You know, I doubt anyone thought to compare these numbers -

[kyburg]

Boy, did this get in under the radar.

Charles Curie, who heads the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said suicides in the United States run at about 80 a day or more than 29,000 a year, three for each two homicides.

I'm not very pleased with the lead paragraph, though:

Suicides outnumber homicides in the United States, and some 90 percent of people who kill themselves suffer from a diagnosable and preventable problem such as depression, a top mental health official said Monday.

One - depression is fatal if you kill yourself, 100% of the time. D'oh.
Two - Diagnosable, yes. Treatable - questionable. I've never seen anything work for everyone 100% of the time. That includes all the drugs. And the therapies. Situational depression does not have an organic cause, and if your life is sucking hind tit, there isn't anything they can give you for it. Honest.

Chronic illness often leads to situational depression - and no, the illness does not cause depression as an organic side-effect. The SSRIs won't touch it, and everything else just turns you off so you feel nothing at all. About anything.

They'll ask you if you have faith when you get to these places. Why? There's nothing else to try.

But in truth, this is where more belief systems begin to resemble each other. It is a truly human condition we all struggle with, and the problems are always larger than ourselves. Belief systems emphasize community, fellowship and introspection. You ever heard of group therapy? Walk into a holy place - and see how many people are there.

Also, I believe that you get out of your mental health what you put into it - don't stay tied to people who abuse you. Be what you wish to be - and don't settle for being miserable. Money is made in all kinds of ways - caring for oneself is always a pleasure. So you're not the king of the world - you took care of business today, and that's what really matters, right?

We seem to miss teaching how to accept ourselves. They call it self-love, but it ain't about mental masturbation.

I dunno. The word "enough" keeps echoing in my head. I don't have to be famous. What I have is enough. A ton of attention makes me nervous, so it's just as well I'm not pretty - and can disappear in a crowd quickly. I enjoy being a gadfly too much.

Poor folks. I really came to the conclusion I never wanted to die some time ago - I just wanted to be happy.

More than murder. More than traffic accidents....

It's time I started writing about this, I think.

Comments

[reannon.livejournal.com]

Two - Diagnosable, yes. Treatable - questionable. I've never seen anything work for everyone 100% of the time

True enough, but by that logic, nothing is treatable. There is always the 1 percent that doesn't respond to the medication, the cancer patients with an 80 percent survival rate, etc. Depression, whether chronic or situational, is treatable by medication, therapy or other. Just because it doesn't always work doesn't mean it isn't treatable. So I'm not bothered by that phrase.

As to the rest, it makes sense. I don't know about "don't stay with people who abuse you," because there are often much more complicated factors in those issues that need to be addressed, by the person and by society, but it's a good motto to have in general. :)

[moropus.livejournal.com]

You have really hit the depression nail on the head. Drugs assist my depression, because its a chronic inherited disease that runs in the family. Drugs did not help the depression of any of the cancer patients I met in the last few years.

"Be what you wish to be - and don't settle for being miserable."

Our society teaches that you can never have enough. You can't make enough money, drive a good enough car, live in a good enough house, or have good enough friends. You also can't be thin enough, pretty enough or popular enough. You can't have enough great clothes, or a TV-style designer perfect family. Its acombination of advertising to make you spend money, and super ambitious people who think everyone should be at the head of the rat race and hold contempt for those who don't want to do that.

If you can be brave enough to turn your back on all that and escape the rat race, you might learn to accept what you have and manage from day to day.

It took me a lot of years to figure out that I don't have to play that, and nothing terrible happenned when I did. Yeah, I got scolded at work for my new attitude that involved being content with my station in life and not showing cut-throat initative inevery situation. That was odd to me because logic shows that we all can't be king of the mountian. I don't work for those driven, super ambitious people anymore and I'm happier for it.

When I retired from the AF, they were incapable of comprehending that I would have enough cash flow to not starve and be happy just like that. I stay home, take care of my husband and volunteer 2 days a week. I drive an aging Toyota and like it.

They don't like it. Turning my back on those people and those attitudes, that one can never have enough cash or social status, improved my life to a huge degree. Sorry to rattle on so long.

enough

[progress.livejournal.com]

enough... no. you see, that's part of the problem. we're raised to want more than enough. there are those of us who can see the difference between want and need, but then there are those of us who cannot. The people who are unrealistic in what they think they need, because they cannot discern the line between enough and excess, are not going to like the way it feels. They're looking for a magic bean. Something to do it all for them.
Some people do it by spending money, others by having sex with anyone who's interested, still others by doing drugs... And some, when they reach the end of whatever rope they've chosen, instead of looking up and deciding the climb back to the top might do it for them, kill themselves.
They don't see what everyone else sees-- and maybe everyone else is blind to what the suicides do see. Either way, or both possibly, it's a matter of wanting in one hand and shitting in the other, and being displeased when all they get is a handful of crap.
it's unfortunate, the way the world works-- and some people can't handle it, no matter what drugs you give them. people get sick, and don't want to deal with it. People get broke, and don't want to deal with it. People get pregnant... ad infinitum, ad nauseam.
The only way I can look at it is from the perspective of natural selection. They are selecting themselves out.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

I would have been happier with something pretty subtle, all told:

...some 90 percent of people who kill themselves suffer from a diagnosable problem such as depression, and could have received treatment for it.

Preventable? Only the death by suicide is preventable - if you get there in time. *gnashes teeth*

No, I'm serious. Recognize the people who are abusive to you; then, split. While one has to deal with difficult people, one does not have to live with them and be subject to being abused coming and going. The alternative, of course, is knowing you're being taken advantage of, and that you're doing it of your own free will.

*taps foot*

Yeah. I'd be depressed as hell.

Re: enough

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

Or some people get taught that the only way is the fast way to getting anything in life.

And when it actually requires time, and effort - they loose it.

Or they blame. Get angry.

But never really look at the real problem. It's common, particularly in the new category of "almost-adults" - kids who just won't leave home. "I can't afford it!"

Suicides are particularly high in this age group, around the world.

There are the suicides which are "self-selection" - particularly those among the elderly and chronically-ill.

But others, I really think - are a botched educational job, impatience and some treatable depressive issues.

Also, dealing with suicidal people is not for wimps. But you knew that.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

Capitalism really does create a lot of human debris as a side-effect.

Homey don't play those games, and Homey is MUUUUCH happier for it.

[caitlin.livejournal.com]

if this was meant for me (cuz damnit I know I'm depressed), I get the message.

Now... I just need to find the new place to live.

Storage for the rest of my crap.

C.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

Roomates.com looked pretty good....

[caitlin.livejournal.com]

Yes, but after my mother's latest accusations (re: the attitude, etc.) I wonder if she might have a point and that I would be better off living by myself...

And I'm scared.

C.

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

Jeezus. You're still listening to that crap?

I can just hear it...what if she's right?

Dudette. What if she's wrong....

[caitlin.livejournal.com]

*nod*

This will be clear and obvious to me in the morning. FOr now, I am going to allow myself to feel it - I have made it a point of giving myself 24 hours at most, because not feeling it is what caused the suicidal depression in 1994 - and get past it.

but that's me.

[eve-dallas.livejournal.com]

Depression is something that some people battle with and don't even know what it is or that there's help. That was me for many years. Not even my doctors would acknowledge that I had a problem with depression, let alone treat it. The second time I got to the point of being barely able to cope with daily life, I had the good fortune to be under the care of a doctor who picked up on it and treated it. That was four years ago. We are still working on getting the meds right. Some day I hope to be able to do without them entirely.