TRIGGER WARNING: Suicide
When a celebrity takes their own life, the media runs 24 hour news coverage, displaying the happy times in their career. Pseudo psychologists get their moment in the spotlight making claims as to why the suicide happened, when we all know that unless you were inside the brain of the deceased, you’ll never really know.
Once something happens in the breaking news cycle, the celebrity death is pushed aside, and we go about our business. The idea of suicide, depression, and general mental health becomes just another archived piece of celebrity news.
What happens when you’re not a celebrity? What happens when you don’t have the means to get the psychiatric care you need? Let’s talk statistics for a moment; don’t worry, I won’t bore you with hardcore math.
Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in America, while 105 people die every day from taking their own life. That’s a death every 12 minutes. Look at your watch, set an alarm for 12 minutes―when it rings, someone has committed suicide.
Last year, I came upon a new live streaming application Periscope. It was new, and exciting, and fresh. I met people from all over the world; people I normally would never have known existed. As is usual with life, things get in the way and the freshness wears off. I haven’t really used the application in a while, that is, until last night. I was told a young man took his own life while live streaming on the application. It wasn’t a hoax. The local police posted a statement explaining that they did, indeed, find a deceased male at the location―no foul play expected. As this man took his life, people egged him on. Let’s talk about that.
Bullying has always occurred. We’ve all heard stories from our grandparents about the local mean kid who threw rocks, or tripped you, or smoked cigarettes behind school as she made fun of your poodle skirt. But with the advent of social media, bullying has become an epidemic. It’s all too easy to sit behind a computer screen, with an anonymous, non-identifying name, and make someone else feel bad.
What’s worse is that there is no repercussion for those people who egg on someone who is suicidal. We are all anonymous, and safe, and go about our lives not worried that we may have pushed the red button on someone’s life just by typing a few unnecessary words. Yes, the suicidal person may have killed themselves without the extra bullying, but do you really want to live with the knowledge that you may have helped end someone’s life?
Now, let’s talk about the difference between being suicidal, and having suicidal ideation. Many people hear the word suicide, and shut down. It’s an uncomfortable, taboo topic. I get it.
Having suicidal thoughts (ideation) generally means that you are thinking of suicide, but not actually going through with the action.
Being suicidal is slightly different in that the person may have a plan of action and go through with the attempt.
I suffer with suicidal ideation, and I’ve attempted once. My dad was dying, and my family had officially made me the black sheep of the family. I didn’t believe life was worth living. I sat in my bathroom with scissors, and that’s all I’ll say. I’m very lucky that the attempt wasn’t worse than it was.
Let’s go back to the young man who committed suicide on Periscope. Was he looking for rescue? Did he just want everyone to see how terrible life really can get? For more on public suicide, you can read this. I don’t know his motives. We may never know. There’s speculation on the internet regarding the why behind his death, but I won’t encourage that because we don’t really know. A quick Google search will find you the gossip you want, if you’re interested in that.
What’s the point of this? The point is that we need to keep talking about mental health. We need to keep talking about mental health. We need to keep talking about mental health. We CAN’T just talk about it when our favorite 80’s TV show actor dies. We CAN’T ignore the warning signs of the people around us. We CAN’T just put this on the back burner. WE NEED TO KEEP THE CONVERSATION GOING!
If you or someone you know is suicidal, there are ways to help. Click here for more information.