Holding the Lifeline
Module 1: The Nature and Scope of Suicide - Page 2 of 15
Suicide as a Public Health Crisis
"When I was 16 I tried to kill myself. Later, in the hospital, I had to drink this horrible charcoal to get the pills I had used out of my system. As anyone who has suffered through this horrible procedure knows, the charcoal ends up coming out of every orifice. It's disgusting!
I'm 35 years old and, so far, I have survived five episodes of being suicidally depressed.
All of us have had days when we feel down. But when you are blue, you still
have your favorite things, you don't just abandon everything. When you are
deep-down suicidally depressed, there is nothing, absolutely nothing that makes
you feel better. Not even your child bringing you breakfast makes you feel
worthy of getting out of that deep darkness. You stop brushing your teeth,
showering, wearing makeup. . . doing things. Within a couple of days, you just
shrink into this nothingness. You try to continue but you get worse and worse.
The pain is excruciating, but it isn't physical, it's emotional. In fact, physical pain--self-inflicted wounds and suicide attempts--can become a way to escape from the emotional pain.
People who have never had these feelings--feelings of not wanting to associate with anyone or anything, of being unworthy of life, of being suicidally depressed--may have a hard time understanding. But they must understand. It happened to me. It can happen to someone you know; your friend, your neighbor, your spouse, your child. It can happen to you!"
-- The words of a suicide attempt survivor
Joey. Garrett. Jane. Scott. Louise. Bill. These are the names of six people who have been among the more than 30,000 people per year who die by suicide.ref Some of these people are adolescents or young adults. Some are elderly. Others are in the prime of life. They are sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, grandfathers, doctors, homemakers, artists, police officers, and members of the military. Some live in million dollar homes. Others are homeless. Some are athletes and in top physical shape. Others may be coping with disease or physical impairments.
Although some populations of people are more at risk than others, people who die from suicide come from every walk of life, gender, ethnicity, religion, and socio and cultural affiliation.
For the loved ones affected by individual suicide, the grief is immense. The questions are endless. How could this have happened? Why did this happen? And, perhaps the most painful question of all: What could I have done to prevent this?
