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Disgusted With Twitter Abuse On Robin Williams
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I have been disgusted with the abuse that some people have put on twitter about Robin Williams particualary about suicide being weak and selfish. How can people be so callous? And what I really want to know is why in 2014 is there a stigma about depression and suicide?
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gordie.......I don't think that there is a stigma now and if there is, then it is a remnant of the past.
Depression and it's management some 50 years ago was quite simple....and was taken away with a "nervous breakdown" and the treatment was ECT...Electro convulsive therapy......the head "hooked up to the mains" and an electric shock passed through the body until it convulsed.
Nobody knew why it worked, but it did....sometimes.
Depression and it's management some 50 years ago was quite simple....and was taken away with a "nervous breakdown" and the treatment was ECT...Electro convulsive therapy......the head "hooked up to the mains" and an electric shock passed through the body until it convulsed.
Nobody knew why it worked, but it did....sometimes.
The idea to use ECT in humans came first to him by watching pigs being anesthetised with electroshock before being butchered, in Rome. The story goes on his way home, he stopped at a butcher shop. The shop didn't have the cut he wanted, and was told to walk back to the slaughter house behind the shop to have the cut made for him. At that slaughter house, the technique used for butchering cattle was to shock their heads.
ludwig ...this applies to a guy called Cerletti......an Italian Doctor.
The cattle would go into seizures and fall down. This made it easy to slit their throats, as the cattle couldn't resist or fight back. He reasoned that ECT might be useful, particularly for schizophrenia; in his time period, people believed that seizures were essential in preventing schizophrenia, since many found that those diagnosed with epilepsy were immune to the disorder.
ludwig ...this applies to a guy called Cerletti......an Italian Doctor.
The cattle would go into seizures and fall down. This made it easy to slit their throats, as the cattle couldn't resist or fight back. He reasoned that ECT might be useful, particularly for schizophrenia; in his time period, people believed that seizures were essential in preventing schizophrenia, since many found that those diagnosed with epilepsy were immune to the disorder.
A lot of people have no concept about what it's like to suffer from depression and related mental illnesses - sometimes I think they strike out in this stupid way because it's something which scares them, the old concept that if you have a mental health problem then you must be a loony - which we all know is absolute rubbish. I couldn't talk about my own MH problems forty years ago to anyone but a select few at the time, other people either blanked me or thought I was weird. These days it's much more out in the open....
The argument about people committing suicide being selfish was discussed on the radio yesterday. The depressive person doesn't see it that way, they don't think about the anguish they'll cause to their loved ones by leaving them - the suggestion was that they think that they are a useless burden to their loved ones, so dying would be a relief to the family, a sort of selfless act. It's very hard for someone whose life seems pointless (to them) that this is far from the case. I wouldn't call it a selfish act - you don't even think selfish if you're clinically depressed.
The argument about people committing suicide being selfish was discussed on the radio yesterday. The depressive person doesn't see it that way, they don't think about the anguish they'll cause to their loved ones by leaving them - the suggestion was that they think that they are a useless burden to their loved ones, so dying would be a relief to the family, a sort of selfless act. It's very hard for someone whose life seems pointless (to them) that this is far from the case. I wouldn't call it a selfish act - you don't even think selfish if you're clinically depressed.
ToraToraTora
Tw@tter, facetube, etc all the perview of the terminally brainless I'm afraid, pay no attention to it.
I wonder how many Grannies using Facebook to keep in touch with their grandchildren on the other side of the world will read that and think
"you know, he is right I am terminally brainless"
Why do you say and keep repeating these idiotic things TTT?
Tw@tter, facetube, etc all the perview of the terminally brainless I'm afraid, pay no attention to it.
I wonder how many Grannies using Facebook to keep in touch with their grandchildren on the other side of the world will read that and think
"you know, he is right I am terminally brainless"
Why do you say and keep repeating these idiotic things TTT?
gordie - I think attitudes to mental illness have improved immeasurably in the last twenty to thirty years, but given their starting point of fear and ignorance, that still means there is a way to go.
The concept of suicide is misunderstood by most people - it is seen as a brave / cowardly way out of a set of problems, with no thought for those left behind.
In fact, as confirmed by many posters on the 'Robin Williams' thread - it is a last act of desparation, and throughts of loved ones are long departed before that time is reached.
Ignorace will always find a voice, and the ready platform of social media gives a voice to people who would not otherwise have one, and in some cases that would not be a bad thing.
I personally to do not interact on any social media for that very reason - maybe you need to be seriously selective about what you follow in order to escape the worst of human nature, which tends to surface after tragedies like this.
The concept of suicide is misunderstood by most people - it is seen as a brave / cowardly way out of a set of problems, with no thought for those left behind.
In fact, as confirmed by many posters on the 'Robin Williams' thread - it is a last act of desparation, and throughts of loved ones are long departed before that time is reached.
Ignorace will always find a voice, and the ready platform of social media gives a voice to people who would not otherwise have one, and in some cases that would not be a bad thing.
I personally to do not interact on any social media for that very reason - maybe you need to be seriously selective about what you follow in order to escape the worst of human nature, which tends to surface after tragedies like this.
Interesting. Thanks sqad.
I've personally been depressed to the point where I've had suicidal thoughts, but only on a sort of 'fantasy' level - ie 'wouldn't it be great if I was dead' sort of thing.
The thing that's alway stopped that going any further is the notion that I could never do such a thing to the people who love me, family and friends.
I don't think Robin Williams would have cared any less about his family than I do about mine, so to have reached the point where he actually went through with it, he must have been in a such a despairing place, that all reason was gone, and his only consideration was to stop the pain.
It's not really possible for people to understand that state of mind unless they've actually been there.
The best course of action is probably to keep any crtical thoughts to yourself rather than airing them on twitter, as that's just going to add more pain to the people already grieving.
I've personally been depressed to the point where I've had suicidal thoughts, but only on a sort of 'fantasy' level - ie 'wouldn't it be great if I was dead' sort of thing.
The thing that's alway stopped that going any further is the notion that I could never do such a thing to the people who love me, family and friends.
I don't think Robin Williams would have cared any less about his family than I do about mine, so to have reached the point where he actually went through with it, he must have been in a such a despairing place, that all reason was gone, and his only consideration was to stop the pain.
It's not really possible for people to understand that state of mind unless they've actually been there.
The best course of action is probably to keep any crtical thoughts to yourself rather than airing them on twitter, as that's just going to add more pain to the people already grieving.
I use Twitter, Instagram and Facebook as marketing tools and as a way to keep in touch with friends, family and potential employers across the globe. I don't find it used by the 'terminally brainless' at all. However I am pretty ruthless about who I accept on my friends or followers lists and as such I've not seen one single lunatic post about suicide being a 'cowards way out'. It's not the fault of Facebook, Twitter etc, it's the fault of you or whoever is managing your lists. If I see a troll, a racist, a homophobe etc, off they go instantly and I mail them and tell them why.Once and once only. If you deprive these trolls of the oxygen of 'fame' they wither up and die. Horrible people will always exist, sad to say, but just cull them when you see them.
I have lost a brother and a step brother to suicide, believe me, if they could possibly have seen a way out they would have chosen it over death, both were devoted to their families and both were very courageous!
When you get to that point when you are committing yourself to ending your life, their really is no way out in sight and it overwhelms your thought processes to such a point you see nothing else but "the only way out" I dont see suicide as cowardly or brave. I can only try to imagine the total and overwhelming sensation of desperation of someone about to take his/her own life.
I think people who just cannot imagine that kind of pain are either very fortunate never to have experienced that kind of emotion or very shallow or naive that they cant possibly see how any other person could feel that kind of pain.
When you get to that point when you are committing yourself to ending your life, their really is no way out in sight and it overwhelms your thought processes to such a point you see nothing else but "the only way out" I dont see suicide as cowardly or brave. I can only try to imagine the total and overwhelming sensation of desperation of someone about to take his/her own life.
I think people who just cannot imagine that kind of pain are either very fortunate never to have experienced that kind of emotion or very shallow or naive that they cant possibly see how any other person could feel that kind of pain.
Interesting...........but not on topic.
Amongst doctors, physicians have the highest suicide rate....as opposed to surgeons.
Amongst physicians, Psychiatrists have the highest suicide rate.
Psychiatrists must be very "special" listening daily to depressed patients......and the price they pay........a high suicide rate.
Amongst doctors, physicians have the highest suicide rate....as opposed to surgeons.
Amongst physicians, Psychiatrists have the highest suicide rate.
Psychiatrists must be very "special" listening daily to depressed patients......and the price they pay........a high suicide rate.
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