Suicide: Be Aware of the signs
Suicide is not painless: know the warning signs.
It’s been a while since I’ve had time to write. I’ve been on call at a local hospital for ‘suicidal or homicidal’ assessments. I’m sad. These people are more sad. Let’s talk about this for a bit.
Data/Preventive Signs of Suicide:
Severe depression, that suddenly turns to hope
History of drug abuse
History of family suicide completion or attempts
Previous personal attempts
Latter, not younger age (could be both obviously)
Medical illness
General apathy of life
Desire to wish for others, and not self (giving items away)
Obviously, there are going to be other signs that I want you to be aware of. I have a thought that you’ve probably heard this before…. The bottom line is, if you are worried, tell someone. Period.
So, this week, in my area…. (I am on call with a hospital to assess suicide attempt victims). I, sadly, can tell you that I saw six individuals in two days – in my area. I visited with an 81 year old woman that just didn’t want to continue, a couple of people in later ages that wanted to ‘sleep til their death’, and a few youngsters that makes any mother go home and hug and kiss their kids 18 times, and take away all groundings or punishment.
At the end of the day, I wonder why I am even doing this job. I leave the hospital depressed, my children are annoyed with my ‘overly’ loving attention, and an on-call schedule doesn’t allow a great sleep pattern.
But here we go: This is necessary… I see them because they are NOT dead… NOT dead…very important to establish that. However, they tried. And, that is sad. So, I talk to them, and I question their lives, and what is going on, and how is life so terrible, and how can we correct it? I ask so many questions that they often pretend to fall asleep. But I NEED to know. I need to fix them. I need to fix all of us. It’s my training, and it’s what I do. However, I can ‘t. I’ve lost a few people in the last 12 years of my practice. People tell me they are fine, and I trust them. I’m sadly mistaken, times two. These are not the most trustworthy individuals, and therefore, I’ve been schooled. No one wins, everyone loses.
However, we can be aware. We can look for signs. We can look for the despondent, and those that cannot give you a predictor of the future. We look for the summer friends that are depressed, as this is the most popular season (contrary to popular belief), of suicidal ideations. We look for those that have been incredibly sad, but are now AMAZINGLY happy, as we know that these are the persons that are hopeful and dangerous because they feel an end in sight. We are aware. And that is what we do to prevent suicide.
Help me do this.
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Very important and very informative. Thanks.
Tamra, I really enjoy your writing, and I do understand where this comes from. I work with people who are accused of killing people, and most of them did kill people. Most of them who do kill people are not monsters but usually young people who made at least one, if not more, really bad decisions. Unfortunately I have also dealt more than my share than those who were suicidal. Most never tried; those that did try, most were not successful; but a few were. I am not sure it is about fixing them as much as it is helping them understand that what they are running from is not as bad as they think it is. But for those few who are determined, there really seems to be no fixing, only delaying the inevitable. Problem is, we don’t which is which until it is too late.
Please don’t let the losses feel personal.