Talking about Suicide

I can remember a lecture on suicide in my Clinical Psychology class in college. Unlike other lessons, I don't remember any personal anecdotes shared from our professor. We learned facts and statistics, many focused on gender differences in relation to suicide. Even in my Psychology class, suicide was something that no one wanted to talk about.

I started this blog with the hope of talking about some of these hard topics. I want to create awareness, while also trying to make some good out of this horrific bad. Most of all, I want to honor David.

I'm finding that this is very difficult. The hard topics are hard for a reason. No one wants to talk about suicide, including me.

Suicide is sad. It's sad because it exists. It's sad because it's misunderstood.

Even among many health professionals, suicide is talked about as if it is a choice. Not just a choice, but a bad choice. People who “commit” suicide give up. They use the most selfish means to end their pain, and burden all who love them. Life is too hard so they just take their own life.

Suicide is seen as the illness. It is rarely seen as the result of an illness.

I don’t see suicide as a choice. I think that those who die by suicide see it as the only option. They use the most painful means, to harm themselves. They endure suffering. They give up their successes, their dreams, their loved ones, and their future. They don’t feel that they are supposed to live anymore. Their brain is sending a signal to die. Their brain convinces them that they have to die.

Is there anything more scary or tragic? The dis-ease in your mind, literally taking your life from you. Taking your life from you, and doing it in a way that makes it look like you took it from yourself.

I can’t think of anything worse.