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Stephen Fry reveals he attempted suicide in 2012

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Stephen Fry reveals he attempted suicide in 2012

#11

Post by eksith »

I don't even want to imagine a day Stephen Fry isn't around. What a horrible, horrible void there would be where he stood.

The insidiousness of this disease is in how well it hides itself in plain sight in many cases. And how terrifyingly easy it is to fall to it.

  He said there is "no reason" for someone wanting to take their own life.

  "There is no 'why', it's not the right question. There's no reason. If there were a reason for it, you could reason someone out of it, and you could tell them why they shouldn't take their own life," he said.

Re: Stephen Fry reveals he attempted suicide in 2012

#12

Post by publicfig »

Glad to see a major figure going public about his struggle with mental illness. Though I don't think that those with a "celebrity status" should be pressured into sharing this information, let alone expected to do so, it's always comforting for me to see people slowly start to release their stigmas with discussing mental illness, especially on a personal level. As someone who has suffered from mental illness, it would do so much to be able to talk to others without worrying about the reactions and dismissal that comes from so many people I've encountered.

Re: Stephen Fry reveals he attempted suicide in 2012

#13

Post by pyre »

citricsquid wrote: post #3

The documentary mentioned about his bi-polar is available on Amazon (and without permission on Youtube) for anyone interested, it's a very good insight into bi-polar and depression, worth the 120 minutes: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0808482/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Fry:_The_Secret_Life_of... http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stephen-Frys-Secret-Manic-Depressive...

I saw the documentary a couple of years ago. Well worth a watch. (The Carrie Fisher interview ties in with all of the, "That's no snow! Carrie Fisher was snorting cocaine on the Hoth set!" articles that float around)

Re: Stephen Fry reveals he attempted suicide in 2012

#14

Post by arankine »

I was actually at this podcast recording (its great by the way, check it out). It was the most human discussion I've heard for a long time. It really struck home that people assume so much of someone because they are on TV. He is a great guy with many problems, a great ambassador for taking the stigma out of mental illness.

Re: Stephen Fry reveals he attempted suicide in 2012

#15

Post by pyre »

DanBC wrote: post #8

It's tempting to think that he's wealthy and working and so this disclosure is easy to make, because it won't affect his work life. In theory we have anti-discrimination laws here, but it's hard to prove that someone hasn't employed you because of your mental health problems. And actors usually need to be insured when they're doing a film. It's hard for some actors to get that insurance, expensive, because of past me…

This particular disclosure is new, but he's been open about being bi-polar for a while, and IIRC about at least one past suicide attempt (see the documentary mentioned elsewhere).

Re: Stephen Fry reveals he attempted suicide in 2012

#16

Post by DanBC »

simonbarker87 wrote: post #9

Hopefully this will bring the issue of mental health back to the fore AND make sure that funding for the appropriate NHS and outpatient services does not get tampered with.

Mental Health services have always been underfunded in England.

Waiting lists[1] for some forms of talking therapy (for people in secondary care, with severe and enduring MH problems) can be very long. In Gloucestershire there's[2] a max 6 week wait for assessment and then 18 week wait for treatment to start. This is for people being treated in the community, as an alternative to hospitalisation. And Glos is pretty good at this. Some places there's waits of over a year.

Luckily there's something called "IAPT" (Improved Access to Psychological Therapies) which is ring-fenced[3] funding to provide evidence based (usually cognitive behavioural therapy) in short courses (12 weeks) to people coming from primary care, but not in secondary care. Usually you can self refer for assessment. You might need to ask your GPs surgery for "IAPT" or "PCAT" (primary care and assessment team), because some of them don't appear to know it exists.

[1] be careful with terminology here. I'm using it wrong. Waiting list is a defined term with a specific meaning. If you're asking a local health board about the length of time people have before they start treatment you want to avoid use of the words "waiting list".

[2] These times were accurate last time I asked, about 2 years ago. These times are significantly better than they were 5 years ago, and the local trust is still working to reduce those maximum times.

[3] Maybe I'm wrong about the ring-fencing of the funding?

Re: Stephen Fry reveals he attempted suicide in 2012

#17

Post by corin_ »

> The actor and comedian attempted suicide after walking out of the West End play Cell Mates in 1995 - an event he recounted in a documentary for BBC Two called The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive.

He also attempted suicide as a teenager (I think 16/17 but don't quite recall), although in his (first) autobiography he describes it as a childish rebellion to upset his parents. Therefore I wonder if it's happened 3 times or potentially many more.

Incidentally, both his autobiographies are well worth reading. As are his novels.

Re: Stephen Fry reveals he attempted suicide in 2012

#18

Post by MarkPNeyer »

i've struggled with bipolar for years. it's not easy. after my startup was sold in an asset purchase and i was left with nothing but the credit card debt i'd accumuluated thinking i was going to make it big, i crashed hard. i got all tangled up in a huge web of internal metaphors and was in and out of mental hospitals - 3 stints in two months. i'm getting better now, and it's good to have people like stephen fry trying to destigmatize the illness.

Re: Stephen Fry reveals he attempted suicide in 2012

#19

Post by koningrobot »

eksith wrote: post #11

I don't even want to imagine a day Stephen Fry isn't around. What a horrible, horrible void there would be where he stood. The insidiousness of this disease is in how well it hides itself in plain sight in many cases. And how terrifyingly easy it is to fall to it. He said there is "no reason" for someone wanting to take their own life. "There is no 'why', it's not the right question. There's no reason. If there were…

Stephen Fry should speak for himself. People can have very good reasons to want to die. Reasons that are so good that, besides outweighing the value that their life has to them, still have enough oomph to carry one over the high doorstep of fear and pain that comes with taking one's own life.

Life is not infinitely valuable. Its goods can be outweighed by bads. People who really just want to go should be respected and we should help them get out of here.

Re: Stephen Fry reveals he attempted suicide in 2012

#20

Post by shedside »

koningrobot wrote: post #19
eksith wrote: post #11

I don't even want to imagine a day Stephen Fry isn't around. What a horrible, horrible void there would be where he stood. The insidiousness of this disease is in how well it hides itself in plain sight in many cases. And how terrifyingly easy it is to fall to it. He said there is "no reason" for someone wanting to take their own life. "There is no 'why', it's not the right question. There's no reason. If there were…

Stephen Fry should speak for himself. People can have very good reasons to want to die. Reasons that are so good that, besides outweighing the value that their life has to them, still have enough oomph to carry one over the high doorstep of fear and pain that comes with taking one's own life. Life is not infinitely valuable. Its goods can be outweighed by bads. People who really just want to go should be respected an…

He’s not talking about suicide in general, but suicide resultant from a particular kind of depression.
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