WHY DO PEOPLE COMMIT SUICIDE?
In brief, people harm themselves, or end their lives, when they are in great emotional distress, and in great emotional pain. They get fooled into thinking the distress and pain will go on for an intolerable length of time, if not forever. Depression can fool people like this, and alcohol or illegal drugs can do the same.
IT COULD NEVER HAPPEN TO ME, OR COULD IT?
Prof. Lewis Wolpert was a famous medical professor, researcher and broadcaster who suddenly developed depression in his 50s. His depression became so painful that he became quite suicidal, never having felt this way before in his life. Unfortunately, the same thing can happen to you or to me, depending on life events and changes in our chemistry.
It is an indicator of the severity of his suicidal ideas that his wife was forced to state she understood why he felt so suicidal, but at the same time persuaded him to accept treatment. Ironically, his treatment eliminated his depression, but his wife died of cancer.
Prof. Wolpert has written a world-famous book called "Malignant Sadness". This is an excellent description of depression, being a cancer of the mind which is sometimes so severe it kills people, and which is at risk of returning.
I CAN'T BELIEVE I WANTED TO DIE:
People who have never had depression, or extreme emotional despair, often state they are perplexed by anyone wanting to die, and indeed angry that anyone would consider destroying such a valuable asset as one's own life.
However, when such people develop depression themselves, a standard phrase they use is "Now I understand why people want to die". Dr. John Horden, a previous President of the College of General Practitioners in Britain, described his own depression as more painful than a heart attack or than kidney stones, both of which he had also experienced. (Quoted in "Malignant Sadness" by Prof. Lewis Wolpert).
Similarly, when people recover from depression, they express equal amazement that they could ever have felt so bad they wished they were not alive.
In summary, we are all convinced of our own viewpoint, and find it hard to understand that changes in our brain chemistry radically alter how we see a situation, so that the same situation can seem intolerably painful at one time, and a minor irrelevant nuisance or problem at another time.
EFFECT OF ALCOHOL OR PARTY DRUGS:
These substances change people's mental outlook, sometimes in beneficial ways, and sometimes not so beneficially. In the beginning, people become more relaxed and more sociable in many cases, allowing more openness in friendships and relationships. However, at the same time, alcohol washes away people's logic in many ways. Should something go wrong, such as an argument or a relationship problem, the emotions get grossly magnified by alcohol or drugs, without any remaining input from logic or intelligence. Unfortunately, if people make major decisions in such an emotional state, without their logic and IQ being available to help them, disastrous consequences may result. For this reason, it is strongly advised generally that people try to "sleep on it", so that their emotions and logic will go back into balance the next day, and any problems can be dealt with more constructively.
WAIT UNTIL YOU CAN THINK CLEARLY!
As described above, it is very important not to make any major decisions when affected by alcohol or drugs, or when a person's thinking is distorted by the convincing, but totally wrong versions of reality given to you by depression.
Read "Things to do Now" in this section.
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