6 Reasons Why People Commit Suicide - Family - Nairaland
Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / Family / 6 Reasons Why People Commit Suicide (2498 Views)
6 Reasons That Keep Nigerian Ladies Above 30 From Marrying. Please Avoid Them! / Wrong Reasons Why People Marry / I Read My Sister"s Diary And She Is Planning To Commit Suicide (2) (3) (4)
| 6 Reasons Why People Commit Suicide by Nobody: 2:35pm On Aug 20, 2014 |
I have known a number of people left behind by the suicide of people close to them. The one question everyone has asked without exception, that they ache to have answered more than any other, is simply, why? Why did their friend, child, parent, spouse, or sibling take their own life? Even when a note explaining the reasons is found, lingering questions usually remain: yes, they felt enough despair to want to die, but why did they feel that? A person’s suicide often takes the people it leaves behind by surprise (only accentuating survivor’s guilt for failing to see it coming). People who’ve survived suicide attempts have reported wanting not so much to die as to stop living, a strange dichotomy but a valid one nevertheless. If some in-between state existed, some other alternative to death, I suspect many suicidal people would take it. For the sake of all those reading this who might have been left behind by someone’s suicide, I wanted to describe how I was trained to think about the reasons people kill themselves. They’re not as intuitive as most think. In general, people try to kill themselves for six reasons: 1. They’re Depressed This is without question the most common reason people commit suicide. Severe depression is always accompanied by a pervasive sense of suffering as well as the belief that escape from it is hopeless. The pain of existence often becomes too much for severely depressed people to bear. The state of depression warps their thinking, allowing ideas like “Everyone would all be better off without me” to make rational sense. They shouldn’t be blamed for falling prey to such distorted thoughts any more than a heart patient should be blamed for experiencing chest pain: it’s simply the nature of their disease. Because depression, as we all know, is almost always treatable, we should all seek to recognize its presence in our close friends and loved ones. Often people suffer with it silently, planning suicide without anyone ever knowing. Despite making both parties uncomfortable, inquiring directly about suicidal thoughts in my experience almost always yields an honest response. If you suspect someone might be depressed, don’t allow your tendency to deny the possibility of suicidal ideation prevent you from asking about it.
|
| Re: 6 Reasons Why People Commit Suicide by Nobody: 2:38pm On Aug 20, 2014 |
2. They’re Psychotic Malevolent inner voices often command self-destruction for unintelligible reasons. Psychosis is much harder to mask than depression — and arguably even more tragic. The worldwide incidence of schizophrenia is 1% and often strikes otherwise healthy, high-performing individuals, whose lives, though manageable with medication, never fulfill their original promise. Schizophrenics are just as likely to talk freely about the voices commanding them to kill themselves as not, and also, in my experience, give honest answers about thoughts of suicide when asked directly. Psychosis, too, is treatable, and usually must be for a schizophrenic to be able to function at all. Untreated or poorly treated psychosis almost always requires hospital admission to a locked ward until the voices lose their commanding power.
|
| Re: 6 Reasons Why People Commit Suicide by kekakuz(m): 2:39pm On Aug 20, 2014 |
3 their container sank 4 Likes |
| Re: 6 Reasons Why People Commit Suicide by Nobody: 2:40pm On Aug 20, 2014 |
3. They’re Impulsive Often related to drugs and alcohol, some people become maudlin and impulsively attempt to end their own lives. Once sobered and calmed, these people usually feel emphatically ashamed. The remorse is usually genuine, and whether or not they’ll ever attempt suicide again is unpredictable. They may try it again the very next time they become drunk or high, or never again in their lifetime. Hospital admission is therefore not usually indicated. Substance abuse and the underlying reasons for it are generally a greater concern in these people and should be addressed as aggressively as possible.
|
| Re: 6 Reasons Why People Commit Suicide by Nobody: 2:41pm On Aug 20, 2014 |
4. They’re Crying Out For Help, And Don’t Know How Else To Get It These people don’t usually want to die but do want to alert those around them that something is seriously wrong. They often don’t believe they will die, frequently choosing methods they don’t think can kill them in order to strike out at someone who’s hurt them—but are sometimes tragically misinformed. The prototypical example of this is a young teenage girl suffering genuine angst because of a relationship, either with a friend, boyfriend, or parent who swallows a bottle of Tylenol—not realizing that in high enough doses Tylenol causes irreversible liver damage. I’ve watched more than one teenager die a horrible death in an ICU days after such an ingestion when remorse has already cured them of their desire to die and their true goal of alerting those close to them of their distress has been achieved.
|
| Re: 6 Reasons Why People Commit Suicide by Nobody: 2:42pm On Aug 20, 2014 |
5. They Have A Philosophical Desire To Die The decision to commit suicide for some is based on a reasoned decision often motivated by the presence of a painful terminal illness from which little to no hope of reprieve exists. These people aren’t depressed, psychotic, maudlin, or crying out for help. They’re trying to take control of their destiny and alleviate their own suffering, which usually can only be done in death. They often look at their choice to commit suicide as a way to shorten a dying that will happen regardless. In my personal view, if such people are evaluated by a qualified professional who can reliably exclude the other possibilities for why suicide is desired, these people should be allowed to die at their own hands.
|
| Re: 6 Reasons Why People Commit Suicide by Nobody: 2:44pm On Aug 20, 2014 |
6. They’ve Made A Mistake This is a recent, tragic phenomenon in which typically young people flirt with oxygen deprivation for the high it brings and simply go too far. The only defense against this, it seems to me, is education. The wounds suicide leaves in the lives of those left behind by it are often deep and long lasting. The apparent senselessness of suicide often fuels the most significant pain survivors feel. Thinking we all deal better with tragedy when we understand its underpinnings, I’ve offered the preceding paragraphs in hopes that anyone reading this who’s been left behind by a suicide might be able to more easily find a way to move on, to relinquish their guilt and anger, and find closure. Despite the abrupt way you may have been left, those don’t have to be the only two emotions you’re doomed to feel about the one who left you.
|
| Re: 6 Reasons Why People Commit Suicide by technophile(m): 3:43pm On Aug 20, 2014 |
9ce writeup! but before a Naija guy can commit suicide tho' it's either because something extraterrestrial is going on or they have been brainwashed by some terrorists. I have my reasons, in Lagos thousands of hustlers are homeless, many are living under the bridge yet they put smiles on their face and went on with their day to day activities like say nothing dey happen. No wonder Nigeria was once rated the happiest nation on earth some years ago. LONG LIVE NIGERIANS! 3 Likes |
| Re: 6 Reasons Why People Commit Suicide by JEITO: 4:49pm On Aug 20, 2014 |
As far as I am concerned, no reason is justified enough to take one's own life  I see suicide as accepting defeat in a wrestling match against life's challenges. Killing yourself never solves the problem, rather, it gains you an unpleasant tag, ''the man that killed himself because/ out of...'' Moreover, I see people who commit suicide as selfish, self-centred beings with no regard for the feelings of their family and friends  1 Like |
| Re: 6 Reasons Why People Commit Suicide by Nobody: 5:26pm On Aug 20, 2014 |
they are hopeless |
| Re: 6 Reasons Why People Commit Suicide by Nobody: 5:33pm On Aug 20, 2014 |
lofty900: they are hopeless One thing I love Nigerians for is that we are a people of hope. We complain-ly hope against hope, believing things will change for the better with time. Fela's philosophical 'suffering and smiling' song readily comes to mind here... 1 Like |
| Re: 6 Reasons Why People Commit Suicide by Nobody: 7:39pm On Aug 20, 2014 |
smurfy:exactly my brother. 1 Like |
| Re: 6 Reasons Why People Commit Suicide by uglyogre(f): 8:03pm On Aug 20, 2014 |
You might as well remove the `they' in your writeup and substitute your name in there.We will only be lucky if when the world ends, some of us won't be held accountable for some one else's death. We are commanded by every religion known to man to LOVE. when you love your neighbour and show compassion towards what they pass through, sharing in their suffering, then you register to be a true follower of whom you follow. many passed through fire, many passed through water, many took their lives. many will also die because they lived for themselves in this world |
| Re: 6 Reasons Why People Commit Suicide by iiichidodo: 8:31pm On Aug 20, 2014 |
Suicidal people are everywhere including Nigeria the difference is that most suicidal Nigerians are generally cowards so we hide behind tags of 'most happiest' or 'suffering and smiling' etc....I tell you if there was chance of a better life in the afterlife via suicide,which must not be too difficult and painful to accomplish, then most of us would have checked out a long time ago... 2 Likes |
| Re: 6 Reasons Why People Commit Suicide by uglyogre(f): 8:40pm On Aug 20, 2014 |
iiichidodo: Suicidal people are everywhere including Nigeria the difference is that most suicidal Nigerians are generally cowards so we hide behind tags of 'most happiest' or 'suffering and smiling' etc....I tell you if there was chance of a better life in the afterlife via suicide,which must not be too difficult and painful to accomplish, then most of us would have checked out a long time ago...Mr, can you change this font colour to another, this one is not appealing at all to those of us who are colour sensitive, i had to close my eyes when i saw it even though what yot're saying makes sense 1 Like |
| Re: 6 Reasons Why People Commit Suicide by uglyogre(f): 8:55pm On Aug 20, 2014 |
... |
| Re: 6 Reasons Why People Commit Suicide by iiichidodo: 8:57pm On Aug 20, 2014 |
uglyogre:This color is the ichidodo Brand and the monicker has a lot riding on it in this very public forum....so you shouldn't expect Coca-cola,MTN or Toyota to change their brand because in your own word " it is not appealing at all to those of us (a microscopice few) who are color sensitive." 1 Like |
| Re: 6 Reasons Why People Commit Suicide by uglyogre(f): 9:07pm On Aug 20, 2014 |
iiichidodo: This color is the ichidodo Brand and the monicker has a lot riding on it in this very public forum....so you shouldn't expect Coca-cola,MTN or Toyota to change their brand because in your own word " it is not appealing at all to those of us (a microscopice few) who are color sensitive."Ok sir |
| Re: 6 Reasons Why People Commit Suicide by Nobody: 9:40pm On Aug 20, 2014 |
JEITO: As far as I am concerned, no reason is justified enough to take one's own life This is true indeed. Taking one's live sets off a lot of chain reactions. |
| Re: 6 Reasons Why People Commit Suicide by Kanwulia: 9:41pm On Aug 20, 2014 |
Suicide? As this LIFE dey SWEEEEEET me so?  How I go DIE leave NL for my H-ENEMIES? Not an option o!  |
| Re: 6 Reasons Why People Commit Suicide by beau49: 11:50pm On Aug 20, 2014 |
^^^ |
| Re: 6 Reasons Why People Commit Suicide by baby124: 12:06am On Aug 21, 2014 |
Eyah |
| Re: 6 Reasons Why People Commit Suicide by Nmeri17: 6:43am On Aug 23, 2014 |
JEITO: As far as I am concerned, no reason is justified enough to take one's own life Not trying to defend them But often times they're being forsaken by their family hence the ultimate decision |
| Re: 6 Reasons Why People Commit Suicide by OlayemiKing(m): 9:50am On Aug 23, 2014 |
Well, most of the things stated in this write-up is right and sometimes eludes human comprehension. But the only way out is having good relationship with God. If the holyspirit resides in you he will be your comforter in any situation in life and suicide will never be an option and will never even cross your mind. 1 Like |
| Re: 6 Reasons Why People Commit Suicide by Nobody: 12:32pm On Aug 23, 2014 |
Tufiakwa!! I will rather kill myself than comit suicide!. |
| Re: 6 Reasons Why People Commit Suicide by Nobody: 10:34pm On Aug 26, 2014 |
DonRoberto: Tufiakwa!! I will rather kill myself than comit suicide!. Is it true Madam Patience made that statement? |
| Re: 6 Reasons Why People Commit Suicide by Nobody: 12:37am On Nov 12, 2014 |
technophile: Some are doing so these days, especially victims of rape. |
| Re: 6 Reasons Why People Commit Suicide by Kanwulia: 1:19am On Nov 12, 2014 |
I just can't understand the concept of suicide except it ends ALL PROBLEMS PERMANENTLY. This life too sweet to wan see GOD OR SATAN imho! What would blind people feel then? |
| Re: 6 Reasons Why People Commit Suicide by Kanwulia: 1:21am On Nov 12, 2014 |
Kanwulia: So. . . . I don reasssssh this thread hehn? |
| Re: 6 Reasons Why People Commit Suicide by Nobody: 1:41am On Nov 12, 2014 |
I know of a girl who attempted to commit suicide while under the influence of some strong drugs. I don't know if the drugs were the ones that caused the desire to commit suicide or the drugs just brought out a side of her she never wanted to reveal while sober. |
| Re: 6 Reasons Why People Commit Suicide by cococandy(f): 2:03am On Nov 12, 2014 |
Oxygen deprivation gives highs? Hmm |
| Re: 6 Reasons Why People Commit Suicide by cococandy(f): 2:04am On Nov 12, 2014 |
I think depression takes the lead on that list |
Pastor Chris Oyakhilome On His Wedding Day / Are Men Of Today still Worth Good Women? / Her Dad Is Sleeping With Her! Who Does She Tell?
(Go Up)
| Sections: politics (1) business autos (1) jobs (1) career education (1) romance computers phones travel sports fashion health religion celebs tv-movies music-radio literature webmasters programming techmarket Links: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) Nairaland - Copyright © 2005 - 2024 Oluwaseun Osewa. All rights reserved. See How To Advertise. 44 |