Some suicides are more incomprehensible...

[Kenny]

Sorry hun, I work at McDonalds.

 

Would you like fries with that?

No thanks. You probably pee in the fryer.

[+ Awwshuck]

No thanks. You probably pee in the fryer.

 

LMAO!!!!!!

[+ WilliamM]

People who commit suicide are the most selfish people on the planet == I lost a dear wonderful intelligent funny sexy productive creative amazing FWB++ this year --- He ripped the hearts out of family and friends and tore my heart to shreds -- Why? So many people loved him . . .

 

My uncle in Florida committed suicide at a low point in the family finances. He left my aunt and their son to grieve and deal with a horrible financial mess. My aunt lived another 30 years in poverty. And my first cousin married several times, and became a right-wing law enforcement officer. The aunt (my mom's sister) took it well and never complained. Although her life was truly awful, she loved her husband to the day she died in 1983. She was born in 1899. So had seen many things, including the depression.

 

As to "the most selfish people on the planet," I do not agree at all.

[Bearofdistinction]

My uncle in Florida committed suicide at a low point in the family finances. He left my aunt and their son to grieve and deal with a horrible financial mess. My aunt lived another 30 years in poverty. And my first cousin married several times, and became a right-wing law enforcement officer. The aunt (my mom's sister) took it well and never complained. Although her life was truly awful, she loved her husband to the day she died in 1983. She was born in 1899. So had seen many things, including the depression.

 

As to "the most selfish people on the planet," I do not agree at all.

 

Thank You Orahole. . .

[marylander1940]

 

https://www.companyofmen.org/tags/suicide/

[+ WilliamM]

Thank You Orahole. . .

 

My mom flew from Boston to Tampa to attend the funeral. She was the only sibling there.

 

Not because of the suicide. She did not mind flying back then (early 1950s) when flight delays were common.

Edited June 17, 2018 by WilliamM

[marylander1940]

My uncle in Florida committed suicide at a low point in the family finances. He left my aunt and their son to grieve and deal with a horrible financial mess. My aunt lived another 30 years in poverty. And my first cousin married several times, and became a right-wing law enforcement officer. The aunt (my mom's sister) took it well and never complained. Although her life was truly awful, she loved her husband to the day she died in 1983. She was born in 1899. So had seen many things, including the depression.

 

As to "the most selfish people on the planet," I do not agree at all.

 

I agree, they're not selfish, they just don't see a way out of their misery.

 

 

Maybe they have a chemical imbalance in their brains, depression, a misperception of reality pointing at all that is wrong or they just don't see a way out of the reality they hate so much. Plenty of talk about rape victims in college who are bullied because their rapist is a popular guy and they kill themselves. I've read men are more likely to kill themselves because of money while women have a tendency to do it because of love.

 

I'm sure not even Bourdain knew what led him to end his life. God knows why Arpad Miklos did the same: lack of future, feeling like an object, end of his career, etc.

[+ g56whiz]

First my bona fides. Over the course of about 40 years I was a low grade chronic depressive who experienced two suicidal ideations.

 

The immediate cause of depression and therefore suicide is often an imbalance of the hormone serotonin. The body has a number of self-defense mechanisms like coagulants for wounds or adrenalin for danger. The secretion of serotonin is one of them. Serotonin which regulates mood, sleep and appetite is also a vasodilator. When as the result of undue stress there is a sustained rise in blood pressure capable of harming organs, Serotonin kicks in to preserve these tissues.

 

The ability to identify the cause of such stress is crucial. One of the most common causes is of course grief. In grief the body shuts down to the extent that even the immune system is affected. Life altering events like the loss of a job, breakup of a relationship, financial distress can have a similar effect.

 

The real problems occur when the mind doesn’t recognize that it is in such a state. In order to justify its state of malaise it will create causes and things like unexplainable paranoia or anger arise.

 

In my own case, the mind sought to shut down: to not think. I’d play 14 hours of minesweeper with nary a potty break so that I wouldn’t have to deal with my distress or take a whole day to make a bed because my attention span was about 30 seconds. There were a few days I didn’t make it to work and a few social events I dressed for but couldn’t bring myself to leave my home.

 

The really difficult cases of depression occur when there is no identifiable cause of stress. That was my case. My diagnosing psychiatrist readily determined that I had been a low-grade borderline chronic depressive for 40 years or more. Upon exploring my family history, the cause was evident. Alcoholism which is closely related to depression was prevalent on both sides of my family. It was never a problem with my parents both of whom came for dysfunction alcoholic families. Moreover, there were a few suicides on my father’s side. My depression was determined to be genetic and I was treated accordingly.

 

My point here is that there are instances when depression - suicidal depression - is solely the result of an undiagnosed change in brain chemistry and that the victim of such a depression is no guiltier of causing it than is a victim of lung cancer who never smoked. Moreover, it is intellectually presumptuous and cruel to impute on them a rational cause or moral failing.

 

I’ll get off my soap box now but not before commending Andrew Solomon’s The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression, a 2001 National Book Award winner. The more you know and understand about depression the less likely you’ll be its victim and the more likely you’ll be able to recognize it in others and get them diagnosed and treated.

[LADoug1]

First my bona fides. Over the course of about 40 years I was a low grade chronic depressive who experienced two suicidal ideations.

 

The immediate cause of depression and therefore suicide is often an imbalance of the hormone serotonin. The body has a number of self-defense mechanisms like coagulants for wounds or adrenalin for danger. The secretion of serotonin is one of them. Serotonin which regulates mood, sleep and appetite is also a vasodilator. When as the result of undue stress there is a sustained rise in blood pressure capable of harming organs, Serotonin kicks in to preserve these tissues.

 

The ability to identify the cause of such stress is crucial. One of the most common causes is of course grief. In grief the body shuts down to the extent that even the immune system is affected. Life altering events like the loss of a job, breakup of a relationship, financial distress can have a similar effect.

 

The real problems occur when the mind doesn’t recognize that it is in such a state. In order to justify its state of malaise it will create causes and things like unexplainable paranoia or anger arise.

 

In my own case, the mind sought to shut down: to not think. I’d play 14 hours of minesweeper with nary a potty break so that I wouldn’t have to deal with my distress or take a whole day to make a bed because my attention span was about 30 seconds. There were a few days I didn’t make it to work and a few social events I dressed for but couldn’t bring myself to leave my home.

 

The really difficult cases of depression occur when there is no identifiable cause of stress. That was my case. My diagnosing psychiatrist readily determined that I had been a low-grade borderline chronic depressive for 40 years or more. Upon exploring my family history, the cause was evident. Alcoholism which is closely related to depression was prevalent on both sides of my family. It was never a problem with my parents both of whom came for dysfunction alcoholic families. Moreover, there were a few suicides on my father’s side. My depression was determined to be genetic and I was treated accordingly.

 

My point here is that there are instances when depression - suicidal depression - is solely the result of an undiagnosed change in brain chemistry and that the victim of such a depression is no guiltier of causing it than is a victim of lung cancer who never smoked. Moreover, it is intellectually presumptuous and cruel to impute on them a rational cause or moral failing.

 

I’ll get off my soap box now but not before commending Andrew Solomon’s The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression, a 2001 National Book Award winner. The more you know and understand about depression the less likely you’ll be its victim and the more likely you’ll be able to recognize it in others and get them diagnosed and treated.

GREAT post!

[+ OliverSaks]

GREAT post!

Serotonin imbalance as cause of depression doesn’t hold as much weight as you might think.

[marylander1940]

I've always wonder why Bernie Madoff didn't kill himself?

 

One of his sons did because he just couldn't live with folks accusing him of being complicit to his father's crimes yet there was no chance for him to go to jail.

 

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/mark-madoff-oldest-son-bernie-madoff-hangs-dog-leash-soho-apartment-article-1.472713

[marylander1940]

 

In the last part Joan Rivers talks about her husband's suicide, in other videos she talked thinking about committing suicide.

[+ jeezopete]

This interview gives a different perspective of the selfishness of suicide:

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/million-dollar-listings-luis-d-ortiz-reveals-hes-struggling-with-suicidal-thoughts/ar-AAz48vu?ocid=spartanntp

[Walker1]

This interview gives a different perspective of the selfishness of suicide:

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/million-dollar-listings-luis-d-ortiz-reveals-hes-struggling-with-suicidal-thoughts/ar-AAz48vu?ocid=spartanntp

I really liked him on the show, he brought a different dynamic to it. Hope he gets the help he needs, he was so energetic and fun. But I think they showed him getting panic attacks in the end. Hopefully he comes out-it took a lot of courage to share his demons.

[Kenny]

I really liked him on the show, he brought a different dynamic to it. Hope he gets the help he needs, he was so energetic and fun. But I think they showed him getting panic attacks in the end. Hopefully he comes out-it took a lot of courage to share his demons.

I also hope he gets help. He’s in a cul de sac now because of the “selfishness” error. In his post, he debates who is more selfish: himself, for wanting out without regard for the pain it would cause others; or those others, who are more concerned about themselves than about his pain.

 

There is no answer to that, because “selfishness” is a red herring in the suicide discussion. The poor guy is partly stuck, spinning his wheels, because of it.

[+ g56whiz]

There is no answer to that, because “selfishness” is a red herring in the suicide discussion. The poor guy is partly stuck, spinning his wheels, because of it.

 

That’s just it! When the brain can’t perceive the cause of its distress it makes up reasons. The sky’s falling and there’s nothing to be done about it. No way out.

 

Even if by luck (and it’s often just luck) you get prescribed the right antidepressant, it takes a month or more to to kick in. I can recall reading a New Yorker magazine in the waiting room of my medical doctor when gradually the dark cloud began to lift. Things that I considered impossible became somehow possible. I could see a way out of my dilemma. The was a mild euphoria knowing there could be a future.

 

The problem is that brain chemistry is as yet a relatively inexact science. Trial and error and patience are required and patience can be deadly.

[LADoug1]

That’s just it! When the brain can’t perceive the cause of its distress it makes up reasons. The sky’s falling and there’s nothing to be done about it. No way out.

 

Even if by luck (and it’s often just luck) you get prescribed the right antidepressant, it takes a month or more to to kick in. I can recall reading a New Yorker magazine in the waiting room of my medical doctor when gradually the dark cloud began to lift. Things that I considered impossible became somehow possible. I could see a way out of my dilemma. The was a mild euphoria knowing there could be a future.

 

The problem is that brain chemistry is as yet a relatively inexact science. Trial and error and patience are required and patience can be deadly.

 

Can’t agree with you more about finding the right antidepressant. Very inexact science. Tough to find the right psychiatrist (and it should always be a trained psychiatrist who prescribes these drugs) to help you.

Edited July 1, 2018 by LADoug1

[+ quoththeraven]

It's incorrect according to who?

 

Most every mental health professional who have years of experience and training will tell you exactly what I said: most suicides are due to untreated mental illness - specifically depression.

That's not what you wrote. You made an absolute statement. So no, it wasn't exactly what you said.

 

People in treatment attempt and commit suicide too. I provided an example.

 

Nice backtracking, though.