What happens when it hurts too much to live? Can it really be too painful to live one more moment with emptiness, depression, and despair? Yes, for some people suicide seems like the only way out.
Not every person who contemplates killing themselves is truly interested in ending their time on earth. For many, suicidal thoughts are about escape — musing about the idea of leaving the bonds that bind them to other people, responsibilities to burdens, and the despair of what they can’t change. If they could just escape it, maybe they still could go on somehow. Not right now, but after a while. They just need to get away from it.
Suicidal thoughts and actions are also sometimes paired with strong impulses and low inhibitions. This can happen with drugs and alcohol, bipolar disorder, or any personality style that leans more toward action than consideration. When a depressed or desperate mood gets legs, a person could be in real physical danger.
These are all fictional examples, but you can see how impulse plus mood problems can equal suicide.
- A person in despair over a broken relationship sits on the train tracks where the train traffic is regular. They’ve had several beers and are feeling everything so strongly.
- A person with rapidly shifting moods has had a lot of problems lately. They are driving in their car and are thinking about what would happen if they slammed into a wall or tree.
- A person who’s had trouble in the public eye and a history of depression and drug use. They become sick of the daily emotional rollercoaster, grab their gun, and load up a few bullets.
Many people each day are walking around with enormous amounts of emotional pain. Living is difficult, they’ve lost loved ones, the future looks bleak, and they feel backed into a corner. But not everyone contemplates suicide. Some hold very strong religious beliefs that prevent them from ever taking any action. Others hold an important value on life in general, and can tell themselves that there has to be another way.
Sadly, many people do have very scary thoughts about ending their life. Some come very close to the brink of action before pulling back. Others only have fleeting thoughts. The “invasion” of depression into a person’s mind can make difficult things seem much more than just difficult — they become impossible.
They see no reason to live on after their spouse has died. They see no way out of their financial troubles. They think there is no more purpose for them after their serious injury or illness. This black and white thinking can trap a person into a narrow chute, seeing their demise as they only reasonable choice. And I’m not saying that the pain isn’t real or extremely intense. It’s the thought process and judgment that balances emotion, and depression thinking just isn’t straight.
For any of you who have been down this path, I invite you to add on comments and expand on this little post. There’s no way a few hundred words can do justice to the topic except to introduce it. If you are feeling strongly about suicide and don’t feel safe, I urge you to contact your local police or hospital right away. They are trained to help you get through your immediate crisis, and then get you the further specialized mental health help that you need. And for those I have known who have taken their own lives, your deaths have made a lifelong impression on me.
706 comments
“A person with rapidly shifting moods has had a lot of problems lately. They are driving in their car and are thinking about what would happen if they slammed into a wall or tree.”
I’m 32, and it still surprises me when I read something like this and realize that what I’m feeling is so common and that there are millions around the world who feel the same. [Makes me wonder if people 15,000 years ago thought about a similar thing.] It’s not that my thoughts lead to “killing” myself so much as hurting myself enough that I don’t have to go to work anymore or that if I was in the hospital that someone would finally notice the pain I’m in and give me help. Therapy and medication helps me to not *act* on the thoughts of driving off a bridge. I sometimes wish that these “harmful” thoughts and acts were taken as seriously as suicide attempts.
Thanks for the article.
Laura
What meds do you take ? I need something ASAP . I don’t think I will around next week unless I get something FAST !!!!!! Life hurts WAY TO MUCH. All’s I think about is blowing my brains out. Just trying to decide which weapon to use to eliminate myself. God I want to die !!!
PSILOCYBIN MUSHROOMS. I encourage anyone with untreatable depression to research these mushrooms. Depressed people have an over active anterior cingulate cortex and ‘default mode networks’, which causes the unbearable hell of rumination, the feeling of being trapped, confused, lost, worthless, inadequate. Psilocybin appears to block activity in these areas.
Hello. I am very interested in therapeutic as a potential treatment; as I understand, a microdose provided every two weeks it all it takes. Your brief on psliocybin adds to the knowledge base; thumbs if!
Bull shit about the boomers. (shrooms). Even if true, one cannot do shrooms every day all day, it would be impossible to function.
I’d like to share my experiences with psilocybin mushrooms. For me, mushrooms immediately cut a big door in the black box hell of depression and anxiety. Unlike other drugs I’ve tried, this medicine didn’t feel like it was masking my depression; it felt like I had finally woken up after years of being a zombie- the living dead. It was razor sharp clarity, deep understanding, acceptance. I could finally feel love again- and mirth. I saw my past and future and how I had ended up where I was, and I was able to forgive myself. I still struggle with depression, but mushrooms have made it bearable. They took the meaninglessness out of life.
A warning: this is very powerful medicine, not for everyone- and also illegal. During one session with the mushroom I had a panic attack and felt like I was dying. I learned a lot, but it was very unpleasant.
One doctor recommended very small doses a couple times a week as a possible treatment for depression. Small amounts of mushroom may alleviate the excessive rumination and fog, while allowing you to function normally and go about your day. It will be interesting to see what future research discovers as legal barriers are lifted. I highly recommend visiting MAPS- Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies website for more information on alternative treatments for depression.
How are you now?
I have used the mushrooms in my past…first i should say that i rarely have done drugs, only have wine with good food. So i am not addict nor look for drugs to alter my emotions.
Worse part about the mushrooms that i think might actually push someone over the edge is when you come down off them….it is extremely depressing.
I was not depressed when i used them but to this day, i can recall how depressed i felt coming off and having felt severely depressed to int of suicidal that might worry me…push me over the edge or someone else.
Yes, on them is very magical but once the magic wears off…it is more depressing than how you felt before you started.
My dogs saved me from ending my life plus i thought about the few people i do know who loved me…that they feel sad for me not reaching out to them.
I just could not reach out and when i did kind of try…they just did not get it.
Where my dogs, loved me clearly, they had to be walked daily or i put their needs high on my list over my own ..once out walking in nature it did improve my well being.
On very bad days i would take them out 3 or 4 times a day…but at least it saved me…plus i thought who would take care of my dogs if i died…and that stopped me.
They all died within a year this year…and i am so sad now with out them. THey literally saved my life.
Annie, I hope you get this after writing this post so long ago. I, too, am only sustained by my dog, so I know too well how that is. I just hope you made it through that pain of loss, I can not imagine how hard that had to have been for you. I’m so sorry you were faced with it. I hope you are feeling better now.
I also have been suicidal on and off for a couple of years. Just a few weeks ago I was thinking what would be the most painless way to do this. It was to dark in my mind.The light of hope was gone. I finaly overdosed and came way to close.You are not alone. There are so many of us out there that feel you pain.There is help.
I feel that mentaly ill people need some rights!
It is one of the most precarious emotional platform that you find yourself on. You may have felt or are feeling that these emotions are obvious to others – but find little or no reaction reaching out to you or ensuring you are getting support. These types of feelings are soooo real and sooo clear and get stronger everyday that passes by. Every day you probably finding those thoughts more common and clear – a slowish process but the dark thoughts are escalating. What I found is it was on my mind more and more then my thoughts gave it validity and I was noticing how frequent I gave those thoughts a voice and spoke out loud to myself. It was like all this was building up leaving me giving myself permission to succumb to these negative thoughts.
Then a crisis would pop up – what was easy to deal with before left me in a panic trying to figure out what to do. It kneecapped me and I found I couldn’t fight for myself anymore. I am alone and have no family that supports or even understands these feelings or grants me the rights to my own feelings.
Let me know if I can be here for you.
You are absolutely right. Verbalizing thoughts of suicide has been my attempt to give myself permission to end my life. It normalizes what is abnormal to make it part of my everyday thought process. Thank you.
I find myself in a similar situation as what has been mentioned. ..52 yr old, intelligent, but have made not so intelligent decisions personally, financially. .etc ,poor relationships with my family, some people feel they can walk all over me one day, and then no memory of it the next! I guess i have always been overly sensitive…has heightened since the loss of my mother. I have gotten through this latest period of my life with the grace of God 👼 i just wish i could rely more on my faith to have faith
I know I’m not alone. I don’t even know if suicide is even yet the decision I want. I’m angry at all the posts saying how selfish it is. How selfish is it for all the “healthy” people to want someone to live in emotional and physical pain all the time. Right now I’m too afraid of death, it scares me horribly. I don’t look forward to anything. I have physical pain 24-7. I am never ok. Death is the only other choice I have, so it’s hard to ignore it. Doctors have ignored my pleading for help. Multiple doctors for pain, and depression. Because I am able to express myself in an educated manner, they see that as a sign of strength. No one understands the pain of living. It never stops.
You are so right…during the business day, i conduct myself accordingly,but get home, and i am a basket case. I feel like my pain is like a cancer, and is growing. With no treatment available. .sure there are drugs but they are only bandaids. People can be so hurtful, intended & unintended. ..then they say Oh if i only knew
I like how you expressed this feeling. I think it is the act of no one close to us showing us they see what is happening, or hear us when we tell them, and then they turn around and negate us with saying we are being the problem, or we should stop. That de-valued hurt makes me feel the worst.
Agreed. If I read one more INSENSITIVE “selfish” post, I’ll scream. COLD.
But, you guys, suicide hurts, no one dies immediately.
All this depression- mothers working. Letting babies cry it out. Abandonment. Men: support the mother(s) of your babies so she doesn’t have to worry about money and they’re ALL taken care of.
I don’t have the courage to commit suicide, but I pray for death. Why? I won’t list all the reasons why.. because no believes that so much has/can happen to one person who didn’t bring an iota of it upon himself. I’m in chronic pain from a car accident on duty. And because of the so called Opiate Crisis doctors won’t give me any thing for pain. I’m barely existing on 900 a month disability. I’m a university grad with two degrees. I don’t even have TV because I can’t afford cable or satellite. I’m totally alone and have no living family or friends. I have a daughter who I had Custody of, but her mother snatched her from daycare 16 years ago and raised her against me. No help from the wonderful justice system. And I’m a decorated veteran. Now I’m faced with loosing my vision. And God isn’t here for me. In fact I don’t feel welcome in the church. People look at me like I’m nuts because I find no comfort in the Bible or scripture. If I died in my sleep tonight no one would notice and fewer people would care. I have two cats who I have become to hate because I can’t afford vet care and they are destroying my house peeing and dumping everywhere. And there’s more but what’s the use.. ?
I care! I feel your pain. I don’t know you but I cry for you. Your post touched me like none of the others did. Your cats love you and need you
Thanks Patty. Nice to feel like someone cares …
Anthony how you doing?
I’m trying to recover from bi-lateral eye surgery and waiting to find out if I go blind in only one, or both eyes. Life just keeps getting better every day…
Trying to recover from bilateral eye surgery and hoping I don’t go totally blind. Isn’t life grand
Hi Anthony,
I totally feel your pain…why? because I am in the exact situation as you. I know what you are going through 24/7 as that’s what my life is like. I have been looking for that someone who understand what I have been through and I think you are the one. Would you like to have me as your friend so that we can chat and slowly be encouraged by each other and get out of the pain. You can email me at [email protected]
Anyone who is reading this are welcome to write to me as I really want to get out of this painful situation by speaking to people who understand the pains and desperations and we can worked together in order to get out of it because I believe that unless you have been through it, no other people can really understand our pains.
GOD does care about and for you. HE made you in HIS own image, reach out to HIM, cry out to HIM, I know that I have when feeling life is too much and when you can’t take anymore. Please don’t take your own life, here I am a stranger and I desperately care about you and your wanting to live. There is light at the end of the tunnel and HIS name is JESUS, give HUM a chance and remember tomorrow I’d always a new day and we never know what GOD has in store for us and believe me I know what I’m talking about, I’ve had a hard and sorrowful life but it’s getting better, we just got to hold on. GOD bless you â¤Diedra
I’m sorry Diedra I don’t feel God’s love for me. I never have. I feel like he is behind everything that has gone wrong. I guess none of the good I’ve done in this pathetic life doesn’t mean anything to him or anyone else. I don’t have the guts to end my life, at least not now. But I admire the courage of those who have.
Hey! How cruel was your post? This is not the time or place for you to proselytize and show off about your precious delusions. Not everybody is stupid enough to believe in some supernatural cash machine of love in the sky.
Especially on a subject like this. You may very well think you’re helping because you are surrounded by delusion enablers,but that’s actually the kind of thinking and “ sharing†that really would make someone barely hanging on finally cut their tentative strings to this world for once and for all.
Shame on you, shame on you.
Im just reading this and i am so sad….i care..i really do!!!! Pls tell me how you are….. God loves you….please know that…
Hello Mia,
Thanks for your reply. Although I don’t know why you would care? The only people who “do” are only after something. My life just keeps getting worse. Last month I had two heart attacks. And again, I was totally alone. If I had died – and I wish I had – no one would have known where to send my corpse. And then I thought to myself, why worry about. I’ll be dead! And I really don’t care anymore. No one else does. Why should I?! I don’t believe God or Jesus love me ! I’ve had too too much “bad” in my life !
Anthony, I feel your pain. I am there. Some consolation that someone else feels as I do. I just want the hopelessness to be gone….
Living like this is not living and I’m so tired of it
I failed at my first suicide attempt. I woke up in a&e groggy and confused after overdosing on mirap and olanzipine.I feel that life for me is not worth living. I am sick of the mental noise and just want out. The only reason I havent tried again- is the guilt of leaving my boys behind. I do not see myself as having a purpose. I know they would be better off without me. I would have taken tablets on friday or saturday night if i had access to them. This time though I would not have told people what I did. I want this anguish to end. Help! I am doing all I can to fight the bad feelings but the thoughts have become stronger and are winning. Its 24/7.
I have been suffering on and off for many years with anxiety and depression, I was always a worrier, but as stress levels grew it manifested its self into much more. The first time I experienced the feelings I didn’t understand what was happening to me, but eventually through forcing myself to continue with normal life I got back to myself. However I guess underneath things were still not right. Over years with other bouts of stress the problems returned on several occasions each time getting worse and the darkest of thoughts along with them. In January this year things reared their head again and I have been fighting ever since, each day things getting worse, it is now August and I feel utter despair in my mind and look for some peace, the meds and therapy have little effect, and I think while all the worries and stress and animosity from others, caused in a great part by how you are when you’re ill, are there you will never get well and be able to overcome the growing dark thoughts. You know that this is not what you want, and you do not want to leave others with pain and your mess to get over, but to have some peace in your mind is everything to you. I dont know about you but the help that is available is very insufficient considering the severity of the illness, and once things have been tried I feel you’re kind of cut loose, to battle on alone. Before I became Ill I could never understand how people felt or why they couldnt help themselves to get well. No wonder so many mentally Ill folk end up on the street, where do you go when you cant cope any longer and there is no hope and no help.
I hope you can find an answer, I truely dont want to leave this place and some wonderful people but the pain is so overwhelmingly great that I wonder how long is it worth enduring it. I keep thinking of my wife, she deserved better from her life than me and now I’m thinking of really letting her down. If ever there was a issue that needed addressing this has got to be it, so many people suffering and saying goodbye . I find my self so jealous of those having fun and getting on just living a normal happy life, who knows how to get there, but we must all hope , our happiness and health is everything.
Laura, I honestly appreciate the way you expressed that. I have been feeling the same way lately, and I know I’m a minor, so it’s “normal” for kids to feel stressed, but this feeling is so much more than stress. I’ve had the desire to cut again (I went through that a year ago), and I’ve had the desire to just see my own blood spill. The only reason I haven’t is because people would just look at me like I’m stupid. I want to be noticed, and I want someone to help me out of this dark place. But it’s a dark place I’m familiar with, since my childhood was bleak and empty of joy. Nothing severe happened to me, but I still have trouble seeing any good in life.
So thank you for sharing, and showing me that I’m not alone in this. It does feel nice to know that there are others that go through this too, and while it might not be healthy, it’s also showing that other people have the strength to keep going, from what I’ve read here. -Mariah
The original post says at the end to call the police. As if I want to be forced into a crazy bin. I already feel trapped and they want me to be held against my will to. That is so wrong what a horrible person that does not understand.
Lisa, very good point. The author, like so many others posting about mental health, exhibits a major disconnect between the text-book sterile perspective of the industry and what one actually finds when one is in the system. Both responding police officers and hospital staff can be–and often are–so overwhelmed with other responsibilities that they can be unsympathetic to an admitted emergency mental health case. And worse, as you’ve already touched on, because of the admitted patient’s mental state, poor, dismissive treatment only exacerbates the underlying problem. Also, once the patient is released, it may be very unlikely she or he will ever call for help again, remembering the humiliation and even outright hostility experienced at the hands of those we’re all encouraged to call on for help if we need it.
All this article is being USED FOR is to silence the truth.That Americans in physical pain from a medical illness/condition are being FORCED,,FORCED,, to use death as their only option to stop physical pain from a medical condition because they are not allowed EFFECTIVE DOSAGE OF MEDICINES,IE OPIATE MEDICINE TO TRULY LESSEN THEIR PHYSICAL PAIN FROM PAINFUL MEDICAL CONDITION.S,,In essence the medically ill ONLY in America are literally being tortured to death physically,,via denials of access to effective physical pain care!!!That’s the truth they are willfully censoring w/articles like this.So we will NEVER get a truthful death toll of this ,”reeefer madness agenda on opiate medicine,witch hunt if u will,” a truthful death toll of all who had to use death,to stop physical pain from medical illness..No other country on earth is torturing’ their medically ill to death,other then America..Psychiatry has played a huge roll in this death toll,,maryw
I thought the topic was chronic pain. I’ve had several surgeries on my ankle after snapping it from my leg. Many plates and pins. My life has changed so drastically. I was very active, 5’11 165. Now from not being able to be active I’ve gained 80 lbs. Plus, the pain has been so bad it has turned me into a monster. I’m NOTHING OF WHO I USE TO BE! And I hate it. I’m a demon full of hate and anger. This is not the life I want anymore. I don’t want pain drugs, even though because of dopeheads, doctors will not give them anymore. I have made my mind up to end the constant torture. It has nothing to do with my mental state. It’s a fact that when ones value of life is non existence anymore, there’s nothing more one can do but exist. And that is not what I want my life to be. I’m not afraid to die,and welcome it. This will be my last explanation to my painful life. Good bye all who suffer and hope things change for you. It hasn’t for me. Good redince to pain here on earth.
I’m in the same boat as you. And it’s sinking. People say or pretend they care. It’s all B.S. ! I’m seriously considering quitting my heart meds – what’s the point? Who knows, maybe the Coronavirus will get me…
I did something bad, that has thrown me into absolubte despair. I obeyed a law although it went against every moral fibre in my body.
My rescue dogs attacked another dog and i wasnt strong enough to hold them both back.
I had to have them put to sleep. I cant take it back, i cant make it right, i cant give them their lives back. I led them to their deaths when they trusted me. I failed them by not being hard enough on them, i never wanted them to be afraid of me, like they lived in fear before me. I loved them to death.
I question who i am? Why didnt i run and hide with them. Why was i so weak. I hate that i wasnt strong enough to follow my heart. I long to turn the clock back, just like i long for breath.
I struggle to live with the constant memory of my baby struggling to get to me whilst someone ends his life. Omg i cant see my way thru, i dont deserve to live.
Michelle,
Yes you DO deserve to live and be happy. I am in the midst of some similar issues as you, and likewise only want the pain to go away. My Christian belief in a Supreme Being and an earthly Holy Spirit have kept me from taking the next step. but this does NOT somehow lead to a blissful state (despite what some people might say). Not being a professional, and not having found the “cure” from years of counseling, I can only tell you that you are loved, especially by God, that help is available, and please just try to get through one more day, looking for some positive experiences.
Thanks for your kind words Vera. They mean a lot 🙂
Life can be sweet but it usually tends to be a bitch. If wishes were true I’d wish to have never exist. Growing up i would sometimes wish and even pray that a huge fuckin space rock would just annihilate everything of the face of this planet and existence would be no longer. The worst part is that i tried to commit suicide be police and it failed although i was close to it putting them on a high speed chase for close to an hour and trying to ram a few off the road and not one of them shot me even when they told me to come out with my hands up i came out running at them acting like i was going to pull something out so they had a reason to shoot me and instead i got fucking tazered by a cop. I was never even wanted in this life my mom told me that if it wasn’t for her my dad wanted me aborted the person i cared the most for if anything at all and when i asked him if it was true he told me it was her that wanted to abort me. And then to top it off i had been bullied for a part of my life even though i would fight back. I figured i had to become more violent if i didn’t want people fuckin with me and now ive grown to be the father of 3 kids 2 who are babies and i just wish that my life ended. I cant even enjoy my family i just feel like im freakin cursed.
Laura,
I think about that too, what people did thousands of years ago. Surely over time, I think many people have thought about suicide as an escape rather than a final end. But still, many people act on these thoughts. And absolutely, those thoughts are worth taking seriously. Even if you don’t want to really end it, there’s something real and painful going on.
It probably is more common than we might think. These kinds of things always seem to be more common than we think. Wanting someone to give a darn about you by stepping out and taking action. Glad to hear you are taking care of yourself, and sometimes it’s good to hear a “you’re not alone” kind of message.
Take care and thanks for your comment.
I’m giving myself another 3 years. I’m not suicidal the way I used to be when suicidal ideation was omnipresent and OCD-like in my thoughts. But I’m here now because doctors convinced me that it would screw up my kids if I killed myself while they were young. In 3 years, my youngest child graduates from high school, and that’s when I will finally leave. No more being a single mother, without friends, working 60 to 70 hours a week to make ends meet.
Jude;
I understand. My husband took his life at 42. He had ocd suicide thoughts his whole life. He left a 9yr old boy, who has been severely affected, and many others have been hit with an emotional tsunami of pain unlike any pain you could know. This pain has devastated me. I loved him beyond measure. We had a good life. Nothing was as bad as he felt it was. He would not let the doctors know what was truly going on. I believe, like you, he had a plan and it was “time”. It is a selfish act. I beg you to reach out for a thread of purpose and hope. It’s often said that children of parents that commit suicide, will do the same. Is this the legacy that you wish to leave your children? I pray that you will survive and I’m sorry your pain is so great.
I am appalled at the use of the word, “selfish” to describe the act of suicide. I am so sick of suicide being characterized like that. What I find selfish is the people who want others to continue living with their pain. That is selfish because those who want others to keep living when their pain exceeds their ability to cope have no empathy or feelings for others.
Not everyone leads a charmed life and sometimes death is a much better place. When someone with cancer dies we understand, but if someone with mental illness dies, we consider it a choice. That is wrong, wrong, wrong. Mental illness is NOT a choice!
I am so sick of being mentally ill and not being able to keep my friends, have any meaningful relationships with anyone, or keep working. I can’t cope with the demands of life anymore and it just seems to worthless to keep living. I don’t enjoy anything and I just expect people to hurt me. I am lonely, empty, and depressed almost all the time. I can’t eat, sleep is a constant struggle because the feelings of suicide torment me, and all I want to do is hide under the covers in a dark apartment and cry. I feel like I am not worthy of anybody’s time and that I am just a burden on everyone else.
Now, if you can explain to me how this is a choice and that I can stop it anymore than someone who can stop cancer, I would gladly listen. I am so sick of this.
Excellent point!!!
Empty hyas a point. People like you talk about the selfishness of suicide, but you ignore the endless selfisheness of the supposedly well adjusted people who are making life unendurable for others.
You want to eliminate suicide? Start dumping your self-rghteousness on the people who are doing the real damage.
Empty — I so agree with what you said,
In my case there isn’t anyone at all to feel “devastated” by my death. Also, the house I live in could be sold and be used for charity — what’s ‘selfish’ about that?
I often think of choosing some poor person living in a slum in Calcutta, and leaving it all to them. They’d really appreciate it.
I realize that it’s near impossible to describe how you feel when a loved one has committed suicide, and the only word to grasp at is selfish, but this view is of the outside looking in. I have had several suicides in my family as well as a friend. I also have stared at death in the eyes as I spiraled deeper and deeper into a bleak, hopeless depression. The kind where you hurt all over from it and where your vision dims, casting a shadow over your existence. You can’t get away from it sucking the life out of you – no matter whatever you try or how long you sleep. I’ve felt as if there were no future and I had no way to really communicate how I really felt. I survived. It was the most difficult battle to ever face and then for me to push back from. I went into the hospital when I could take no more. I had seen the pain and the blame of those who had been left behind after a loved one kills themselves. For as much as I thought my family would be better off without my suffering, I knew too well the hell that they would face. Bit by bit I crawled out of that hole, thanks in part to medicine for my bipolar and partially to therapy,but mostly by me fighting to survive. Fourteen years later I’m still surviving. Yes, there is always a hint of depression, that gut-wrenching fear of going back to that dark time. But I survived. My life hasn’t been all that wonderful at times since then. I’ve gone through a divorce, being fired from a good job, and ending up on disability with a painful back injury. But I survived the depression, and I survived the rough times. And now, life is getting better; I’ve been working on myself without a toxic marriage to hold me down and I’ve found love in spite of not looking for it. I offer no advice, but I just hold out my story to those going through the same. It’s your choice, but I’ve found that life has been a really good choice for me.
I’m with empty. I know that I have chosen to continue on with life because I don’t want my family to deal with the pain and confusion of my death. They may or may not understand the depth of pain I live in most days. I know some people do, as evidenced by this string of responses. I also believe whole-heartedly that if I reach a point where I can no longer tolerate this existence, I will take leave, without regret. I don’t want to cause pain and confusion, nor do I want to live with it. It is a precarious place to be.
Jude, I am sincerely sorry your son and you–and your husband’s other acquaintances–are hurting so much because of his departure. But I must agree with others who’ve posted that suicide isn’t selfish. No one else can experience the pain a suicidal person is experiencing, so why would they impose a life sentence of suffering on such an individual? No one forces people to stay married despite the devastation divorce can reap on abandoned partners, children, and broken circles of close friends. Suicide is sad, but it’s the choice of a free individual to make–just as it’s the choice of a free man or woman to abandon his/her partner despite how much the partner still loves him/her. Besides, you cannot shame people, already deluged in emotional pain, into remaining alive.
I hope you and your son find what you need emotionally to overcome what I understand is a devastating life event.
One lady on here said that she will give herself 3 more years. For the very same reasons that she gives herself 3 more years, I give myself 1 more year. That’s when my youngest graduates and goes off to live his own life. It hurts to much to be here.
hny4jc,
I’ve been reading these comments as an outsider. I’ve never had depression. I’ve never been suicidal. I like to consider myself rather happy! (: but I it breaks my heart to realize that there are people so lost and sunk that they feel there’s nothing left to live for. I read about all the people that have said suicide is selfish or the ones that disagree (some, rather passionately), but I think it’s not selfish in the way everyone else thinks about it. The suicidal person doesn’t always take into account the others they’ll affect. Or, if they do, they underestimate the levels of pain it will cause them. The onlookers see it as an easy way out that selfish people make because they think it’s best for them (which in some cases, they may really believe that). This is wrong because it is, in fact, not easy. No one really wants to die; they just feel like their life is pointless. It’s the sad truth.
But, I’d encourage you to not take this way out. Even if your child finishes school and moves out, you’re still a part of their life, as muchg as you were before
I am responding to the person that gives her self one more yr to live. I had also came to the final edge. the pain was to much to live. There is NO other pain like it. The feeling of you could not be more alone. I get it. I know it.
I also have untreatable depression. Or so I thought. Until I finally went to a dr that gave me some hope. He tested me for a MTHFR mutation. I was positive. And it is curable. I take DEPLIN and a special type of vit B12.It literally saved my life.
I used to give myself time limits, then something else happens, your grown child has a child. I have had 20 hospital stays and 16 suiside attempts one was extextremely close. I have had suicidal thoughts since a small child. It doesn’t matter what is going on in my life. As soon as you think you have it all figured out, you think you have worked through all of your pain. It comes back. I have a Dr appt. today.its time to lay it on the line again. I went to support groups but that gets old. I beleive people don’t want to hear about the same thing week after week. I quit taking my meds about 4 days ago. At least if you give yourself a date you are giving life one more chance. Good luck and hopefully you will have another chance.
Sorry, the above comment was intended for “Please hear me,” not “Jude.”
Our 20 year old son died by suicide. He had a new car, a good job, two days before had been accepted to the four year college he had worked two years to get into, had a great girlfriend we all loved… And yet, the “pain” became more than he could bear… HE NEVER TOLD ANYONE THAT HE HAD EXPERIENCED ONE OUNCE OF PAIN!!!! The pain he left us is a thousand fold more and nearly indescrible to live with… Suicide – Hell no – I would never hurt anyone that much – the pain never ends it multiplies, and multiplies, and multiplies to infinity…
Caleb – we miss you and love you regardless.
Wendy,
I am not sure if anyone else has responded to you. Often when someone who is suicidal and/or depressed does not want to tell anyone, especially their family. It may make them feel like they are only imposing on their lives and burdening them with having such a terrible child. They may feel like you deserve better. Or that they wouldn’t be loved if they were suicidal. Your child was not trying to hurt you, even if he did. He might have thought that the pain that would come from him killing himself would be less than the accumulated pain that he would cause you for the rest of his/your life. I understand that dealing with suicide is very difficult for everyone involved. Without trying, you may be dipping into victim-blaming. You know that he loves you, and that you love him. Most likely he was only trying to keep from hurting you even more.
To Wendy: I know the post is old but somehow I’m hoping that you will see this. You said:
“Suicide – Hell no – I would never hurt anyone that much – the pain never ends it multiplies, and multiplies, and multiplies to infinity…”
Now, tell me how selfish is that??? To say that you would never hurt anyone so much and that the pain never ends?? HOW DO YOU THINK YOU SON FELT??? HE was in pain–so much pain that he didn’t want to be on this earth anymore. So much that he chose to spare you and worry you. THAT is selfish??? I don’t think so!
I think people who have that opinion that you do about suicide really, really need to make more of an effort to understand. You also need to examine your own feelings about death in general. If someone dies of cancer–for example lung cancer and that person was a heavy smoker, do you say they were selfish because of the way they died or the reason they died?? Is the hurt you say you have from guilt that you feel because if you had known about his pain that you feel you could have done something to make it all better?
I urge all of you who have this attitude to truly allow yourselves to delve into the reasons you feel the way you do. I mean DIG DEEP and try not to continue to place your feelings onto the other person. You do NOT know what it is like to be them–you have NOT walked into their shoes–I don’t care how much you think you may have been through yourself. Everyone’s journey is different and affects us differently. Even if we all had the same journey, the same experiences would affect us in different ways. I believe it has a lot to do with the way we are wired. Sometimes a strong faith can help you to keep going which is why I am still here today. But sometimes a strong faith is not enough which is why I may not be here tomorrow or next week or next year.
Right now I feel the stress of life is crushing me. In addition, I don’t feel that I have any purpose on this earth and don’t understand why it is I am still here. But, I want to believe that that reason will soon become clear if only I have what it takes to get there.
So please, Wendy and anyone else, refrain from leaving comments like that on THIS board. If you feel compelled to make statements such as the ones you have, please go to a board for suicide survivors. This is an outlet for those of us who are truly reaching out and need some empathy or words of encouragement–not a lecture telling us how selfish we are.
I am truly sorry for your loss but hope that your son is finally at peace.
Just wanted to say, EXCELLENT post Renae!!
Thank you for sharing that with us, and for being a voice for those of us that can not speak up.
THanks
This is a response to Renae.THANK YOU! I feel we have no voice. Our pain is secret. And Taboo. Thank you
Jude,
Even though I don’t know you, it pains me so much to hear the utter defeat in your voice. I know you hurt, but please bear with me while I tell a story.
There was a man who was an alcoholic. His wife tolerated it for many years, but for the sake of the children (and her own) she left him. He failed financially and hit bottom. Instead of hitting bottom and deciding to change his life for the better, he shot himself in the heart while his landlord stood on the front porch waiting for the rent that would never come. That occurred 15 minutes after he had told his younger son (11 years old) he would return his phone call in a few minutes. The older son (20 years old) came upon the scene with firetrucks, police, and an ambulance. The ex-wife was not far behind, having been telephoned that there was trouble. Jumping out of her car, the mother tried to run to her son. The police tried to hold her back. She demanded to see her son and be told what was happening. The police said, “It’s Frank, he’s been shot. He’s gone.” The mother, not understanding, said, “Where has he gone, the hospital?” The policeman said, “No, ma’am. He’s dead.” The piercing scream that came out of her son as he overhead that his father was dead will never leave her mind. Nor with the look in her youngest child’s eyes as she told him his father was dead. He said, “No, momma, you’re joking.” When she told him she wasn’t, he too, issued a scream that pierced her heart.
Jude, your children can be 11 or 20, the pain of a parent committing suicide is the same-overwhelming and unbearable at times. The older son actually is taking it worse than the younger son. It’s been two years and they are still grieving.
Jude, I too am a single mother with very few friends. But I know I’m important. I’m important to my children, no matter their age. Please reconsider. The suicide of a parent makes the child feel as though that parent didn’t love him. I know you are a good mom, you did not want to harm your children while they are young. Remember, you are important.
If the setback is temporary, people should stick with life, something good may happen. But I’ve known several people whose lives were disasters since childhood, and nothing good ever happened and was likely to happen. For those people, leaving this world made sense to me.
Thank you Rod.Your post touched my heart.
Cliff
I am bipolar and have been suicidal many times. The depression gets so great it is like I am spriraling down a black hole. Nothing makes sense. I know it is a permanent solution to a temporary problem, whatever the issue is. I turn on myself, and think I am worth absolutely nothing, and everybody would just be better off without me. In reality, I am in a great deal of pain (emotional), and just want relief. Sometimes it seems like the only way out. I am getting better at reaching out to people when this happens. I have responsibilites – a mate, children, grandchildren, friends that love and care about me. So logically I know I would be missed, and it would devastate everyone, especially those closest to me. But when I’m in that downward spiral it is EXTREMELY DIFFICULT to get out of it. That’s why I’m trying to reach out now.
Wow – I’m overwhelmed by the response to this post so far. Thank you so much for everyone with real life experiences here adding on. Your stories are so important. Those are the battles going on inside so many people’s minds each and every day.
For those of you who are reaching out right now to this post and to other places, don’t give up. Don’t give up.
Having been blessed with a non-responsive rapid cycling form of bipolar disorder can I just say that whereas suicide ideation used to always be just a sign (or symptom – I forget which) of an episode of deep depression, it’s now every day. I’ve made it to 60 years, battling through at least 45 years of this and have no family left, no partner, no children who know about me, and I wouldn’t be missed. After all those years I recognise that I’m in a depressive trough at the moment, but the battle against ending it has become more and more difficult whenever the depressive troughs come along. Just my contribution…
I have treatment resistant depression and don’t see a way to live with it. A lot of the time it seems like the best thing to do would be to commit suicide because the pain of living is so overwhelming. No one knows what the future will bring but the present moment can be too much to cope with.
have thought about it many times, the book that has helped is, the power of now, by eckhart tolle, i strongly recomment it.
I think the key is when we feel hopeless. I’ve been through rough times many times, been in pain, been depressed, deal with PTSD.
The only times I thought of suicide was when I felt hopeless that things could/would ever change for the better.
The worst time was when I was in chronic physical pain and fatigue, wasn’t getting any help from my doctor, had no counselling available, had no family around, and my 2 best friends had left me to myself as they thought I just had a bad attitude (they couldn’t reason/cajole/guilt me into appreciating the good in my life and how so many others were worse off).
I had no hopeof things getting better.
If it wasn’t for my young child, I wouldn’t be here today…
Fortunately, I have managed to get back to a state of being out of pain, physically and emotionally.
And I now speak up to educate people on mental/emotional illness issues.
Tammy
I think that’s great you’ve stepped out with your experiences to help others understand. I’ve found that has helped me as well with my depression experiences.
When I was in a place that I could talk about it and have some distance from it, the talking helped me get out of myself, helped me find a purpose for my experience. Made me feel it wasn’t all for not. Also reminded me how far I’d come since that time, affirming my recovery.
Lindsay
I really feel for you. Having little help from treatments has probably been discouraging over the years.
Sometimes a support group of other people with persistent difficult depression (or anxiety or whatever) can be helpful. Puts you in touch with others struggling with something similar. I would bet there are online groups for that as well.
I wish you well. And I hope for better progress in the mental health industry finding breakthroughs for your type of depression.
My younger brother committed suicide this summer. He had suffered from severe depression for a long time and nothing seemed to work. He even did about 50 ECT treatments and I think he just felt he couldn’t take it anymore. I wish he would have known the pain he has caused his family. It is unbearable at times and I think if he could have known our suffering, maybe he could have hung in there long enough to get the treatment he needed.
50 ECT’s is treatment! More than anyone I know who has suffered depression.
You are selfish to want him to live with so much pain!
When we depressed decide to end it, it has nothing to do with YOU! It is not to hurt YOU.
Saw it once explained as people in the tower in 9/11. They jumped. Why? Ask yourself why they jumped…
Nothing you could have done unless you can be with the depressed person 24-7. Just to listen, to go to doctors WITH them, to listen, listen, listen.
WE DO NOT WANT TO BE DEPRESSED AND NEVER EVER WANT TO HURT OTHERS. Depressed people are extremely sensitive and all hurt takes over the mind and body. They escaped the pain. Remember them …don’t be selfish and want them to go through the pain they lived.
THAT’S SELFISH of you!
I agree wholeheartedly that that many ECT’s IS treatment! I fought suicidal depression for over 12 years, in which time there were many suicide attempts — no medication helped (and they REALLY tried everything!) The ECT’s (60+) were “last ditch effort” to keep me alive long enough for more therapy. I had already lost 2 of my brothers to suicide – depression runs deep in our family…I never wanted to hurt my parents any further, but when the darkness rushed over me in gigantic, drowning depression — I risked my parents suffering. I had been in & out of psych wards for over 20 years, tried dozens of different types of therapy, but when you hurt so badly, physically & emotionally, you DO believe that the universe would be better off if you were dead; instead of hearing “How much you are hurting everyone else??” If they truly loved me, they wouldn’t want me to be in such constant pain. I totally agree w/ avoiding the “You are being selfish” theory. When it comes to suicide, no matter how many people may love you…the pain is just too overwhelming to live one more second.
Wow, it describes me so much when I get depressed and suicidal. I either want to runaway from it all and/or find ways to kill myself. I feel trapped, overwhelmed and don’t know what to do at those times. Even reaching out doesn’t help because then comes hospitalization, which takes me away from my 14 year old son. I think I deal a lot with anxiety, if not panic disorder, but my doctor and therapist think it is bipolar more than ADHD, major depressive disorder, etc. I believe it strongly to be depression with anxiety and when I get overwhelmed, there is no telling what may happen.
Thank you for bringing up the topic. As one can imagine, the impact of suicide goes far beyond the deceased and the funeral. Friends and family are haunted FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES about what they should or should not have done, why they missed the signs, how did they contribute to the action and loads of other “why” questions. I have worked with many patients who review these questions with themselves on a daily basis. Thankfully, besides religious reasons, concern for family is the second most common reason that people decide against suicide, and go on.
Perhaps it is right for friends and family to ask themselves what they could have done, and if they are “haunted” maybe it is because they know in their heart-of-hearts they did much of nothing and ignored the person in distress. The fact that people mostly have to depend on professional help is a statement of our times. The author of this article asks what did people do thousands of years ago? Family and community ties were stronger. Helping one was to help the whole. We are no longer a whole-listic culture and are suffering the consequences. Suicide is becoming a global epidemic. It is everyone’s problem as with each death there is less life for all.
My suicidal thoughts are not impulsive. They are calculated, built on many years of observation, experience, and logic. The main conclusion to all this is that my lifelong dream is unacheivable. I did not realize until recently how powerful that dream was, and how I cannot let go of it. I will not settle for anything less than completely acheiving that dream. The conclusion that it is most likely unacheivable leaves me so angry, so sad and so disparaged. This life is a complete let-down. A gift, they call it. Ha.
I’ve felt that way so many times that I do take alot of pills and I still wake up or I end up getting sick in the hospital. The last time I was in the hospital my doctor told me that I would need to stay in long term because of the attempts I’ve did in the past 3-4 years. I take the pills to not feel anything and keep myself numb because if I didn’t have them and would have to feel I really don’t know what would happen. I’m glad I found this article today to help me realize what I’m doing is wrong.
I have been manic all of my life, as was my mother. At 35 that is when I learned about this “torment”. The puzzle came together for me. I am also medication resistant which only adds to my despair and confusion. I think about suicide. I am the only child, both parents have passed away and thankfully I could not have children. So here I am, living on ssi, not being able to work, never having a stable relationship. No one to turn too. Mania has robbed me of my dreams, my hopes. And it gets harder and harder everyday to cope with this never ending torment. It is a vicious cycle..
As a currently severely depressed bipolar II person, I think part of the problem is that suicidal people are so consumed with their feelings they live in a metaphorical box where all they can see or hear or feel is their own pain. Life becomes difficult and the suffering is unbearable. They are unable to process anything but their own feelings and pain. They cannot process what might happen to those left behind. For me, right now, I have a rational part of my mind that does think about the repercussions of my death on my friends and family and that is the reason I am still here. It’s not so much that I am so horribly depressed and want to kill myself due to my suffering right now, in the moment, but rather it’s the thought of going through this cycling the rest of my life. Suicide is a tough situation both for the person going through the pain and for the family and friends of those left over.
Suicide obsession has become a part of my life… I actually feel incomplete without it. I’m 24, and have been plagued with depression for 15 years. I don’t know what life’s like without it, can’t imagine feeling truly good, living free. I feel scared just imagining being without it… as much as I hate feeling this way, I feel kinda comfortable and safe with it… it’s what I know, who I am. Often my feelings are so blank and ambivalent, but underneath it I’m terribly afraid – to do anything, or not do anything. Often I feel like suicide is inevitable for me. I don’t know. I just feel trapped.
I feel exactly the same as you. Many times I imagine the ‘last sleep’ — going to sleep knowing I won’t have to wake up again. The feeling of bliss!
The problem is that the more we think about doing something, the more difficult it becomes to actually do it. I worry “what if it doesn’t work”, or “will it be painful”.
It isn’t always treatable, and mine has gone on for years.
I hate the cliched advice ‘tell friends’ — what if you don’t have friends? If you’re REALLY depressed you lose all your so-called friends!
And why would I phone a help line? If I really want to commit suicide I won’t want someone to stop me, will I?
Thank you so much for writing this article. You don’t know how many times I tried to explain to my family and friends that I overdosed on pills not because I wanted to kill myself, but because I was at my lowest point and impulsive and just wanted the pain to stop. I knew it was a chance that I may die but I was willing to take that risk in order to just be numb to any emotions or thoughts. I saw myself taking the pills but was not able to stop myself. It was like an out of body experience. I still have those thoughts from time to time when I get overwhelmed but I learned how to get help and support for when those thoughts do come up. Thank you again for pointing this out in the article. It really gives people like me a voice and helps me realize that I wasn’t just minimizing my overdose and I really was not trying to kill myself.
There is so much pain expressed in so many responses. Pain from those that can see no other way out and from those who have lost loved ones that were desparate to stop their pain. I have attempted in the past, have thoughts of ending it all almost everyday. I have to sit myself down and list the people in my life that would be hurt, who would find me, what state they would find me in. Also, would this put someone in the hell of emotional pain I am trying to escape. I am fortunate that I have my “chosen family” that is there for me in more ways than they will ever know. Guess I could get that desparate one day, but not today.
“Don’t give up.”
Why not? No hope. No help. And, honestly, no one would care if I did give up.
The Choice is yours?
But it would be shame.
I care.
Blue Squaw, I don’t know why you came to this sight. Maybe you need some comfort. Maybe you need to feel you have some comfort to offer some one else. Please know I drew comfort from your words, and thank you. I care about you too.
I care – love to everyone here.
Hey Mr/Ms Nobody !
There are people who care…. I care. It’s just that we don’t confront these people at the right times. But have faith…..
It is different I feel, if you have medical reasons which will never change and are too painful with which to exist.
Suicide is not chosen,
it happens when pain
exceeds resources for
coping with pain.
Mania is hard, living is harder…
I attempted suicide fourteen years ago and survived only because I was found after becoming comatose from the pills. I had treatment resistant depression. I had support from family, friends and a therapist. However, the night of the attempt I felt that I entered a “tunnel” of despair and once I entered the tunnel I was no longer in control of my actions. I couldn’t call anyone. I just wanted the suffering to end.
There is hope. People did care. It took several years to recover from the depression. I remain on anti-depressants and am able to work and fully participate in life. I can even say I am happy.
I still feel the stigma from having attempted suicide but family and friends have forgiven me for the pain I caused them. I hope that I will always remember that my life is worthwhile. So is yours.
My mother committed suicide when I was 15 after many attempts. She did it in a very gruesome way to make sure that it worked. She had bipolar. Though I do understand how she suffered terribly as I have also developed bipolar, I do think that her example of choosing suicide as a “coping” skill has made it easier for me to follow in her footsteps when the depression has become so overwhelming.
I had my first overdose when I was 15 (3 months before she died) & my last one 2 1/2 years ago. I am 54 years old. I had promised myself I would not model that kind of behavior for my children as I knew how devastating it is to have a parent commit suicide & I was able to stick to that promise for 30 years until that relapse 2 1/2 years ago.
Many times I’ve had to crawl into the closet & cry all night & just feel tortured with emotional pain, but I kept my vow. What happened with this last time was I had a 5-month period of hypo mania after 5 years of relative stability & didn’t realize that it was so dangerous to not sleep but 2-3 hours a night for so long as I felt so GOOD & I’ve spent so much time depressed. But, of course, my brain was not getting proper rest & restoration & “misfired” & I crashed & overdosed suddenly.
My husband found me & I’ve been in a mixed state since then–getting my meds worked on & back into individual therapy & dialectical behavioral therapy, which are helping a lot.
PLEASE do not think suicide is not going to have a negative impact on your children–no matter what their age. You are modeling a behavior. Do you want them to follow in your footsteps?
Get help. That would be the kind of behavior that you would be proud to model & ultimately will be such a loving thing to do for your children. The grief of losing a parent to suicide is never ending, regardless of whether it is “understandable” or “justifiable” or not.
What I would like to know is there anyone else out there that is medication resistant and coping with it? Any tools or suggestions? I have educated myself about mania, talked to doctors, taken every medication possible and all that was left for me was ECT which I WILL NOT DO!! It has become almost to much to bear and do not know how to turn off my mind, rest, or even sleep… it’s all to much..
I already wrote my suicide note to all family members 20 yrs ago just in case it really comes down to the wire , I have bipolar disorder with anxiety, opiate dependant pain due to an accident with a truck. Sitting or standing for an hour or more is exhausting. I’m getting really depressed and losing my will. No friends,family conveniently needs to be reminded that I am how I am. If it weren’t for my kids…
Christina: I have found Dialectical Behavioral (group) Therapy VERY HELPFUL in teaching me how to regulate the overwhelming painful emotions. It is hard work, but so worth it to finally (I’m 54) get some relief from the emotional deregulation I have experienced basically all my life & have only known to overdose in response to it.
Most of the women in my group have been dxed with borderline personality disorder but I fit right in with my emotional turmoil & need to get some control. We all have the common difficulty of needing to learn how to diffuse the painful emotions & get through the escalating anxiety & emotions that prevent us from having a good quality of life.
It is more like a class with homework. Then I see the therapist that teaches it once a week for individual therapy. It has been SO HELPFUL. My pdoc cannot believe the progress I’ve made in 1 year. I’m now completely off Abilify (which I needed to get off as in 10 years on it I’ve gained 50 lbs. & now have high blood pressure & cholesterol & am now testing in the range of diabetic in blood sugar); my Lamictal dosage has been cut in half; I no longer need to take Trazodone to sleep or Klonopin.
I am learning “mindfulness” techniques to combat the anxiety. I highly recommend DBT.
I myself have been down that dark road to hell. I could not think of anything else to do except take my own life. I started drinking and using drugs to mask the depression, but that stopped working. I isolated myself from the world. I was already on disability for my depression that is by the way medication resistant. I too have been on so many drugs its ridiculous. I did have 30 ECT treatments, which has caused memory loss. I am also lucky enough to have been in a Clinical Study where they implant a device in the chest and attach wire to the vagus nerve which sends impulses to the brain every 5 minutes or so. It is similar to ECT but without the side affects. Anyway, I reached a bottom where I could see no light. Within 4 months I tried to commit suicide 4 times, almost succeeding once. I was in and out of psych wards and hospitals during those months. I finally reached a point where I could see clearly (due to medication) and could not believe what I had put my family through. I am greatful today that I did not succeed in my attempts. I hate to think of what my two boys would have gone through.
I wrote recently that I do not have suicide thoughts I have suicide dreams. Mentally you get to a point where suicide not only becomes a potential option it becomes the best thing that you ever heard of. I have been through the reasons why I should not take my own life and only one reason remains but that one reason is enough to get out of bed each morning and fight for another day. Suicide is about making the pain go away.
I think a lot about suicide when I am feeling down. I’ve tried before a few times when I was younger. The only thing that keeps me from it now is a couple of family members who I think would be hurt by it and plus I’m afraid that i might go to hell (somewhere I heard that along the line that if you commit suicide you will go to hell). Sometimes I really wish I could die. People say it’s selfish.. but maybe they are the ones that are selfish for wanting you to continue hurting. If they knew what it felt like they might understand. There are times I wish that I could convince those people that I would be better off dead.. somehow I don’t think they would go for it. So.. I have to continue on with psychiatrists and psychologists.. probably for the rest of my life.
Obviously it’s not up to me to pronounce judgement on your situation or counsel you but I wll say that there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever for the existence of a god/gods, an afterlife, heaven, hell and all that stuff. Most likely it was made up to manipulate people into believing whatever religious leaders wanted them to believe so they’d be able to control them.
Even the catholic church knows seems to think suicides don’t go to hell since they’re not considered to be fully responsible for their actions due to supposed mental illness.
I am dx as mpd/did. i’ve been in emotional pain my entire life and physical pain since my teens and i’m in my 50’s.
those who abused me programmed me to commit suicide before i ever told anything that happened to me as a child. i’ve had at least 20 parts trained to suicide out and at least 20 parts i somehow made to block me from killing myself. i only tried once and i could not finish the act.
i believe God has helped me to get help and get some healing from years of ritual abuse and other bad things i survived.
my two daughters and the people i love are my reasons why i continue to go to counseling and fight to get well. i do not want them to ask themselves why for the rest of their lives and wonder “is it my fault”? “is there something i should have done”? “am i not loveable enough for my mom to stick around for my life”?
those who abused me left me with so much pain and somehow, deep inside of me, i do not want to leave anyone i know with the pain of those questions that can never be answered. no suicide note will ever comfort my children and spouse or answer those horrid questions.
please don’t think i wish to guilt you into living, i am just telling my story, i’ve been in therapy for 15 years and tried so many meds before i finally got some relief from one anti-depressant. i will never truly forget the depths of darkness and misery in those most awful years – BUT, it has gotten better and i believe i will recover fully in time.
i am very sorry for all of you who hurt so badly this day and i sincerely wish something good would happen to help you heal and find life good. in sympathy,
Lisa
I am bi polar and have tried to kill myself twice, once almost successfully. I’m only 16, so up until recently I hadn’t attempted suicide because of what it would do to my parents and siblings. When I fall into my lowest moods it seems like the only way out- the idea of self harm too some how makes me feel more calm. I’m falling behind in school, losing friends and have lost my boyfriend. Increasingly i’m finding myself staying home from school because I can’t cope.
Thank you Suzanne for replying to my post. I am going to a pdoc next week and will ask him about DBT but I am not sure if my medi care will cover or if they even offer it where I live at present. I have been moving around because I live on a limited amount of money and going back to work would send me right back to the hospital. I have isolated myself and built what I call my own “citadel”. I no longer take anything regarding medications as I was weaned off cymbalta and my sleeping pill. Now.. xanex is the next drug that I either want to cut down or get off completely. Hence the doctor visit next week. I am struggling so hard, feel very alone and not sure where I will be living in the future. Frightened is the only way I can describe what I feel. The “system” is no help and I am losing hope for any help at all. Struggling with this alone has become a burden that is hard to bear. I feel quility about it because I know there are people that probably have it harder than me. It is so hard for me to talk about all this. I have never been a person who “dumps” on my friends and they have a hard time dealing with my mania also. I don’t get the highs anymore, but the lows are deep, long, and very dark. I expected that to happen as I have aged (50) and was told that by a few of my past doctors. I feel trapped.. and as a woman who once was very sucessful in her career and independent I am truly at my wits end. I just want it all to disappear, and there is no cure.
Why if there are so many of us that feel so in despair can there not be more done? Sometimes, sadly I feel as if it is all over money and/or greed. After all that is how most of the rest of the business world operates so why should the mental health system, drug companies be any different? I do not want to hurt any loved ones. I recently had a friend who killed herself and saw the impact that it left on her family and even on people she never thought that it would. All of these “treatments”….pills, ECT’s, therapy, etc. It would seem to me that there MUST be more with all of the technology that is out there. I have been in therapy for soooo long and yes, things do improve but when there are setbacks and all the suicidal thoughts start to come back it is very, very exhausting. I still am trudging along….
To Jude: I don’t know your situation but I do know that my mother left me at a very young age, then came back into my life and is not available again and I am in my mid 30’s. I do however know the pain. I also know that no matter when a child loses their parent it is unbearable. I do hope you can get help and change this decision for your children’s sake if not for yourself but I would hope that it will end up being for all of you. Obviously, I am no longer a child but I still long for my mom because I am her child.
Lisa
I’m amazed that you have been able to survive. You must be a heck of a strong person!
It’s another day filled with depression and despair of the future. I am planning to leave So. California in March because I just don’t know what to do anymore, and thinking about it, facing it everyday is getting harder and harder. I want some peace, I go to bed with pain, torment and overwhelming sadness. And I wake up the very same way. Why can’t it stop??????
Can you get outside into some fresh air, talk a short walk, anything pleasant to take your mind off it even if just for a moment?
I also recall you having a doctor’s appointment to ask about some treatments. I hope you are able to keep that and find help. DBT can very effective, so I would still ask if I were you.
Learning how to manage the thoughts, interrupt the cycles, and change the minute patterns in your mind can help you live better from moment to moment.
I wish you well with finding some helpful info about DBT treatment from your doctor.
I understand where Jude is coming from. Being a single parent myself and my child a fews years away from graduating high school, suicide is all I can think about. I am surprised that I have made it this far. It is exhausting being a single parent and the more time that passed I just realize how I was never meant to be here in the first place. There is nothing, there is no hope, no faith, no love, it is empty and cold, everyday drains another piece of me, I don’t even know if there is truly anything left. I have done the therapy, the anti depressants, read book after book and all that remains the same is more loss, more sadness and the true realization that there is and never was anyone there or anyone that has ever cared. Everything in this life is eraseable. Marriage is not sacred, ones you think are your friends are vengeful and selfish. No one truly cares at all in this lifetime. It is nothing that I ever thought it would be and as hard as try to change the path the road to nowhere becomes more clear with each passing day.
Exactly how I feel. Nobody really cares. Say you’re sad and people run the other way. Or say something like” everything will get better. I gotta go but call me when you feel better” HaHaHa REALLY??? And another good one ” oh my god i never knew she was so sad”. How could you know, you never stuck around to listen when I needed someone to care……
For Anna:
Even though you are in very real pain in a tormented life, I urge you to reach out to someone for help. The people you know now may have hurt you, but there are others you don’t know yet who can help you. Try to break away from your “old tapes” for a short while. Do a kindness for yourself. Getting better requires infintessimal steps that will add up to real improvement. I know you are tired, but your life is precious to someone–to me, and to others who value people as they are.
Amy
I have broken away for the past 2 years, nothing has changed and that was with continued therapy. For the first time in my life I think I accept the path and find some comfort in that. I accept people as they are and will always find good in them before bad. I actually feel as if I no longer exist, wasted breath, borrowed time.
For ten years, I had intense suicidal feelings and many hospitalizations. I prayed to my God to relieve me of these awful feelings. One day in 2000, I wanted to die. The feelings weren’t there. I don’t know how to explain it better, but I now had the choice to die or live. I feel I didn’t have the choice before cuz the feelings overtook me. I came close to stabbing myself in 2005. Family helped me overcome my pain. I lost a child years ago. This year, I have noticed that I am slipping into nothingness. Loss has eaten me up alive ever since my mom died. I get severe negative thoughts of standing in a busy street, wanting to get run over. I think of driving into oncoming cars. By the grace of God, I am alive, but I don’t know why.
I just want to make a statement. In life you tried to do everything right, what you think is good it isnt.No I am not depress I feel happy, happy with pain, the pain to know that no matter how hard you try to success got an MBA can’t find a job,3 spsychriatric episodes where you could even remember your own name; loosing your mind just because of love rejection, from your love one at the time, your mother, your sister and all of your nice and nephew hate you, with very strong personality who can anoy any body at will and is not welcome anywhere, you ask your frieds, teachers,pastors,neighbor for help but they answer is always the same I CAN NOT HELP YOU Or I DON”T HAVE TIME.every body is just after worldly things, money, money this world is just about money, Love does not exist if God is Love, so God does not exist My own life experiences speaks that truth, yes truth to me only, I never had love, I never had anyone care for me I was always avoided starting from my own relatives. I can not even remember when was the last time I had a hug, from anybody.When my daughter who is now 15, turned 10 and it was her birthday, for a family picture we need to be right next to each other and my mother just because of the picture put her arms around me and my 10 year old daughter turn around and surprised she said”Mamy is the very fist time I see my grandmother gives you a hug” I said, “NO, is not a hugh is just so we can all fit into the picture.Best friends rejected me for having mental illness, people don’t want to relate to people with mental illness, in hope I looked for teachers who study spychology but turn their back on me, so much for their psycholoby! they all see me as a threat of some kind when All I wanted in this life is to have a millions of friends , like the song from Roberto Carlos”YO quiero tener un millor de amigos” What is the reason for living? if you just keep getting rejected in everything you do? when all you have is your heart is Love and good intentions. You get tired of trying, there is no longer hope, no more faith,I don’t believe in anything anymore, I just pretend like the song says, The Great Pretender, Just to continue living for no reason otherwise you will be considered mentaly ill or depress. No I am not depress I just realilzed that, that whoever decided to make me, made a mistake in creating me that I shoul have never been born. All I wanted from this world was LOVE never happened neither with relative, friends, strangers, lovers, there is not enought love in this world just driven my money and material thing.I refuse to continue living without love.
I am amazed at the response this has brought about…I guess we all at some time or the other think of doing ourselves in! Sometimes thought the pain of loneliness and reminiscing about lost relationships gets too painful to bear and one does think of ways and means of ending the pain. It is a pain which cannot be shared as there is no one to trust with our feelings. Somehow reading all these comments has given me more courage to face life either alone, or with someone new.
May God and Angels look after all the Lonely People in this world. Sometimes there really is no one, but if one is able to concentrate on your favorite Angel, it will all pass.
Nice sentiment, but unfortunately for some of us, the thoughts do not pass even after years and we spend our days obsessed with suicidal pain and thoughts
Very tough post and thread. Perhaps not applicable to all, but for most, suicide is a terminal solution to resolvable problems. And, if you want to know the legacy you leave behind, go to the funeral of a suicide before you make the attempt, because that is what you leave behind: “what could I have done”, “where did I fail this person”, “why didn’t we see this coming”, and the worst is looking at the faces of children who are coming to grips they will never see their parent/family member/friend again. This is not a ‘Tom Sawyer’ moment where you could miraculously jump out from behind a tree and say “just a joke/mistake”.
There is no simple solution or quick fix to controlling or stopping suicidal thoughts and plans, but, having treated people who were suicidal and some who were just a drive or walk away from completing the act, I know most were not just grateful but appreciative that dialogue and medications, where applicable, made a positive difference. Hope and faith are almost never in the equation with a suicidal person, so those beliefs need to be reestablished, and can be if sympathetic, supportive, stable people can be let in to intervene.
My most difficult case was a person who came to me after getting a job promotion, bought a new house, and was expecting the first child in the marriage, and yet somehow twisted the job issue into a sense of pervading failure and further failure to the family. This person was going to leave my office and go home to shoot themself in the garage, but at least I had the opportunity to find out these things in my office and got the spouse, who cared and was fully invested, to help me intervene and convince the person to go to the hospital. The patient was angry and verbally cruel when left the office, but came back two weeks later to tell me that my intervention was the best thing, even though there was only hate at the time the hospitalization happened.
Reminds me of the line in an early year MASH episode when Hawkeye has the MPs take the Ron Howard character back home, as the soldier was underage. Howard says to Hawkeye, “I hate you, I will hate you forever”, and Hawkeye says without hesitation, “let’s hope it is a long and healthy hate.”
Better to intervene and make the person think more about their choices before impulsivity and irrationality leaves behind tears and ruin. That is what suicide’s legacy is.
Just an opinion.
therapyfirst, board certified psychiatrist
Quote: “And, if you want to know the legacy you leave behind, go to the funeral of a suicide before you make the attempt, because that is what you leave behind: “what could I have doneâ€, “where did I fail this personâ€, “why didn’t we see this comingâ€, and the worst is looking at the faces of children who are coming to grips they will never see their parent/family member/friend again. ”
Frankly, you can find that at almost any funeral.
Your idea is a good one aside from the fact that there are some of us who will have no one at our funerals, no one left behind to blame themselves or regret not having done more.
As one with no family, no friends, no job, who is aging and soon to be a widow, I believe I am now at a point where the question concerns me alone.
The legacy of suicide is much more than this. Ernest Hemmingway’s suicide involved 6 or 7 other suicides in other generations of his family. It sets a fatal example for others to folllow
Only Christians and Therapists believe that there are always solutions for problems without considering suicide as one of them. All a person has to do is find the right ‘solution’ and all will be well.
What is overlooked is the fact there may be real problems in a person’s life that cannot be fixed. Sometimes it is more than what is in the mind or brain that makes live almost unbearable.
I lost my only son, I am in ill health, I live with a deep depression because the quality of my life is so terrible. I will not end my life because of the pain it would cause others. Do I think suicide is a good solution for some people? Yes.
This. I agree so much. I’m not suicidal myself, but I absolutely positively feel that I should be in control of my own body and that self-termination is my right (as long as it’s done responsibly, eg not killing myself where 5 year olds would see). It angers me to no end that some would seek to take that away from me; hell, I’ve been threatened with a “forced treatment” simply for espousing my beliefs to that end, even though I specifically stated I had no such intents of suiciding anytime soon. I’m the one to judge my quality of life and if for example I get paralyzed or a painful incurable disease then *I’ll* be the one to decide when it’s time to go. You are not me, you are not living my life, you do not get a say. You can call it selfish all you want, but the one that is selfish is YOU for not understanding the situation and wishing me to live in pain. (Yet another thing I am so sick of: all the “suicide is selfish” judgmental/supercilious comments.)
Even in some cases of so-called “mental illness” I would support it, as long as the person was a non-delusional adult. For some, life is an uphill battle and they will struggle all their years with depression*. As an example, a friend of my father’s went through 20 odd years of depression treatments (including bad side effects) before finally killing himself. I don’t see how that’s much different from euthanasia to end suffering in the terminally ill; both are suffering after all. In fact, if I recall correctly, one of the main reasons for terimnally ill assisted suicide was that life would not be enjoyable and/or avoidance of pain. Frankly I can think of few better reasons to be depressed than to be terminally ill, yet people with “only” depression are declared mentally unfit.
*I should note here I that definitely don’t agree with slapping the diagnosis of “clinically depressed” on any one that feels sad, let alone trying to medicate away normal human feelings.1 If you’re 14 with good friends and in a good home, yet feel terribly sad 24/7 then yeah, somethings defiantly wrong. On the other hand, if you’re someone like Don Delong, I think you have every right to feel as he does. I also find it terrible some would try to make grieving into a diagnosis of depression… it’s perfectly normal to feel sad two weeks after someone has died, ffs! (Yes, I’ve seen this happen. Said person was better after a couple of months, no need for meds!)
There’s also a strong stigma that comes with these willynilly diagnoses that could hurt insurance purchases/premiums and potential job prospects (not just working for law enforcement etc., but other employers can and will judge you on such aspects and you have no way to prove they didn’t; I’ve sadly seen it first hand), as well as probably disallowing any firearms purchases where I live.
I very rarely comment on any forum, but I had to compliment what you have said here. Your comment is very insightful and mentions numerous issues that often get swept under the rug. People often say that those with ‘mental illness’ cannot make their own decisions concerning their life and future, yet no one complains when they make decisions about their family, finances or business. This is because, as you pointed out, people are concerned with their own selfish motives and not the pain of the person who is suffering. The discrimination that people diagnosed with mental illness face is another thing that gets ignored: having your constitutional rights taken away and basically being reduced to the status of second class citizen, discrimination by insurance companies (even with the new healthcare act you can still be denied life insurance or charged higher premiums), and discrimination at work. There are even people online who claim they have been denied a driver’s license due to a mental illness. The status quo is “EVERYBODY is mentally ill, NOBODY is curable, but EVERYBODY is treatable.” This turns everyone into a permanent patient but doesn’t make anyone better.