[Benjamin]

Now this thread will touch on a sensitive subject, so if we could keep this to serious posts please.

I'm starting a new writing project around this subject again and would like to know your thoughts and feelings on suicide.

I have had a few friends who have sadly ended their lives and I have always had a slight, if not morbid, fascination with suicide and the thoughts and feelings behind it and of those left behind. I remember watching The Bridge, a documentary on the suicides of Golden Gate Bridge and being really touched yet surprised at the reactions of those left behind as well as the actual footage of the 'leapers'. If you haven;t watched that documentary by the way you really should.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0799954/

[Lee.]

I used to just think of it as a cowards way out from the everyday pressures of life and could never understand how people could do such a thing to their loved ones.. However I've had several discussions with people who have thought about suicude and also 2 friends actually take their own life, and I have since changed my mind
I don't think anybody can really comment on suicude unless they've been so low that its actually been a serious option.
I personally don't suffer from depression and I've never had any serious financial stress but I do know that even at my lowest point, I would never take my own life.

[Marsh.]

Originally Posted by Lee.

I used to just think of it as a cowards way out from the everyday pressures of life and could never understand how people could do such a thing to their loved ones.. However I've had several discussions with people who have thought about suicude and also 2 friends actually take their own life, and I have since changed my mind
I don't think anybody can really comment on suicude unless they've been so low that its actually been a serious option.
I personally don't suffer from depression and I've never had any serious financial stress but I do know that even at my lowest point, I would never take my own life.

Yeah, I used to be of the opinion that it was a coward's way out. But then I think, would a coward really have the guts to go through with it? As you say they must be at a real low, with very little sense of life in them anymore to actually do it.

[Nedusa]

Life is pecious and will end one day anyway........no need to rush to that day !!

[Lee.]

I actually had to talk my friend in Australia out if killing himself recently.. It's not an easy thing to do.. He didn't want to go and get help, he didn't care about the hurt he was going to cause his family, he didn't care about the guilt his friends would feel... All he wanted to do was end the pain he was in

[Kizzy]

I can empathise with those who feel this way, you can't begin to understand how or why they feel that desperate.
Thanks for the link ben will have a look.

[AnnieK]

It's such an emotive subject and one I hope to never fully understand. As Lee said, unless you are in that position it is impossible to fully empathise with someone considering suicide. My friends neighbour killed themselves a few years ago after losing his wife to cancer at 35....he still had a strong circle of friends plus other close family but couldn't see the point of life without his wife. I too thought it was selfish and cowardly but having though more about it, I can't comprehend the strength it must take to overcome the survival instinct and actually do it..

[Kazanne]

Originally Posted by Ben

Now this thread will touch on a sensitive subject, so if we could keep this to serious posts please.

I'm starting a new writing project around this subject again and would like to know your thoughts and feelings on suicide.

I have had a few friends who have sadly ended their lives and I have always had a slight, if not morbid, fascination with suicide and the thoughts and feelings behind it and of those left behind. I remember watching The Bridge, a documentary on the suicides of Golden Gate Bridge and being really touched yet surprised at the reactions of those left behind as well as the actual footage of the 'leapers'. If you haven;t watched that documentary by the way you really should.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0799954/

I watched it Ben,so sad to see someone jump to their death,as for suicide,it must take some bottle to know you are going to end your life at a certain time and it's sad that some people feel there is no other way out,you just think did they REALLY MEAN to do it or was it a cry for help,in that situation it seems worse as the right words or actions,at the right time,may have stopped someone doing it.Most people fight for life it seems wrong to want to end such a gift,but I say that as a happy person,I cannot imagine the depth of despair someone would get to, to even contemplate it.

[Verbal]

A young relative of mine committed suicide over a decade ago now with an overdose, seemingly because of an argument with a girl.

A former friend of mine had a son who was constantly trying to take his own life, she found him one night hanging by his neck but managed to cut him down before anything serious happened.

I've had and still do have some pretty difficult periods in my life that would probably end in some people taking their life if they were in my position, but its not something that has ever really been a serious consideration of mine. I'm far too stubborn to just give up.

[Lee.]

Apparently every person regrets suicide just as they've taken that step too far.. This makes me sad

[Verbal]

Originally Posted by Lee.

Apparently every person regrets suicide just as they've taken that step too far.. This makes me sad

Yes i've often thought of that and how terrifying it must be to have taken that step where you've swallowed 50 tablets and are just laying there waiting to die, and you have a jolt in your brain where everything suddenly becomes clear but its too late to do anything about it.

Its why I think for people considering it, it is absolutely essential that they talk about it with someone who knows where they're coming from, like The Samaritans.

[Kizzy]

Originally Posted by Lee.

Apparently every person regrets suicide just as they've taken that step too far.. This makes me sad

How on earth could you possibly know that?

[Verbal]

Originally Posted by Kizzy

How on earth could you possibly know that?

Survivors?

[Lee.]

Originally Posted by Kizzy

How on earth could you possibly know that?

From people who survive?

[Kizzy]

Originally Posted by Lee.

From people who survive?

In the documentary one of the jumpers had attempted suicide twice before, many people have failed attempts and then eventually kill themselves so not all change their minds evidently.

[Lee.]

Originally Posted by Kizzy

In the documentary one of the jumpers had attempted suicide twice before, many people have failed attempts and then eventually kill themselves so not all change their minds evidently.

Maybe don't change their minds, but maybe still have that last minute remorse as they're actually doing it?

[Tom4784]

I will never understand why people do it. Life, even at it's worst is better then an endless oblivion.

[arista]

"your thoughts and feelings on suicide. "


I know of one women who
killed herself because she could not have a married man
all the time,

To me it stinks
Selfish.
Greedy and Wrong.

It goes on and on Ben
not many are saved.


Life In The City.

[Jake.]

Obviously I've never (thankfully) been in the situation in which somebody I know has committed suicide or contemplated doing so. Although there is always the argument of 'leaving their family behind' making them out to be selfish, they must be in such a place that the hurt they are going to cause others doesn't even enter their minds, and they clearly aren't in the right frame of mind to be thinking about who they will be leaving behind. I always sympathise with those who commit suicide/contemplate it, because I could never begin to imagine how I would feel or think if I was in such a low, dark place as them.

[Lee.]

Originally Posted by Jake.

Obviously I've never (thankfully) been in the situation in which somebody I know has committed suicide or contemplated doing so. Although there is always the argument of 'leaving their family behind' making them out to be selfish, they must be in such a place that the hurt they are going to cause others doesn't even enter their minds, and they clearly aren't in the right frame of mind to be thinking about who they will be leaving behind. I always sympathise with those who commit suicide/contemplate it, because I could never begin to imagine how I would feel or think if I was in such a low, dark place as them.

I asked my friend if he had thought about the hurt he'd cause his family and how his mum would feel.. He justified by explaining that their pain over his death wouldn't come anywhere close to the pain he was in.. I think he genuinely believed that if his family realised what a dark painful place he was in, they'd understand him wanting to end it all

[Jake.]

Originally Posted by Lee.

I asked my friend if he had thought about the hurt he'd cause his family and how his mum would feel.. He justified by explaining that their pain over his death wouldn't come anywhere close to the pain he was in.. I think he genuinely believed that if his family realised what a dark painful place he was in, they'd understand him wanting to end it all

Ah Lee that's really sad but it shows what a place these people are in, given that suicide seems to be the only answer to stop their pain

[Lee.]

Originally Posted by Jake.

Ah Lee that's really sad but it shows what a place these people are in, given that suicide seems to be the only answer to stop their pain

Yeah, that's the impression I got; killing himself was the only way he could think if to make the pain stop.. He was beyond reasoning with.
IMO the cause of all his grief was silly, but it was much deeper than that.. He was in a really really bad place that death was the only cure for.

Incidentally, I talk to him quite regularly and he's stopped drinking, stopped smoking, tried to get back into having a social life and ran his first ever half marathon last week

[Jake.]

Originally Posted by Lee.

Yeah, that's the impression I got; killing himself was the only way he could think if to make the pain stop.. He was beyond reasoning with.
IMO the cause of all his grief was silly, but it was much deeper than that.. He was in a really really bad place that death was the only cure for.

Incidentally, I talk to him quite regularly and he's stopped drinking, stopped smoking, tried to get back into having a social life and ran his first ever half marathon last week

Yeah, although it's great that he's managed to find that better place! All the best to him

[Kizzy]

Watching the documentary you have to ask yourself if 2 people every month commit suicide there why is it so accessible?
They could extend the height of the railings, or somehow restrict access to the ledge?

[Lee.]

Originally Posted by Kizzy

Watching the documentary you have to ask yourself if 2 people every month commit suicide there why is it so accessible?
They could extend the height of the railings, or somehow restrict access to the ledge?

I live really near the Forth Road Bridge, and although the jumpers are never made public, there are a lot of them!