1 - 20 of 138
SilverKytten1. What is your view on suicide?
I think suicide has been over-dramatized so much, that teenagers have started using it as a way to get attention. Even, at times, the ones who are being bullied. They use it as a way to scare people into treating them differently - They don't expect to succeed, but they don't realize how stupid they are. They normally don't know anything, at all, about the body, and what will/will not kill them, and end up actually killing themselves, instead of just being hospitalized for a while.
It's also affecting people who are not trying to commit suicide. For instance, those who cut. Sometimes they do it, to deal with emotional issues. Sometimes they do it, just because they like how it feels. (This is called masochism, and is more common, than most think.) But, because teens have gone from getting in trouble, to pretending to be suicidal, merely to gain attention, everyone assumes that people who cut either have a death wish, or are attention whores.
However - The ones who truly want to die, have thought about it for quite a while, have no fear of killing themselves -- of not being able to experience better things in life - They should be left to do as they please. If they don't want help - regardless of whether they've received it before, or not - It's their choice. It's their body. It's their life. No one has the right to decide what happens to it, except for them.
2. How big of a deal do you think suicide is?
Honestly, I don't see it as a big deal. Not real suicide, anyways. This "I don't like how people treat me, so I'm going to kill myself (Or pretend to kill myself, to make them feel badly, and treat me better)," has to stop. And you know how that's going to happen? By people not making suicide this big issue. That's the only reason teenagers got into it, in the first place. Every time someone attempts suicide (Whether they succeed or fail) - Especially if they do it, because they were being treated cruelly - It get's spammed all over ever news channel, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, and every other form of media.
Children and Teenagers see this, and think "Oh, wow. They were being treated really bad, and now everyone is apologizing to them, and everyone else they've been mean to, because they feel bad. I wonder if that would work, for me." or "Oh my god, that person didn't even matter, and now everyone is obsessed with them. I bet they'd go crazy, if it were someone as popular as me. It'll make them think my life is horrible, and they'll give me more things, and attention!" Even if they don't say it, or admit it - Even if they deny it - This thought goes through their minds.
3. How often do you think someone commits suicide?
I don't think - I know. I've done somewhat extensive research on this topic - About a million people die by suicide, annually, a global mortality rate of 16 suicides per 100,000 people, or a suicide every 40 seconds - Approximately 30,000 of these are from the US and are accompanied by a whopping 750,000 attempted suicides. Suicides in the U.S. outnumber homicides by nearly 2 to 1.
4. Have you ever lost anyone close to you because of suicide?
Yes, I have. When I was in seventh grade, one of my closest friends lost her mother to cancer. She was so overcome with grief, along with an already somewhat severe case of depression, that she felt she had no other way out. Therapy wasn't helping, the medicine didn't help (It just turned her into a mindless, unfocused zombie, and made her feel even worse), and not even spending time with "the group," as we liked to call ourselves, could bring her out of her slump. She took her life on the exact day her mother died (Though, a year later), by poisoning herself with a tea made with an erb, who's oils are deadly <not mentioning it here, as it's relatively easy to get ahold of, and this IS a suicide related thread>, that causes a (from what I've read, on it) painless, gentle, death. No mess, no ugly rope/cut marks, no blood.
Though suicide is an awful thing, she did her best to make it beautiful. To go out gracefully, like her mother had. I was the first one who knew - She sent me an email describing what she had done, and why she did it, and set it to automatically send. I received the email about an hour after she had passed, according to the police.
5. What do you think the main cause for suicide is?
The main cause? Untreated depression, in teenagers, brought on by "bullies." Why is it untreated? Because they're afraid to share - Because bullies aren't dealt with, until something tragic happens - Because they're not taught to stand up for themselves.
6. Anything else you would like to say about suicide awareness?
Nope, I think that's about all I can say, on the issue. This was a great thread to start, though - At least for older members of PMC - It will hopefully spark some wheel-turning discussions.
1 - 20 of 138
