Tag: #suicide hot line

Please, Don’t Do It-Call 988

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Please, Don’t Do It – Call 988 for Help

In 2022, nearly 50,000 Americans took their own lives

Call 988-Help Is Out There

By D. S. Mitchell

Scary Statistics
More than 1 in 5 Americans suffer from a diagnosed mental illness and an unknown number of Americans suffer from an undiagnosed mental illness. World wide 80% of the population suffers from a mental illness at some point in their lives; some disorders as benign sounding as nail biting and bed wetting. The most familiar and the most catastrophic in their effects on the lives of sufferers are depression, anxiety, PTSD, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. In 2022, 49,449 Americans died by suicide with at least another 1.2 million Americans attempting suicide. Misunderstanding and negative attitudes toward mental illness breed misconceptions and prevent many tortured individuals from seeking help.
Holidays are Dangerous Times
The holidays are a particularly dangerous time for a suicidal person.  If you, or someone you know, are experiencing any of the following symptoms please seek help.
Symptoms of suicidal ideation include:
  • Talking about self harm, wanting to die, or kill oneself
  • Describing life as “hopeless” without purpose, being “trapped”
  • Talking about being a burden to others
  • Increased use of alcohol or drugs
  • Noticeably agitated, anxious or reckless
  • Expressing feelings of unbearable pain
  • Extreme mood swings
  • Displays of rage
  • Plans to “get revenge”
  • Sleeping too little or too much
  • Withdrawing from normal relationships, isolation
  • A suicide plan
Call 988 For Help
Please, if you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, or are showing any of the listed signals, tell someone.  Call for help. There is a new national suicide Hot Line. Call 988 if you are thinking about suicide. Life has so much to offer, explore it. Stick around. Suicide is permanent.

Suicide Is Permanent, Please Stay

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Suicide Is Permanent, Please Stay

Suicide Is Permanent, Please Stay

D. S. Mitchell

Just The Facts

If you are between 15-35, suicide is the second leading cause of death for your age group.  For all age groups, suicide is responsible for more deaths than murder and natural disasters, combined.  Men take their own lives four times as often as women. Many men sadly would rather be dead than seem ‘weak.’

Those Left Behind

As you can see, suicide is not a rare, or isolated event. It is very real and definitely permanent, and it leaves those who are left behind, in utter despair. For them the suicide event is plagued by stigma, guilt and self-recrimination. The most common question from those left behind is, “what could I have done differently?”

A Societal Contract

Suicide is like the tentacles of an octopus wrapping itself around all of us, casting doubt on hope, and future.  It tears at our social fabric and brings into question society’s compact with the individual.  Whether spoken or unspoken, we as people, are part of a greater society.  As a society, we have agreed to a collective future, a means to provide for our children, to continue our culture, to sustain our existence at all cost. Jennifer Michael Hecht wrote,  Stay: A History of Suicide and the Arguments Against it. And in her words,  “Either the universe is a cold dead place with solitary sentient beings, or we are all alive together, committed to persevere.”

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