antidepressants make a person statistically more likely to commit suicide. In studies, the group having clinical depression and taking the drug had a higher incidence of suicide than the control group, also suffering from clinical depression but not taking the drug.
 

Magic Poriferan

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Blah. I think people are too afraid of public polls. But if it's really such a big deal, I will have it made private.

Ok, I have had all of those thoughts and emotions (as I suppose just about everyone has), but it just never got to the point I would think about killing myself. I guess I'm arrogant enough to think that against all odds there might be some reason for me to be here.

Arrogant if you think your own strengths are the reason you are safe. Optimistic if you think that luck or the environment of your life is that nice.

So, as I suspected, the same things that would get me depressed, makes some people to consider suicide. Then, there must be some line there that I haven't crossed. So it is more about at what kind of place these thoughts get you... You know, just before the thought of suicide comes into your mind.

I don' know that I quite follow.

Would you agree that once you have that idea of suicide as a possible option, it never goes away? A bit like if I quit smoking, the idea of lighting a cigarette right now never ceases to be an option...

I don't think I have the capacity to definitively answer that. I don't imagine my suicidal thoughts will ever entirely go away (would be nice though, wouldn' it?), but I can't say that everyone that has them for a while is likely to have them again later in life. I think a lot of people do go through stages of life where they have very different states of mind.
 

Jack Flak

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Blah. I think people are too afraid of public polls. But if it's really such a big deal, I will have it made private.
You must not realize that in most locales, you can legally be committed for saying "I am suicidal."
 

Martoon

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I've definitely had times of depression in my life, but I've never considered suicide. One really depressing thing to me is mortality. The fact that we only get a certain number of years, then that's it, and there's nothing you can do about it. Whatever you don't manage this time around, you never will. 80 or 100 years (or whatever) doesn't seem like nearly enough. So it'd be pretty ironic for me to deliberately cut my life even shorter.



Re. what others have said about how to handle someone who's considering suicide, I agree that you shouldn't make them feel guilty, or like they're a bad person for considering it. I do, however, think that it's good for them to be aware of the devastating effect it will have on other people if they go through with it. They may have lost a sense of responsibility to themselves, that they don't owe it to themselves to go on living, because they don't feel they're worth it. Sometimes being needed by someone else is what gets them through it.

On another forum once, I saw someone post that they had made the decision to commit suicide, and were wondering whether it's better to leave a note or not. They asked that people please not sidetrack the discussion with trying to talk them out of it, because they had already made that decision, and just wanted opinions and advice about the note. One person replying suggested they should write the note, and leave it where the recipient would find it in plenty of time before they committed the act, to see what their reaction would be. I thought that was an interesting way to reply. (Several people had already replied trying to talk them out of it, btw.)
 

Magic Poriferan

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You must not realize that in most locales, you can legally be committed for saying "I am suicidal."

If you look at the things a lot of people have said on this forum, it's clear that they aren't expecting anyone to find it. :laugh:

Anyhow, it turns out that there's no way to change this poll to be private. The only way would be to replace it with a new one that is private, so now I'm hesitant to take action.
 

ajblaise

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Dude... seriously?

What the fuck isn't selfish?
In the extensive introspective kick I've had for maybe a year or so, I can't remember a single thing I've done that was entirely selfless.
Everything helped me some way. Maybe you're talking about a matter of degree, but in a state where you think to subvert hundreds of millions of years of evolution, it's probably a safe bet that you're not calculating very well. In fairness, I don't think you can really hold that against them.

Sure, everything is selfish. I'm looking at a certain degree of selfishness.

It's simply a personal value call. If someone's life is so unbearable that they can't stand living despite having people depending on them, and they commit suicide... is that wrong?
 

Nocapszy

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It's simply a personal value call. If someone's life is so unbearable that they can't stand living despite having people depending on them, and they commit suicide... is that wrong?

Er... you're asking me?
 

ajblaise

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Er... you're asking me?

It was rhetorical. But I guess you don't think that act should be looked upon especially negatively right? I'd say it would depend on the level of suffering. Someone shouldn't have to bare constant suffering for the sake of others, compared to a guy who kills himself because he lost his job.
 

Nocapszy

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I'd rather not assert any authority on ethics.
 

ajblaise

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Rhetorical means you were making a point.

What was yours?

You said "you can't hold that against them". I'm saying it's perfectly reasonable to hold it against them depending on the situation.

That is of course only our personal viewpoints.
 
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