Suicide Is A Permanent Solution To A Temporary Problem
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SUICIDE IS A PERMANENT SOLUTION TO A TEMPORARY PROBLEM 7 STORIES OF
REAL PEOPLE OFFERING REAL HOPE
WHY DO THEY KILL THEMSELVES? CLICK HERE TO BUY THE BOOK [1]
It's a question more than 2,500 FAMILIES PER DAY IN THE WORLD, will
ask over and over again (after losing a loved one suicide). It's a
question with as many answers as there are attempts. It's a question
well worth finding the answers for. What researchers know today is
that as many as 90% of those who attempt suicide are suffering from
some form of DEPRESSION often combined with another mental disorder.
90 PERCENT!
In addition, for every suicide that ends a life, 8 to 20 times that
number attempt to kill themselves but survive. To put that into
perspective, for every one of the approximately 32,000 people who die
by suicide annually in the U.S., up to 640,000 attempt it. And the
number of people who die by suicide is TWO TIMES THE NUMBER KILLED BY
HOMICIDE in the U.S. every year.
WHY SO MANY?
As stated above, as many as 90 percent of those who attempt suicide
are suffering from some form of depression or mental disorder. The
vast majority of these people have not been diagnosed - meaning
whether they have:
*
a chemical imbalance that slowly, imperceptibly moves them into
deeper and deeper states of depression
*
post traumatic stress disorder brought on by witnessing a
cataclysmic or tragic event in their lives
*
bipolar disorder that confuses, disorients and alienates the
sufferer
*
or some other form of depression or mental disorder
. . . they have not gotten the help they need.
LEFT UNDIAGNOSED AND UNTREATED, THESE VERY TREATABLE DISEASES TURN
DEADLY.
What's more distressing is that the people most likely to attempt
suicide are the most vulnerable in our society. Adolescents and young
adults, facing academic and social pressure while dealing with
clinical depression. The elderly steeped in loneliness and
debilitating health issues, who see no other way out of their pain and
suffering than to end their lives (those over the age of 65 attempt
suicide 50% more often than all other age groups). People of all ages
and ethnicity, who have been abused or who have lived with mental
disorder and depression far too long.
Sadly, getting help for these people is made more difficult because
both suicide and mental health disorders still lie under a veil of
shame and misinformation. Adolescents, who often feel embarrassed over
being different, may find it hard to admit to friends and loved ones
that they are depressed or that they have thoughts of suicide. Adults,
often feel compelled to be "strong" for the sake of their families.
Conversely, many people (especially adult males) believe it's a sign
of weakness to admit to feelings of depression.
THE GOAL OF THIS BOOK
This book is not about suicide, not in the traditional sense. This
book is not filled with the terrible stories of those who have died by
suicide nor with the cries of loved ones left behind. Those are
important stories, certainly. But the job of this short book is to
tell the stories of seven individuals, who tried to die by suicide,
but lived.
The reason is simple. The vast majority of those who attempt suicide
do not succeed. Instead, they go on living. Some will have lifelong
disabilities as a result of their attempts. Many will need medication
and therapy. These seven got the help they so desperately needed, and
now they've found a way to move beyond that terrible time. They have
found new ways of living, new ways of valuing their own lives.
You will see what these individuals were able to bring the world
following their suicide attempts. You will see what the world would
have lost had there attempts succeeded.
. . .WHATEVER BROUGHT YOU TO HERE to read this book (whether you
suffer from depression or someone you care about has talked about or
tried suicide), you will come away with a deeper understanding of the
potential that is lost with suicide. You will understand why
depression and its many associated forms of mental health disorder
must be recognized and treated.
THIS IS BOOK IS DEDICATED to the millions around the world, who face
depression, loneliness, and other mental health issues.
TO THOSE CONSIDERING SUICIDE: We hope this book, in its small way,
helps you move beyond pain and lost hope to get the help you need, to
live the abundant life you deserve. CLICK HERE TO BUY THE BOOK [2]
Previews Of The Real Stories
SARAH'S STORY
The signs of depression were there early. In fact, as early as the
age of eight, Sarah recalled having negative feelings and thoughts of
suicide. By age 12, she was cutting and burning herself on her arms
(and then hiding the wounds so no one would know). At 13, she told a
friend that she wanted to die. And at age 17, she attempted suicide
for the first time.
"_Life felt empty and flat,_
_Despite the fact that a lot of good things were happening to me. _
_My external world didn't match my internal feelings."_
- SARAH
You may have heard Sarah's story before (or a story like hers),
perhaps relayed through a friend of a friend. Her experience is much
like that of other adolescents around the world who attempt suicide.
The signs of depression were there, but she didn't get help until it
was almost too late.
Sarah grew up in a remote area of the Australian outback, which in
part accounts for why her clinical depression went undiagnosed for
nine years. According to statistics from Beyond Blue (an Australian
mental health advocacy organization), one in five adolescents suffer
from depression (that is approximately 100,000 children in Australia
alone). But there are only 300 child and adolescent psychologists in
the entire country, and most of those are based in large cities. It is
left to general practitioners and (as was the case with Sarah)
emergency room doctors to identify signs of depression, following an
attempted suicide.
. MISUNDERSTOOD OR MISDIAGNOSED.
In high school, Sarah was a competitive swimmer, popular, and very
good at hiding the darker side of herself from everyone - from close
friends to her mom and dad.
RICHARD'S STORY
Richard was one of those kids that just made everyone a little
happier whenever he came around. He was funny and kind and always
smiling. At 17, he was president of his senior class, and he swam the
100 meter individual medley like lightening. He got good grades and
hoped to go to UCLA the next year. His best friend Margie was class
secretary, and they were just about the most popular pair in high
school.
When asked about Richard, one of his classmates said, "I just
remember he was always in the middle of things. He and Margie were so
funny together. She was always saying something to piss him off. And
you could hear that screechy voice of his all the way at the other end
of school, saying 'MAR-gie!!' It makes me laugh just to think about
it."
But Richard's life wasn't as grand as it seemed. Though he had never
officially "come out", everyone in school knew he was gay. But no one
really talked about it, at least not to his face.
He came from a very religious Mexican-Catholic family. And though he
would later say he knew his parents loved him, he also knew they would
never accept him if they knew. As if to make matters worse, his only
brother John was just what his Dad had wanted in a son. Big and
strong, John played baseball and football, and had lots of
girlfriends.
Richard was popular at school rallies, in the stands at football
games, at swim meets and at parties, to be sure. But he often heard
the word "fagot" floated above the crowd in the hallways between
classes.
One day, walking home from a swim meet, he was stopped and
surrounded by five teen boys. Two he recognized from school. The
others he'd never seen before. "I remember one of them saying, 'what
are you doing, fag boy?' And then something hit me from behind."
What followed were kicks and punches to his face and head and
stomach. One after another, they hit and kicked and spat on him until
he fell unconscious. He woke up in the hospital with tubes coming out
of him, bruises and cuts all over his body. He had 17 stitches in the
back of his head, 16 in the back of his calve where a steel-toed boot
had split the calf open, 11 more above his right eye, and a fractured
orbital bone (the bone that surrounds the eye), perhaps from the same
steel boot that had split his calf.
A MOTHER'S STORY
When Eve found her daughter lying motionless on her bed in a pool of
blood, still warm but with no life left in her, she recalls the room
spinning and feeling as if she had no control over her arms and legs.
She kept telling Susie to wake up, but she didn't.
The neighbor, who called 911, would later say, "All I could hear
were screams coming from next door. They seemed to go on forever."
But this isn't the story of Susie; it is the story of Eve. It is the
story of how a mother discovered she shared more than a house and
short lifetime with her daughter. She also shared a predisposition
toward clinical depression. And while Eve was unable to save her
daughter, the daughter, in her way, saved Eve.
Eve says she will never know what events led up to her daughter's
suicide, only that she knows now that the signs were there. She just
didn't see them (due in part to her own struggles with depression).
After the paramedics arrived at Eve's house and took her 15-year-old
daughter to the hospital where she was pronounced dead, Eve KNEW she
needed to commit suicide herself. There was no question in her mind
that that was what she must do to escape the pain of that day and the
pain she'd felt much of her life.
The guilt over not saving Susie, the anguish over being utterly
alone went beyond emotional pain and became physical. Her chest hurt
as if she'd been hit hard with a bat over and over again. It was
agonizing to take a deep breath. She couldn't eat or sleep. She just
wanted to rid herself of the pain.
"But before I could end my own pain, I had to give Susie a funeral
that would honor her life," said Eve. "I also wanted to tell her I was
sorry I couldn't save her."
So Eve set aside her own suicide plans in order to pick the perfect
casket for her daughter, to choose flowers, and to call a few friends
and her only sister to tell them Susie was dead.
MEL'S STORY
Mel had been married for 11 years. He met Sharon in art school when
they were both 20, and they'd gotten married their first year out of
college.
Then one day, she told him she was leaving him. He didn't say a
word, but calmly walked down the hall and into their bedroom. He
loaded the handgun he kept in the night stand drawer, and put it to
his chin.
"The look he had on his face was very scary," said Sharon. "I wanted
to make sure he was okay before I left." So instead of walking out the
front door, Sharon followed Mel down the hall. When she saw the gun,
she screamed, "NO!" The scream must have startled him just enough so
that he either pulled his hand or his head a little to the side before
pulling the trigger.
Instead of dying that day, Mel had cleaved off his mouth, left jaw
and ear completely in the blast. He would learn later that it was his
wife who had saved him.
WHAT LED UP TO THIS FATEFUL DAY?
Mel was always a bit of a worrier. But through the years, he began
to worry more about everything. Little things became big. If the car
made a sound, he was sure it was going to break down any minute, or
worse, explode with them both in it. If Sharon was five minutes late,
he would watched the seconds tick by, imagining what kind of
horrendous accident she'd been in.
As his anxieties grew, he became depressed and had thoughts of
suicide. In fact, he'd attempted suicide twice before this last
attempt with the gun, all without success. With each of his prior
tries, he'd been held for psychiatric evaluation, and had been given
anti-depressant medication.
CLICK HERE TO BUY THE BOOK [3] [4]
