Couple of threads going tonight re: Caroline Flack's suicide.
Not owning a TV I dont really know who she is (had to google) but having attempted suicide myself and having friends whom I have buried after suicide I get really *** of at people (not necessarily on here) who seem to be the authority on it. The ''Suicide is selfish'' brigade.
For someone to overcome their natural survival instinct speaks lots about the pain that they must be in to begin with.
I knew someone last year who overdosed on morphene after jumping of a bridge (hence the morphene).
Cant imagine what pain...psychological/physical...he must have been in.
I don't for one moment think that 'suicide is selfish'. As a trained Samaritan, I have a little understanding of the pain and suffering someone is going through to even contemplate taking their own life. I would hope that there would be alternatives to consider, but at the end of the day it comes down to personal choice. If someone is determined to take their own life, then there is nothing a Samaritan or anyone else can do.
I have lost a friend through suicide and today I am still trying to make sense of it. He was a great person, nothing was too much trouble and I had no idea of the turmoil he was in. I just wish people can open up about how they are feeling & get help.
I think that most people who commit suicide do it while the balance of their mind is disturbed so they are not thinking rationally so we can't begin to understand how they feel.
No-one is an authority on Suicide; not those who have come close to it, not those who have attempted it nor those who have lost someone to it.....or anyone outside of those groups.
And no-one has the right to judge.
This thread is needless and will degenerate into a bad-tempered exchange.
In the vast majority of cases it is an act of sheer hopelessness, however you cannot discount that some may have other motives in mind, however disturbing that sounds.
Suicide may be selfish in the sense that the person contemplating,and then actually committing it, is totally blinded to the influences that would normally prevent them from their actions. At that moment...and in the time leading up to it...they can only consider their own needs. Maybe they have to, in order to free themselves.
My life has straddled two very different worlds - rural farming life and aviation. Both of which have some of the highest suicide rates. I can think of at least 11 people I knew of who killed themselves (off the top of my head) Most of them manage to do it the first time because if you want to kill yourself, you will. It won't be a cry for help. I have seen how someone can laugh, have a sandwich for lunch and then turn around 30 minutes later and jump off a 5 story building to their death. It's not easy to understand and it is a terrible thing.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion. By and large what I have seen on here tonight is empathy for a troubled soul.
None of us can really know what is going on in the head of those who try and those who succeed. We cannot second guess nor judge. And everyone is different.
It is a tragedy for everyone as is any needless death.
I'm going to finish with this link in case it's helpful to someone
I know quite a few people who have committed suicide. Only one really close to me though. I don't think she was selfish except the fact that she didn't consider my 12 year old cousin would find her dead in the morning.
ladybirder - 11 but anyway. The first one I knew was a farmer. He shot himself. Most of them do as they always have guns to hand. Farming is a very lonely job and so can flying be which is why people come a cropper.
Intensive care staff are good at it... they have access to the kit to make it painless and a culture of coping. I lost two colleagues very close together, at a time when i was on the edge. One before he died said to me there is a thin line between sad and mad. You are about to cross it. He sent me off shift and I never went back despite years of training . He went home and ended his life a few weeks later. He had been a soldier before being a nurse and he was suffering from ptsd we didn't know.
I remember when my Mum died and I was signed off from work by the Doc for 2 weeks. I had a meeting at work and they were a bit iffy about me going back to work due to the 'German Wings` situation. I managed to convince them that work was the best place for me (which I knew it was) Thankfully they listened to me and decent companies will listen to their employees and hopefully prevent some of the terrible situations that arise when people have no support.