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The Arctic Suicides: It's Not the Dark That Kills You

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Re: The Arctic Suicides: It's Not the Dark That Kills You

#91

Post by dopeboy »

toyg wrote: post #11
cperciva wrote: post #5

When I saw the title I thought this was going to be about Canada. Suicide rates are extremely high in some aboriginal communities; in Attawapiskat for example, 5% of the residents have attempted suicide in the past year. And I can't say that I really blame them. Attawapiskat is an extremely isolated community, with few jobs and no amenities. Kids growing up in Attawapiskat have nothing to look forward to. Those who l…

> Attawapiskat is an extremely isolated community, with few jobs and no amenities. Thing is, like the towns in the post, these have always been "isolated communities with few jobs", but they used to be somewhat content. The difference is that they (like everyone else) are now bombarded with very powerful messages about rich and successful white people living in the Big City. They are basically getting constantly sham…

This is a very powerful point. The proliferation and ease of access to media has made it orders of magnitude easier to compare oneself against others. And it's not the "average" that make it into the media (usually) but the rich and successful as you mention.

This is something I struggle with because a big reason why I've managed to do somewhat well in school and in my early career is because of being competitive and using comparison to fuel my work ethic.

As an entrepreneur, I've come to realize I can't persist that mindset. There's always going to be people raising money and getting acquired. I have to filter that noise out and focus on building something that people want.

Re: The Arctic Suicides: It's Not the Dark That Kills You

#92

Post by gumby »

brndn wrote: post #82
gumby wrote: post #75

I was struck by the comment by the woman who answered the suicide line: "Maybe I am giving them a little love." I spent years answering the phone on a crisis line. Some people's problems just didn't seem that bad, yet they were overwhelmed nonetheless. Some people had such crushing burdens I was astonished they could even talk. I didn't find it uplifting, in fact it drained me. I am astonished by her ability to do it…

Where did you do this? Is there a high demand for volunteers? Is it easy to get started with? Is it common to do this work "remotely" or "on-call" by carry around a cell phone?

I did this in Boston back in the 1980s. At that time there was a shortage, but nevertheless they screened us and trained us and provided support services to us. No mobile phones; I would go there two evenings a week (we were all volunteers).

I did this first at my school, MIT (which didn't thank goodness, get suicide calls when I was there though there were suicides and we did get calls about the consequences) and later for the Boston area, where we did get actual suicide calls. I recently learned that MIT had shut down the service -- I don't know why.

If you're interested just look on the web for suicide prevention hotline and you'll find the name of an organization in your area. I don't if they still use volunteers or what these days. My experience is 30 years old.

Re: The Arctic Suicides: It's Not the Dark That Kills You

#93

Post by willidiots »

ekianjo wrote: post #58
warfangle wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When people are really depressed, they don't kill themselves. Because they have no energy to. Once they go on antidepressants, they go on suicide watch. It's the most dangerous time. Because they'll still be depressed, but they'll finally have the energy to get up. And they just might have the energy to do themselves in.

> Once they go on antidepressants, they go on suicide watch. It's the most dangerous time. Because they'll still be depressed, but they'll finally have the energy to get up. And they just might have the energy to do themselves in. Not sure if you can really generalize this much. There are several studies studying the effect of antidepressants on suicide rates, and it's true that some of them seem to lead to more suic…

This is admittedly anecdata, but a close member of my family just committed suicide this week, after starting SSRIs a few weeks earlier.

The family saw a therapist for counseling (not the therapist responsible for the SSRIs) yesterday and her opinion was that prescribing an SSRI without an accompanying mood stablizier was extremely risky. There's certainly a contingent of mental health workers who feel this is a real risk.

Simultaneously, a different member of the family has been on SSRIs under her primary care provider's oversight alone - something we finally convinced her was a bad idea. I wonder how common this practice has become, and if it's contributed to the overall increase in U.S. suicide rates.

Re: The Arctic Suicides: It's Not the Dark That Kills You

#94

Post by mmckelvy »

wille92 wrote: post #59

Whenever I read about tribal communities coming into modernity, I can't help but think that our "first-world" culture gets a lot wrong. These communities seem to have a deep sense of narrative--you're a part of a greater cultural story, a spiritual story that's connected with place, nature, and family. There is a journey laid out for you rich with sacrament (e.g. the rite of passage to become an Inuit hunter in this…

Wholeheartedly agree.

Re: The Arctic Suicides: It's Not the Dark That Kills You

#95

Post by rconti »

grecy wrote: post #45
exDM69 wrote: post #18

I live 60 degrees northern latitude in a country with bad suicide statistics and the winters do get pretty harsh on you mentally. And there's still millions of people living norther than I do. Highest suicide rates occur during the spring, around the vernal equinox not around the darkest time of the year. If you've never experienced the northern spring where each day is 10+ minutes longer than the previous, you'll ne…

I live at 60 degrees also, and I agree with everything you said. The cold didn't bother me at all, even though I'm from a hot country originally. I rode my bike to work every day of the year in fact, even in -45C. I loved it. It's like being on another planet in it's beauty and differences. Like you said, it was always in late winter/early spring that I'd loose it a little. I'd grab a burger and beer after work, then…

Whitehorse, perhaps? I've read that Whitehorse has the highest rate of bicycle commuters. I can't fathom how that's possible, given the winters, and the fact that it's not particularly dense -- yeah, things aren't THAT far apart, but far enough that bicycling doesn't seem like the first choice in the winter.

Re: The Arctic Suicides: It's Not the Dark That Kills You

#96

Post by dpatrick86 »

jensen123 wrote: post #78
exDM69 wrote: post #18

I live 60 degrees northern latitude in a country with bad suicide statistics and the winters do get pretty harsh on you mentally. And there's still millions of people living norther than I do. Highest suicide rates occur during the spring, around the vernal equinox not around the darkest time of the year. If you've never experienced the northern spring where each day is 10+ minutes longer than the previous, you'll ne…

> Highest suicide rates occur during the spring, around the vernal equinox not around the darkest time of the year. If you don't take vitamin D pills or consume (lots of) cod liver oil, then your vitamin D levels will be lowest in the spring. If I remember correctly, at around 60 degrees north, you have to wait until the end of April until you get vitamin D from the sun.

Interesting. Are there any studies on this lowest-in-spring observation?

Re: The Arctic Suicides: It's Not the Dark That Kills You

#97

Post by xg15 »

sevenless wrote: post #55

The section talking about contagion was interesting. What follows is pure speculation on my part and a bit of a ramble. I believe many mental illnesses, depression, suicidal behavior and anorexia among them, can be characterized as contagious. And perhaps some other things that aren't usually described as mental illnesses. The border between belief, religion and mental illness seems a bit fuzzy (echoes of Snow Crash)…

There are certainly communities that "explain" the behaviors of mental illnesses in a way that don't help people who are at risk but instead drives them even more into the illness - i.e. certain extreme conspiracy boards, esoterics sites or misguided bulimia "self-help" groups. For sites like that, I agree.

However, as for groups which just represent off-mainstream subculture I don't see it. Well, technically they are of course "contagious" - that's how transmitting culture and ideas work. But not every bad idea or weird subculture is already a mental illness. I would think "sterilizing" the internet by taking away all "contagious" sites would not just rob it one of its core identities, but would also present serious free-speech and censorship issues as the criteria for being "sterile" don't seem clear-cut at all to me.

Or to make an example, many opinions on HN aren't mainstream either. What would make HN a safe site to visit, but Tumblr not?

Re: The Arctic Suicides: It's Not the Dark That Kills You

#98

Post by rconti »

gumby wrote: post #75

I was struck by the comment by the woman who answered the suicide line: "Maybe I am giving them a little love." I spent years answering the phone on a crisis line. Some people's problems just didn't seem that bad, yet they were overwhelmed nonetheless. Some people had such crushing burdens I was astonished they could even talk. I didn't find it uplifting, in fact it drained me. I am astonished by her ability to do it…

When I was most depressed in life was mid-late teens. It's a rough time for everyone, really. The search for romantic love, or at least what you imagine it to be. All that. I had some really dark times, but fortunately I made it out.

It wasn't very long before I began to see that the periods of depression -- even though they felt really real at the time -- just didn't make sense. I'd keep a journal, and if I read it later (or, worse, tried to write the journal entry after the feeling had passed), none of it made sense. I mean, the words made sense, but the feelings didn't.

I wonder if part of what got me out of it was just learning to manage those times. I knew I felt terrible, but I also knew it didn't make sense, and that in 3 days I'd recognize how little sense it made. So I just had to ride it out.

Now in my mid 30s, I have some anxiety that nobody else can see, and it rarely troubles me. But it's the same pattern-- when it bothers me, I feel completely overwhelmed by the silliest little thing (or collection of things). Not only burdens that others wouldn't think twice about, but ones that I myself handle regularly without issue.

We've all got things we're incapable of dealing with. Everyone's limits are different. And I think, for everyone, they change all the time.

Re: The Arctic Suicides: It's Not the Dark That Kills You

#99

Post by mccoolman »

ekianjo wrote: post #58
warfangle wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When people are really depressed, they don't kill themselves. Because they have no energy to. Once they go on antidepressants, they go on suicide watch. It's the most dangerous time. Because they'll still be depressed, but they'll finally have the energy to get up. And they just might have the energy to do themselves in.

> Once they go on antidepressants, they go on suicide watch. It's the most dangerous time. Because they'll still be depressed, but they'll finally have the energy to get up. And they just might have the energy to do themselves in. Not sure if you can really generalize this much. There are several studies studying the effect of antidepressants on suicide rates, and it's true that some of them seem to lead to more suic…

The big thing for me was that my SSRI didn't allow me to masturbate anymore. Jerking off is extremely important to broke 19-year-old males, at least it was to me.

Re: The Arctic Suicides: It's Not the Dark That Kills You

#100

Post by Asparagirl »

willidiots wrote: post #93
ekianjo wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Once they go on antidepressants, they go on suicide watch. It's the most dangerous time. Because they'll still be depressed, but they'll finally have the energy to get up. And they just might have the energy to do themselves in. Not sure if you can really generalize this much. There are several studies studying the effect of antidepressants on suicide rates, and it's true that some of them seem to lead to more suic…

This is admittedly anecdata, but a close member of my family just committed suicide this week, after starting SSRIs a few weeks earlier. The family saw a therapist for counseling (not the therapist responsible for the SSRIs) yesterday and her opinion was that prescribing an SSRI without an accompanying mood stablizier was extremely risky. There's certainly a contingent of mental health workers who feel this is a real…

I'm sorry for your loss.
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