Posted by Willow on August 7, 2001, at 18:11:06
In reply to Re: Sadness over suicides-Everyone and lissa » kid_A, posted by Simcha on August 7, 2001, at 15:32:01
> Now, suicide can be a final stage or "final symptom" of my depression. Depression is fatal. So is cancer and diabetes if left untreated.
I think the key here is "left untreated." Many cancers are being better treated today because the "whole" person is being treated. We have come a long way in understanding how our will (spirit) can help or hinder us. The family friend who has cancer through her organs was given a month to live. The month has come and gone. She is seeking treatment and her spirits are good.
I'm not saying that her determination will keep her alive, but it is improving the quality of her life and prolonging it. I believe the same can be true for depression. Determination and effort can improve the quality of our lives.
With a mental illness it is difficult to seperate the person from the illness because our minds and personalities are affected. For myself stress of any kind affects me adversely as does any prolonged activity over several days. I've had to change my way of thinking.
Changing habits is very difficult to do, because they become so a part of us similar to breathing, and even recognizing them can be challenging. For this a person needs support. This support should be people who know the individual well, but what happens when these people contribute to the persons suffering? Then there should be community involvement. Even this "board" is a form of support. Many of us have made realizations from reading other's posts or experiences.
So along with talk therapies, medication, and perseverance the quality of our lives can be improved to the point were a suicidal thought becomes a part of a distant past.
For myself years ago when I found this "board" the mention of someone feeling suicidal sent me away for months. It was too painful of a subject for me to speak of or to even listen to someone else suffer through it. Not much later I started seeing a psychologist who was aware of my past suicide attempt.
He indirectly I think brought up the subject over the years. At one time I even denied that it was an attempt, perhaps I had just accidentally taken too much medication trying to stop the pain. He reminded me of the measures I had gone to. (On a funny note what saved me is I woke up, really out of it, but I had to go to the bathroom. Had I just gone in my room or wet myself things may have been different. The ingrained need to use a "potty" woke someone up because of my efforts to get there.) There were circumstances that led upto my attempt, but what really affected was the way I encountered them. I gave up.
I'm not a child anymore and have realized that I have to make choices. Some of them may be painful to reach the desired objective, but I have to weigh what is acceptable to me. Gees I'm rambling ...
I guess in short as a society we need to see that treatment for mental illnesses is available to every individual. We need to weigh when the persons is able to choose on their own to not accept treatment, but before we can say someone has to accept treatment we need to be able to assure that the best treatment is available to the individual.
Whispering Willow
poster:Willow
thread:8808
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20010807/msgs/8887.html