61–70 of 95 posts
This comment may have no practical use to someone feeling suicidal, but those interested in a philosophical discussion of suicide should consider reading some of Camus' work.
As someone that has had a sibling take her own life, and another that has had suicidal thoughts frequently, this article was extremely helpful in seeing the cognitive layers beyond the emotional layers. Pretty eye-opening. I wonder if the cognitive destruction would prevent a person from even realizing they're experiencing cognitive destruction (eg, after reading an article like this)?
For those interested in philosophy, Albert Camus famously said "There is only one really serious philosophical problem and that is suicide" [1]. Basically Camus asked the question why shouldn't he commit suicide and then worked on finding a philosophy that gave him reason not to. This comment may have no practical use to someone feeling suicidal, but those interested in a philosophical discussion of suicide should co…
http://www.amazon.com/How-Live-Montaigne-Question-Attempts/d...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can confirm this. Those days when I would just sit in the corner of my room staring at a blank wall for ... the whole day ... not fun. PS: I eventually got better and have remained such for years
I've also experienced this. I'd curl up on the shower floor and sit until I couldn't stand the now-cold water coming out of the shower head. I spent consecutive days close to catatonia, dragging myself into work, shutting the door, coming out eight hours later. I don't think this fact has a lot of bearing on this article, though. I feel like these criticisms are just an unfortunate manifestation of HN's tendancy to b…
Pretty much. I've learned to read HN comments largely as a source of data, rather than as a community of merit. This kind of pot-stirring has happened every time anyone of significance in the tech community has committed suicide. It's just self-aggrandizing.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are a few pieces of evidence that suggest long-term depression can impact neurogenesis, which could lead to altered cognition. I don't know if that's a prevalent theory, and as the author points out, it doesn't explain non-depressive suicides. I can, however, answer this anecdote with another anecdote. I've been dealing with suicidal thoughts for about 5 years, and at some points some very limited self-harm. On…
Aren't impulses like that relatively common? I can recall hundreds of times where I felt a sudden impulse like that since about the age of 10, all triggered by finding myself in a situation where something not normally dangerous presented a very real possibility of death. I always figured my brain was using that impulse to viscerally play out the consequences in my head so as to scare the living daylights out of me (…
http://www.amazon.com/Imp-Mind-Exploring-Epidemic-Obsessive/...
For those interested in philosophy, Albert Camus famously said "There is only one really serious philosophical problem and that is suicide" [1]. Basically Camus asked the question why shouldn't he commit suicide and then worked on finding a philosophy that gave him reason not to. This comment may have no practical use to someone feeling suicidal, but those interested in a philosophical discussion of suicide should co…
Existentialism is a hobby and a thing to talk about, not a tested therapy for major clinical depression.
For those interested in philosophy, Albert Camus famously said "There is only one really serious philosophical problem and that is suicide" [1]. Basically Camus asked the question why shouldn't he commit suicide and then worked on finding a philosophy that gave him reason not to. This comment may have no practical use to someone feeling suicidal, but those interested in a philosophical discussion of suicide should co…
If you are in a position to work for years on a philosophy to give you a reason not to commit suicide, then probably you are not really in the kind of position from which people normally commit suicide. Existentialism is a hobby and a thing to talk about, not a tested therapy for major clinical depression.
Speaking as someone who has been suicidal, I think that that article is a lot of hot air. This is what it felt like to be suicidal: Imagine the worst heartbreak you have ever felt, and multiply this by ten. Imagine the worst anxiety you have ever suffered and multiply this by ten. Imagine that every second feels like a minute, in each of those minute-long-seconds, you feel like a lion is just about to jump out from a…
I took a different direction completely. I became enraged at all the people in my life who led me to thinking this way, who destroyed my passion for what I loved, for taking it away from me, and making me feel so obligated to them, while getting nothing in return. I rejected the thought of no future and mentally put myself in a new one.
I became a recluse and shut everyone out of my life, and then I moved to another state 600 miles away. I didn't tell anyone I was leaving, except my parents, I told them I was taking a vacation, just so they wouldn't file a missing persons report, but honestly, it would have taken them weeks to realize I was gone, that's how little we talked. I have a better relationship with my parents now, but that's probably because of the distance. We only talk every few months, and they know if they attempt to assert any control over my life I would have no problem cutting off contact with them. I don't talk to my siblings, and I haven't contacted anyone else from my past since.
Whether I'm missed by anyone aside from my immediate family. I doubt it, and I don't care either.
The experience was liberating to me. I live for myself and don't allow baseless obligations to dictate any decisions I make. I don't allow my decisions to be dictated by how others will judge me.
Sometimes it is the physical feeling of nausea and of cold water running through your veins.
Other times you shake with anxiety and your thoughts do not stay still. You wonder if you will be crazy permanently as it stunts your abilities, and begin to count 1..2..3..4..5..6..7..in order to keep your mind..8..9..10..connected to that one thought you were trying to have.
Or perhaps you feel everything has gone wrong and you recall how you tried to improve everything and what little effect you had; and you tell yourself off for your inadequacies and tell yourself that you must try harder next time. But you feel like it's hopeless: you did your best before and cannot see what you could do better. So you begin to cry and then start to laugh from the bitter-sweet realisation that you have given it everything. You ask yourself whether there's somebody to talk to about all of this, but the counsellors didn't work, your family have their own troubles, and your friends always cut you off at any sign you need their care. Why should you receive help anyway: nothing you are experiencing is out of the realms of normal human experience. You live a good life.
Sometimes you run across the road and, as you run, a car narrowly misses you. "I'm not ready to die yet!" you joke, yet your mind counters "Who am I kidding?" So next time you walk slower, imagining the vehicle slam into you. Or you imagine throwing yourself off the buildings you're walking past, or walking into the bar and starting a fight with the most threatening looking thug so you could either win over something you hate or die violently. Sometimes people wonder where your new-found courage has come from: why you're not worried about failing anymore. The horrible truth, it was the best take-away from the worst thought: you want to win or be ripped apart.
Other days you think of the positive mental attitude you have tried to grow, the self-help books you have read, the people you have given your love to, and the pressure that you are putting yourself under to try and come out of this and you just wonder how it has been months since I felt pleasure. A thought enters your mind: another 10 years for everybody's benefit but mine. Do I deserve this? Is being able to will myself to continue all there should be [0].