Comments on: The Whys of Middle-Aged Suicide

By: GTT

GTT — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:10:05 +0000

I think the motivation to stay alive should come from realizing the selfishness of the act and realizing the hurt that you are about to cause others. I personally belive in the power of the mind. I have been depressed before (including prescription meds) but I believe that what got me through it was my will: I willed myself to overcome it and I did. And I dont mean just thinking “I wish I could get better” but actually believing I would get better and moving towards that. Willfully stop dwelling on the negative, abolish thoughts of suicude from your head and move on. Get out, learn soemthing new, meet new people. It´s one hell of an effort but it works. (Just as a follow-up, I have now been off any meds for 9 years and never felt a need to go back).

Just my 2 cents.

By: Dawn

Dawn — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:50:55 +0000

Like Josh, I have considered suicide many a time, often due to family issues (as young as 9), or other relationship issues (in college). Clearly I never did commit suicide – the only thing that held me back was a very very good friend and an unnatural fear of hell/what happens after. The thought is never completely gone, though, in tough times as it’s sometimes a much easier answer than working through life’s issues.

Suicide is the ultimate selfish act. The thing is, when a person is that depressed, it is difficult to see around it – to see a way out other than death.

The happy moment that perhaps Dick Cavett was referring to often occurs when a person has decided to kill himself and is finally relieved that there will be an end to his suffering/pain/confusion. I think this is more often the case for people who plan a suicide after a period of time (as opposed to those who kill themselves spontaneously in a moment of extreme emotion).

It is VERY difficult to believe that clinically depressed people can’t/don’t kill themselves due to a lack of will.

By: Pete

Pete — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 23:51:30 +0000

Dick Cavett in the NY times wrote the other day (paraphrasing) that people who are clinically depressed can’t even find it in themselves to commit suicide. It’s after a moment of happiness or joy that they can then actually find the will to do it. (He was clinically depressed at one point.) That was fascinating to me. I had a friend who seemed on top of the world when did himself. Cavett’s take offers a glimmer of understanding.

By: Josh

Josh — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 22:17:11 +0000

Has anyone ever stopped to think that maybe, just maybe, they’re done with it all? I’ve been there myself many a time. Never brought on by anything in particular, just a sense of, “I feel I’ve lived up to all I’m supposed to, so I guess, I’ll just stop taking up space and resources.” It hasn’t happened but I’ve often thought, how bad would it really be. If you’ve reached that point where you’re just DONE, no amount of support can change it, nor does your age affect it; it just is. Yes, depression and social standards (presumed or not) can account for some but maybe we focus too much on, “Oh, but you have a loving family, don’t do it” and not enough on, “What would make you feel complete or new again?” And if it comes down to the fact that no longer living is what a person is needing, maybe that should be an option. Maybe then, there wouldn’t be such staggering statistics. And who’s to say it’s something so tangible; you can’t whitewash the state of the world or so many of the other millions of things “wrong”.

Thank you for the article. It really did make for an excellent read.

By: Florida

Florida — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 21:49:44 +0000

Wow, if Baby Boomers are offing themselves because they are more prone to depression, then I don’t want to be around (no pun intended) when Gen Y hits middle age.

By: Dawn

Dawn — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 21:42:11 +0000

I’m really curious, too, about the statistics. You wrote that the numbers of people committing suicide in the ‘boomer’ generation increased. I’d be interested to know if the percentage of people committing suicide within that age group increased, or if the numbers have simply increased because that generation has a larger number of people?

By: pg

pg — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 19:07:04 +0000

“and in women it jumped 31%”

I think you ought to rethink the verb in this sentence.

Really interesting article though.

By: Laura

Laura — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:05:41 +0000

The father of one of my roommates in college committed suicide this past winter while they were away visiting relatives. He said he needed to stay behind and catch up on work and when they got home they found him. So sad and so completely unexpected. I met the guy many times and he was always so nice and seemed perfectly happy. Even his family didn’t suspect anything was wrong.

It really made me second guess the happiness of my own parents (even though they seem perfectly content) I even sat them down and asked them about their lives right after it happened just because it really had me worried. They assured me there was nothing to worry about and that they loved their lives, but it was really an event that affected me deeply, I just had to make sure.

By: Anna

Anna — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:03:28 +0000

My cousin committed suicide at age 52 and a friends dad at 46.

By: David

David — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:00:38 +0000

This is an interesting post, but I seem to be missing something…what do the numbers in the chart refer to? Are they percent increases over some other number? Are they the percentages of total suicides that fall within a certain age group? Where are the footnotes referred to in the South Korean row? Help! :)