2. Suicide and People You Know

[DoctorHurricane2003]

This is part two of two of a study I have to complete for something I am doing. This question goes for everyone.

In your life, past and present, how many people have you known/do you know PERSONALLY that have attempted or committed suicide?

Feel free to add your own comments.

[Yankeegirl]

A few kids in my higschool years ago thought it would be the "thing" to do... We were dubbed Sucide High...

[CaptinCrunch]

2 people I knew in high school, one drove his truck about 100mph into a concret bridge support, the other shot himself.

about 12 years ago a real good kid 18 with a slight learning disability hung himself from the vaulted ceiling in his apt. it was because his girlfriend broke up with him. Me and his mom found him, after she told me she hadn't seen him all day and wanted me to go with her up to his apt, he had left a note.

[GalvestonDuck]

Again -- numerous patients in the ER, a handful of acquaintances, a couple of friends, and my cousin (the only one I PERSONALLY knew who actually committed suicide).

[TexasStooge]

Nobody I've known attemted or commited suicide, although some high schoolers said that life sucks.

[vbhoutex]

Knew a few in high school(many years ago) who tried and some who succeeded. Same in college including one on acid 13 stories above the ground. (he didn't do it) By far the most far reaching was when I had to prevent my son from attempting suicide when he was in 8th grade. He is now a healthy happy 22 yr. old working at a job he loves.

[x-y-no]

Well, I may skew the statistics up some because I do a lot of work with alcoholics and addicts, recovered and otherwise.

Jan

[CajunMama]

Suicide...one of the most selfish things a person can do. My friend committed suicide 10 years ago. She left behind two beautiful young daughters and a husband. The husband is just now getting over his anger and getting his life back to normal. The girls were cheated out of a mother.

A person committing suicide needs to consider what he/she will be doing to the people they left behind. There is a way out of that deep dark tunnel of depression. It may be a long and hard road but will be worth it in the end.

[cajungal]

My ex-boyfriend tried to commit suicide. He started doing drugs (which I won't put up with.) And he kept talking about depression and ending his life over and over. It started to bring me down and get me depressed. So, I finally could not take it anymore, so I broke up with him.

About a week later, his mom called me at work crying. Saying that her son never reported to his job and she could not find out where he was. (Very unusual for him.) The next morning after that, he still never returned home. And there were detective knocking on my door. They asked me all sorts of questions. And they went looking all over for him. There were missing posters all over. But, since he was an adult, there was nothing much they could do. It never got on the news or the newspaper. He was missing for 2 weeks. (He was missing over the Thanksgiving holidays that year.) So , it made it even harder. I cried myself to sleep almost every night during that time. I was so worried that he was dead. They found him all the way in Las Vegas. And he almost died of a drug overdose.
After I think he got the medication and help he needed. But, we know longer see each other or speak.

My mom also had a cousin that committed suicide years ago. I also suffer from depression and used to take medication for it. But, I would never take my own life.

[BayouVenteux]

Suicide...one of the most selfish things a person can do. My friend committed suicide 10 years ago. She left behind two beautiful young daughters and a husband. The husband is just now getting over his anger and getting his life back to normal. The girls were cheated out of a mother.

A person committing suicide needs to consider what he/she will be doing to the people they left behind. There is a way out of that deep dark tunnel of depression. It may be a long and hard road but will be worth it in the end.

While you're right about the devastating effects of suicide on the ones left behind, I believe selfishness/selflessness are moral components of a relatively healthy, balanced mind. People who commit suicide are not of a healthy nor balanced mind. As a child of a parent who committed suicide, I'm all too familiar with the lasting anger you're left with, but one of the worst things you can do is to dwell on the perceived thoughtlessness and inconsiderate nature of their action. Contemplating on "if they loved me, then why did they leave me?" is to lay the seeds of anger and self-doubt that will grow into problems that last a lifetime -- I've witnessed it firsthand in my siblings' chronic difficulties.

Understanding that your loved one succumbed to an illness, albeit a psychological one, and not by a "selfish" act that "cheated" you, is paramount to the survivor's recovering from the tragedy and regaining the ability to live a full, normal life.

[furluvcats]

We had a friend who took the "weak mans out"...a few years after highschool...he was one of the most popular guys in school and had a great wife and daughter, a job doing what he loved, and then one day, they found him hanging from a tree in his back yard...it was the worst thing I had experienced at that time in my life...very traumatic for all...He was manic depressant, and I assume that had something to do with his taking his life...

About 3 years ago, a girl I had gone to church with while growing up also took her life, as an adult...she left behind her parents and siblings, no children, but still, it was such a sad, horrible time for her family...you wonder what goes wrong...what makes a person so sad? My life has been through many series of high's and low's, and suicide has never ever once been a consideration...

Is this a school project you are using this data for? Good luck then...

[MSRobi911]

My first experience was in high school, guy was popular, dad was the Mayor of our town...he went to the river parking spot where we all hung out growing up and shot himself in the head. The second was a close friend who had been arrested for Public Drunk in Ponatoco MS and he hung himself in his jail cell (they still don't know if there was foul play involved, some how the camera wasn't working on his particular cell for a few hours..hmmmm...well then his sister cooked and ate Thanksgiving dinner, was watching a football game with her husband and got up went to the bathroom and blew her head off...no note, no reason........she just did it! Then an uncle with throat and face cancer, said he couldn't take the pain anymore. Then a young girl that used to babysit my kids, she had a degree in psychology and she shot her self in the head and then a girl that was the daughter of a friend who is a highway patrolmen and she was gay and she shot herself too.

Those are the ones I remember off the top.

Mary

[DoctorHurricane2003]

Thanks all.

[yoda]

I know of only one actual suicide, but know of many attempted ones. I remember coming home one night from out at a movie, and getting a call from a friend... who told me in tears that a kid she knew well had shot himself. We found out who it was the next day, a senior at our high school, only 20 days before he, along with many others, would graduate. Another one of my friends nearly died from her attempt by overdosing on meds, but she was saved by the fabulous ER people and doctors... and she and I keep in touch regularly, along with the fact she is on meds. I knew of at least two people on the girls side of my dorm floor that have attempted it as well, and I myself have had a few run-ins with it, trying it at least once... but I have gotten over it with help.

[Stephanie]

Suicide...one of the most selfish things a person can do. My friend committed suicide 10 years ago. She left behind two beautiful young daughters and a husband. The husband is just now getting over his anger and getting his life back to normal. The girls were cheated out of a mother.

A person committing suicide needs to consider what he/she will be doing to the people they left behind. There is a way out of that deep dark tunnel of depression. It may be a long and hard road but will be worth it in the end.

Absolutely, but I person that is depressed can't see it that way. To them, it's the only way to ease their pain. They can't think of anything but themselves. They need therapy and medication and perhaps hospitalization.

I don't know of anyone that has tried except for myself.

[pojo]

In my HS, the sophomore class starting with my class (class of 2000...when my class was a sophomores) lost one person every year to suicide or an accident.

1998... soph suicide (class of 2000)
1999... soph suicide (class of 2001)
2000... soph accident (class of 2002)
2001... soph medical death (class of 2003) twin sister had a teddy bear on a chair where her sister would have sat
2004... senior accident (class of 2004)... she had already completed army basic training was waiting for graduation to enter full time)

[cajungal]

A senior from the high school that I graduted from just committed suicide less than 2 weeks ago. She did right before Mothers Day and right before her senior prom. She was going to graduate at the end of this month. She shot herself in the heart and left a suicide note. Her parents were devestated as you could imagine any parent would be. I never met the girl. But, this girl that I work with went to high school with her and went to the funeral. She said a lot of people made fun of her in high school. That is why you got to be kind to people no matter what. And not judge people by outside apperances and just be a friend. And always listen to a person when they are feeling down. Get help for a friend who is depressed before it is too late. Take any thoughts of suicide seriously. People may not be saying that just to get attention. They may very well mean it and it will be too late.

A good friend of mine who I practically grew up with. (She has lived 1 mile away from me and we are less than 4 years apart.) Anyway, she tried twice as a teenager. Both time took an overdose of extra-strength tylenol. Luckily, her sisters were at home at the time and they got her to the hospital both times to get her stomach pumped out. I am so glad that she turned out to be okay. She is now 25 years old and has a beautiful 5-year old daughter and a wonderful 3-year old little boy. She would of never knew the joy of having her children if she would of ended it that day.

I still suffer from depression from time to time. I have my good days and my bad days. But, I would never hurt my family in that way. And as bad as life gets sometimes, I would never want to die.