Death: a Fact of Life

(This is an article I wrote for the school newspaper while in college. The piece itself was largely a reaction to the suicide of an older family friend. I suppose you might say I was using my writing as therapy. Anyhow, the tile should have been "Suicide: a Fact of Life." Unfortunately that headline would have been too long for the space we needed, so it received the title it now bears. Regardless, of the work I did in school it is the one of which I am proudest.)

Recently a person I knew committed suicide. I won't repeat his name here, though he was a prominent citizen in the Huntsville area. I knew him all my life and while I can't say we were close, he was a friend of the family. Needless to say, his death caused me some distress.

My friend was an older person whose health had been failing for some time, but suicide takes the lives of the young as well as the old. Ten to fifteen percent of all deaths among people below the age of twenty five are suicides.

Suicide may be the result of a number of things: illness, poor finances, occupational difficulties, love gone bad. While not all people who commit suicide suffered from depression, it is estimated that the chances of a depressed individual committing suicide are fifty times that of a person who does not suffer from depression.

After a suicide the emotions of those left behind are intensified. Accompanying the grief and sense of loss experienced upon any death are feelings of guilt and shame. The survivors feel guilty because they often believe they could have prevented the suicide or, worse yet, could have been the cause. The sense of shame arises from the stigma attached to suicide in our society. Many psychiatrists and psychologists believe the survivors of all suicide victims should undergo at least some counselling.

The warning signs of suicide are not easy to spot and it is often said by many survivors of suicide victims that "so-and-so" acted "normally" when I last saw him (it is a myth that someone who commits suicide is "insane"). First, it must be understood that suicide is almost always a premeditated act-it may look as if it was merely done on impulse, but most suicide victims considered suicide long before taking their lives. It is also a myth that one who talks about committing suicide usually will not do it; often when someone talks about suicide he is simply crying for help--if his threat is ignored he may commit suicide simply because he feels no one cares for him.

Other warning signs are a preoccupation with death, giving away cherished possessions or making "final arrangements" (such as planning ahead for one's funeral), changes in the sleeping pattern (either too much or too little), changes in eating habits, withdrawal from friends and relatives accompanied by depression, changes in school or work performance, personality changes (such as tension, apathy, or outbursts of anger), use of drugs and alcohol, the recent suicide of a friend or relative and whether or not one has made any previous suicide attempts. Seventy five percent of all suicide victims have seen a physician within four months of the day on which they commit suicide. There is no single one thing that identifies a person as a potential suicide, although almost all of them act disturbed and are as often depressed. While the typical person might have trouble telling whether or not his friend or relative is a potential suicide victim, most trained professionals (psychologists, psychiatrists, et. al.) can identify potential suicides with more than chance accuracy.

For better or worse, suicide is a fact of life. Chances are each of us will know at least one person, if even only a casual acquaintance, who takes his own life. The good news is that suicides can be prevented. There are warning signs that identify potential suicide victims, and there are crisis intervention agencies and treatment centres which specialize in the prevention of suicide. For more information on suicide one can contact the American Medical Association, Department of Mental Health.