A Self- Destruction Suicide is the act or an instance of intentionally killing
oneself According to Emile Durkheim, suicide is applied to all cases of death
resulting directly or indirectly from a positive or negative act of the victim
himself, which he knows will produce this result (44). Suicide is a rarely ever
a spur of the moment thing. The Susceptibility to suicide is lowest among those
who have strong community ties. Involvement in church, synagogue or temple may
help the disquieted person feel that he is part of a religious fellowship bound
together by ties of sympathy, love, and mutual concern. House of worship often
substitute for a missing family. "We this reach the conclusion that the
superiority of Protestantism with respect to suicide results from its being a
less strongly integrated church than a catholic church" (Durkheim 159).
Grollamn noe "Augustine (354-430) denounced suicide as a sin, there was no
official church against it (23). Today people continue to commit suicide for a
variety of reasons: Love, insanity and chronic depression. There is usually a
series of events and warning sign before an attempt is made. Suicide is not
spoken much and is a topic that needed to be explored. Statistics on suicide
attempts changes so rapidly, that none can be stated with accuracy. Grollman
write that "Almost everybody at one time or another contemplates suicide.
Self-destruction is one of many choices open to human beings"(5). If one is
alert and observant, there is a chance that the suicide victim can be saved.
Imagine the thought of being dead. Would the world be better off without that
one life? Probably not, but some people may think so. That life will be greatly
issued by someone. It may even cause a person to want to commit suicide in order
to join the friend that died. Imagine how it would feel if pressures of everyday
life increased the greatly. Perhaps a parent, brother or sister was lost. What
if an adolescent person was arrested? How would his family and friends react to
this little misfortune? Say there is a test in math or science class, and when
the test came back the same person had failed it. It would seem to him to be
just another failure in a series of botched attempts to further himself. It
seems that the last month or two has been nothing but hardship. There is no
place to go. So, he feels, there is only one thing that can help, suicide.
"Man prefers to abandon life when it is least difficult (Durkheim 107). The
child may think: "If I where to die now, my parents would feel sorry for
their meanness" (Grollman 6). For days, even weeks, a plan is formulated.
How does he leave the loved ones and his problems behind respectably? Finally he
thinks of a plan, sleeping pills, in hopes that a final slumber will take all
the nightmares of reality away for good. Klerman note that "An act like
this is prepared within the silence of the heart, as is a great work of
art" (55). The pills are taken, after a while sleep sets in. At last, the
final rest that has been so long awaited for. A blurred vision appears and
slowly focuses. A white room appears, the vision gets clearer. He focuses in on
details such as an IV stand with several bags hanging on it. The hospital room
was not the expected place to awake. This attempt was just one more failure in
his life. The next time he will think of a more lethal way to seek eternal
peace. After the attempt. He will go to a hospital where all his actions will be
monitored. In the end, a counselor is usually called in. hopefully its will help
him in the struggle to deal with life's problems, all this done in hopes that
another attempt is made. "12 % of those who attempt suicide will make a
second try and succeed within two years (Grollman 73). To think all of this
could have been prevented if he sought help in the beginning. To further
understand suicide, we must take a look at the different reasons behind the act
itself. Suicide is not a genetic disease, but rather a series of events that are
very depressing or stressful. Dolce implies that "For years people assume
that only mental or emotional problems drove people to commit suicide"
(33). Lester writes, "Zimmerman et al found that depressed inpatients who
had experienced more psychological stresses had also attempted suicide
more" (205). Without depression, most people would not attempt to take
their own lives. "People have been killing themselves since the beginning
of recorded history. Attitudes toward suicide vary from age to age and from be
simple civilization to civilization" (Grollman 17). "Typically
depressed patient is apt to be young woman under the age 40" (Klerman 107).
"While suicide remains a major source of mortality, depression is a major
source of morbidity" (Klerman XV). Depression, is a vital issue in almost
every suicide attempt. The victim feels very depressed and everything seems to
be going the wrong way. Depression is not just "sadness". Depression
is a mild form mental illness, which can be permanent or temporary. It can
things like the loss of interest in usual activities. Showing sign of sadness,
hopelessness, helplessness and irritability are common in suicide victims. If
rapid changes in appetite, weight, behaviors, level of activity or sleep
patterns, or loss of energy occur, one must be cognizant of the fact that these
are prime warning signals. While making negative comments about one's self can
be because of lack of self esteem, it is also be something to be watched for,
especially in one who seems to be purposefully putting their personal affairs in
order, giving away their possessions, or has a sudden intense interest I
personal wills or life insurance. "The youth gives away all this valued
books and prized phonograph records" (Grollman 74). If one notice a person
appears to be cleaning their slate of personal incidents in the past, red
warning flags should go up, particularly if this person has had suicide thoughts
or fantasies, or has made previous attempts at suicide. Be familiar with a
sudden change from extreme depression to being "at peace," in one who
has previously been talking, writing or hinting about suicide. "Once a
person has decided to kill himself he almost always acts a little bit
differently" (Grollman 74). This list does not describe all suicidal
people. " Davidson found that 17% of a sample of drug abuser had previously
attempted suicide" (Lester 303). Some may not show any signs and yet be
suicidal. "Others may show all these sign and not be suicidal. In many
cases, the victim would choose differently if they were not in such great
distress and were able to evaluate their options objectively"(Stoney).
Depression is like a bad dream, but with help, a person can overcome this
"bad dream" and awake. The start of what leads a person to suicide
does not have anything to do with the person's present experiences, but with
their early childhood life experiences. "Traumatic or difficult birth
experiences put certain people at a much higher risk for suicide" (Dolce
33). "Scientific studies indicate that babies who suffer respiratory
difficulty during or shortly after birth may be more prone to suicidal
tendencies late in life" (Dolce 36). This is because the view of others,
outside family and friends, has no contribution to the pain that causes suicide
and depression. Depression can include: self-pity, shame, envy, and grandiosity.
All of these things play a role in depression one way or another. Depressed
people are usually subjects to desire and "grandiose ideation". Some
psychologist suggest that depression and grandiosity are in some ways, mirrors
of each other, both being types of "narcissistic disturbance" (Conroy
104). Grandiosity is best described as when a person starts thinking they are
above everyone and everything else. They absurdly exaggerate many things in
their lives just for the attention it brings them. Envy, another cause of
depression, has two aspects. In its primary sense, "envy is the experience
of pleasure, when the person who has that desired quality suffers
misfortune". (Conroy 85) Shame, in depression, is usually aimed inward
toward the victim, or depressed person. The feeling of, "why did I not do
that?" or "why did I not take that chance?" rather than having
pity for other people's mistake or misfortune. When self-pity, another
depression mode, is thought of, it usually brings up the feeling of being sad or
angry for mistakes that have happened in the past. David L. Conroy gives a
better example of self-pity by saying, "Our recognition of our own
suffering is much more vivid than our appreciation for the suffering of others
(99). Shortly before an attempt at suicide is made, a note may be written.
"Eaton and Reynolds found that adolescent attempt suicides were less likely
to leave a suicide note than adult attempters" (Lester 261). This article
is refereed to as a suicide note. It is one of the only things that can be
examined after the attempt or "completed" suicide to help the friends
and families determine what the victim was thinking and/or feeling at the time.
Here is a letter that has most of the depression characteristics discussed
earlier: It is hard to say why you don't want to live. I have only one real
reason. The three people I have in the world which I love, don't love me. Tom, I
love you so dearly, but you have told me you don't want me and you don't love
me. I never thought you would let me go this far, but I am now at the end which
is the best for you. You have so many problems and I am sorry I added to them.
Daddy, I hurt you so much and I guess I really hurt myself. You only wanted the
best for me and you must believe this is it. Mommy, you tried so hard to make me
appy and to make things right for all of us. I love you too, so much. You did
not fail. I have no place to go so I am back where I always seem to find peace.
I have failed in everything I have done and I hope I do not fail in this. I love
you all dearly and am sorry this is the way to say good bye. Please forgive me
and be happy. Your wife and daughter (Lester 79). When looking at and examining
at suicide note, there are severals factors to look for. One of the factors
might be that the victim is faced with depressing problems that are extremely
hard to deal With. His situation is viewed as long history of similar crisis. He
believes that death is the only way to escape the problems in his life. The
victim usually becomes socially isolated, so isolated that the distress cannot
be shared with others. The victim must also overcome the belief that suicide is
not irrational or immoral. The victim feels less constrained by social rules. He
feels that the problem is not of his own making, and there is not other
solution. He makes a statement that his problems will not occur after death
(Lester 78). The following are illustrations of people who failed committing
suicide because it is not easy as the Hollywood movies make it seem. 1. Tom, a
teenage boy, put a .22 pistol to his head and pulled the trigger. The bullet
entered his temple, ripped through his brain, ricocheted around in his skull,
and lodged in his jaw. He did not die. Now severely brain-damaged, he lives on,
unable to work or go to school. 2. Marry jumped from a high bridge into a river,
many people have died making this same jump. Marry did not. Rather, she entered
the water at a bad angle and broke her back. She was rescued before she could
drown. Marry lives in a wheelchair. 3. George shot himself with a large-caliber
pistol in the stomach. He destroyed a kidney. Fortunately, he had two. 4. Bryan,
arrested on a drug charge and fearful of his parents reaction. Attempted to hang
him self and loosing consciousness. The loss of oxygen to his brain caused
permanent brain damage. 5. Janice cut her wrists-sideways. One of the cuts ran
deep enough to sever a tendon. Janice used to play piano. She still does but not
so swell (Quinnet 118). A good assumption to make about suicide attempts would
be, the more lethal method a person uses, the more their body will be disfigured
if their attempt fails. This not a major concern of the victim, but causes
untold grief to those left behind to care of what is left of that person. Here
are several reasons why suicide should not be an option. One, funerals are
expensive, two, the Mr. Rogers way of thinking, people can like me just the way
I am. There are many signs and reasons people commit and attempt suicide. They
are usually in extreme emotional pain. They do no see another way out of their
problems. These victims of emotions running rampant need lots of love and
understanding. But what they need most is someone to really listen to them and
tell them, "I do not want you to die."