suicide question

[adi chicago]

watching the news i realised that ab people are the ones who commit suicide,more than sci people.shame on them.
we suffer so much ,but we still want to live and to be cured.
that means to me that we are stronger and we appreciate life more than some ab people.

[darkeyed_daisy]

What was the question again????

[CPollard]

Hate to sound really negative - but that's not true - suicide rate in Britian is 5 times higher for people in first 5 years post injury than for the general population - that's why things like this site are important.

[SCI-Nurse]

Also not true in the USA. Similar to GB, in the USA there is a fairly high rate (3-5X the general population) of suicide in the first 5 years post injury, but this decreases dramatically after that and at 10 years the rate is similar to the AB population.

People with MS are fairly consistently at 3X the general population for suicide regardless of time since diagnoses.

(KLD)

[doingtimeonmyass]

There was a pretty dark time in my life after SCI that I wanted to kill myself. Had a loaded 9 mm handgun with hollow points and everything. The only reason I did not succeed was my inability to pull the slide back loading a bullet from the clip into the action of the gun, (no hand function). As time went by, my life got brighter and those thoughts diminished. I don't know what will happen years from now as the body gets older, weaker, and bad things start to happen. I believe in a person's right to die rather than suffer a terrible condition. I know this kind of thought offends some people, but that's how I truly feel.

[adi chicago]

only weak and idiots commit suicide.life is too valuable.
the life itself is a fight.
i will fight until the end.
i am just sad when i see ab or others[sci,cancer,hiv.etc]giving up.

[Leif]

Adi’ - It is not weak and idiots but I think I know what you mean, and KLD and Cpollard is right. It is also some logic in this, some commit suicide for less the problems SCI brings. But stay strong in your fight and I hope your determination will continue. It is a complicated issue, also a taboo issue with a lot of diffuse numbers as for this I believe, meaning numbers could be higher than some studies gives.

[michaelm]

There is a movie called "The Bridge" about people who bipolor and mentally challenged, so please be careful when calling people names.

[adi chicago]

There is a movie called "The Bridge" about people who bipolor and mentally challenged, so please be careful when calling people names.

do you remmembered back in 1930 when a lot of people jumped from the sky scrapers.they just forget to wear a parachute.
can i call this kind of people SMART?

[cali]

i think suicide is truely selfish. you're only caring about yourself (and not in a good way) and in the end all you do is hurt everyone who love you and care for you. but then again, the ones who do it never get to see that part.

[Ironside]

I disagree that suicide is selfish. You are only looking at suicide from the perspective of someone who isn't it the state in their life when nothing matters but death. I cannot imagine what it must feel like to have death as your only option out of whatever situation you may be. I have had a shit two years with health problems and relationship breakdowns but I never even thought about suicide once. And what really pisses me off is when able-bodied people say to me "I'd kill myself if I broke my neck and ended up completely paralysed" I say to them that they are implying that my life is worthless, that shuts them up.

[cali]

I disagree that suicide is selfish. You are only looking at suicide from the perspective of someone who isn't it the state in their life when nothing matters but death. I cannot imagine what it must feel like to have death as your only option out of whatever situation you may be. I have had a shit two years with health problems and relationship breakdowns but I never even thought about suicide once. And what really pisses me off is when able-bodied people say to me "I'd kill myself if I broke my neck and ended up completely paralysed" I say to them that they are implying that my life is worthless, that shuts them up.

ok, but death isn't the only option. that's my point. i'll use doingtimeonmyass's post for a second.

There was a pretty dark time in my life after SCI that I wanted to kill myself. Had a loaded 9 mm handgun with hollow points and everything. The only reason I did not succeed was my inability to pull the slide back loading a bullet from the clip into the action of the gun, (no hand function). As time went by, my life got brighter and those thoughts diminished. I don't know what will happen years from now as the body gets older, weaker, and bad things start to happen. I believe in a person's right to die rather than suffer a terrible condition. I know this kind of thought offends some people, but that's how I truly feel.

he says here that the only reason he didn't commit suicide is because he physically couldn't use the gun. now things have turned around for him since that dark time. he never would have known or experienced that if he had blown his head off. maybe suicide wasn't his "only option" but even if he was able to do it, he would still have more options at his disposal than suicide.

[Ironside]

There is more than one way to kill yourself even if you are disabled. I don't know the circumstances of this guys situation but obviously his lack of movement saved his life. But if you think about the grisly way people kill themselves, they really want to die, however they do it. If someone has made their mind up, they will kill themselves. I could kill myself easily even though I have no hand movement. Half a mile down the road, there's a 200 foot limestone cliff that more than one person has driven off in the past, it would be so easy for me to do this myself . I could go down to the swimming pool where I had my accident, I could finish the job off easily by driving into it in my wheelchair. I have drowned once before and that would be my way of doing it if I felt the need.

People often say that suicide is selfish and the easy way out. It's the only way out and some people. The reason some people kill themselves amazes me. I suppose it all depends on how you handle things in life. I'd like to think I am a strong person who can handle anything that is thrown at me.

[Cripply]

I would not call a person who commits suicide selfish. It takes utter, dark, awful despair to kill oneself. Thoughts of others cannot enter the equation if one is in such a dark place. In certain situations, it might be selfish of the loved ones to expect someone to live so they can feel better.

[orangejello]

Cali I can understand why you would say it is a selfish act. It is in some ways. Suicide causes untolerable pain and confusion for those who are left behind. Having gone through the suicide of someone close to me three years ago, I am still angry and haunted and not able to understand or accept it. This person left behind so many people who were left guilt-stricken, heart broken, and wondering how they could have let it happen--even though the reality is it was nobody's fault. Not even the person who decided he couldn't live anymore.

But, without going into too much detail, I did understand the intolerable emotional pain and turmoil this person was feeling and that he honestly felt that he had no other way of coping with it. For some people, the pain does sometimes reach that point where no other option seems possible. I don't know then if the term "selfish" is entirely correct to use. The person who comes to this awful decision doesn't do it out of selfishness. They do it out of pain and despair.