Does religion help if you are suicidal? My experience

[noname223]

Today I have watched a TV show where they talk about philosophy or religion. The topic today was religion. The guest was a very successful person. He said without relgion he would not have had the same strength. He said compared to many atheists he had more stamina because of his faith. I thought about that and I made some research.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7310534/
A research of the correlation of religions and suicidality. I have not fully read it but I recognized some interesting parts. In Switzerland they showed catholic religion protects more against suicide than protestant religion. But both relgions protect way more against suicide than atheism. However if you are religious in China it makes the likelihood higher to commit suicide.

What is your experience with religion and suicidality? I made only bad experiences. When I was younger I somewhat believed in God, I sometimes prayed. But when I had my first severe depression with severe depression I lost my faith fully and I am glad about it. I think there was a key moment in my life. I had extremely horrible nightmares. I dreamed there was a party in my school, patients of the psychiatries and bullies were invited. They had a party because I will kill myself and that I will go to hell after that. Someone spit in my face. The dream was very vivid.
I then tried to lose my faith, read a lot about religions/atheism. It worked to reflect about it. It was kind of a relief. The guilt tripping was horrible for me.

Though I think religion can give you a way to cope, can even make you more resilient. But this does not work for everyone. Some see meaning in their life due to religion. Sometimes it can hurt to be a nihilist. Jordan Peterson has made good lectures about existentialism and suffering.

Still I am glad to be an atheist. I try to worship other higher values. DFW had some interesting thoughts about that. I think religion had some good influences on the humankind. But the negative effects are higher imo. So many people were burned as witches, so much wars. And it goes on till today. The stigmatization of suicidal people, the rejection of the right to die. During a very severe crisis a very kind therapist tried to help. And it is fact she was really supportive. However she spoke sometimes about religion. She was very religious. Her attitude made me kind of mad. We had once like a little argument. I asked her if she thinks people who ctb go to hell. She agreed on it.
I am glad to be an atheist.
In addition to that I remember a roundabout 40 year old woman in clinic. She was very religious but also were very suicidal and I think for a long time. She always took her necklace with the cross and asked God why he did this to her. (At least this is what I remember.) I am glad not to be that women. The pressure from a God who hates/tortures you when you ctb is kind of horrible. At least for me.

 

[Julgran]

I'm guessing that religion can affect different people in various ways. If a person believes in a God, then they have that God to live for, and is therefore not afraid of what life might throw at them. On the other hand, that person may go through literal hell, just because they decide to survive no matter what, just because they believe in that God.

It could also be possible to do decide to end one's life if, for example, an oppressive regime treats its populace bad, or even tries to murder them - then a religious person might sacrifice themselves for the greater good, I presume, which is a suicide, ultimately.

 

[Round Two]

I feel like, much with a lot of other aspects in life, religion is what you make of it. I think you've got a good point about the guilt-tripping. That was my overall experience with religion when I was younger. And today I see countless people kneeling before the cross while they harbor all the hate they can manage for people their lord would have loved.

I think for many, faith is a shield. Some people use that shield to guard against the hardships of life, or even do their best to help others with it.

Other people use their faith as a sword to cut down anyone they believe to be going against their personal beliefs. After all, if they can't be happy in their own lives, why should others get the chance to be? They mainly operate through guilt, hate, manipulation, and delusion. I don't mean delusion regarding faith, mind you, only that they delude themselves into thinking that their actions and views of hate are justified by their religion.

From what I've seen, the former group is almost non-existent stacked next to the latter group. Which is a shame. I do believe, even if I don't share their faith, that there could be a lot more good in the world if that were switched.

All in all, I do think faith and religion can be helpful, as long as it's personal and used for good.

 

[D&D]

Faith, of any creed, in its purest form requires a total, complete trust. Surrender to power greater than yourself. Come what may.

Ending one's life requires the same.

 

[Bleak]

I just have a major gripe with the Abrahamic religions and their emphasis on guilt, shame, and controlling sex. I also hate how dualistic they are with the world always separated into two opposites: good/evil, god/devil, etc. The polytheistic religions seem more natural and healthy to me because they express the many-sidedness of life and the human psyche.

I do tend to read and think about religion a lot, and I wish I had the convictions and community that they afford. It would certainly make life easier than having to create your own meanings or worse go through life thinking it is all meaningless. I wouldn't even be averse to being a priest if I had a religion I truly believed in.

 

[Noctis]

Sorta? When I was younger (and still full of faith) I refused to kill myself because I wanted to get into heaven. So I endured some of the worst years of my life.

If I were as anti-religious as I am today, I honestly think I would've done it, and that makes me very resentful.

So, religion kept me here, but I'm not happy about it.

 

[Callie Arcale]

I'd love nothing more than to believe in God. Then I could say "It's God's plan, it's not for me to know why" whenever something bad happened and accept it.

And whenever some kid got cancer or some woman got raped and beaten to death I'd shrug and say "God works in mysterious ways" and accept it as well.

I wish more than anything that the loving Christian God of the New Testament existed. Then we could all be saved. Then all the suffering would not all be in vain. Alas, it's all a fairy tale…

 

[mlha]

During my psychosis, I became a believer for a brief moment and I also believed that I need to sacrifice myself (I semi-attempted, because I thought the world would bifurcate). So in hindsight I could be no more which would be peaceful, on the other hand prior to that psychosis my life had been actually becoming good, my depression had subsided; however, I had been also quite oblivious to the routine of the adult life.
Therefore in my case religiousness would be a bad thing at that time, but it helped me to attempt which isn't an easy thing to do.

 

[Snake of Eden]

I really think one of the benefits of religions is that they keep people from thinking outside of the box. Thinking outside the box meaning philiophieizng about meaning of life and our place in it without constraints. Religions are good that way in that they ascribe a meaning (value) to the suffering of the individual and collective as nothing is ever lost in God's eye. I think that type of deal can work with alot of people to stop them from suicide. Is it a good thing? It depends on who you are asking and the ultimate revelation about the truth behind our reality.

 

[Rain_Hermit]

Religion is what shapes culture in the long run and culture is the harbringer of opression. Culture values groupthink over an individual's freedom.
This in turn churns out
1)Sociopathic individuals who are like crabs in a bucket
2)Depressed adults

 

[needed_]

this is an interesting thread! i am very catholic but not in a very conservative way (which means i'm not married and i have had sex.. :D) my faith is still very strong but interestingly the closer i get to ctb the more i question not at all the existing of God but the existence of eternal life after death. which is weird because the whole point of why jesus died is to redeem us all and give us eternal life (kind of). but what's also interesting is that people say in christianism it is a huge sin to kill yourself so you won't get to heaven. but it's not completely true - as far as i know the concept of suicide as a sin was created by the church in the middle age. life was so tough at that point that many people killed themselves to skip the hard life and get straight to paradise (i understand them, i'm not judging). but at some point the church said hey we can't have so many people commiting suicide we need to do something! so they started telling everyone that suicide is a sin. God never said that. (if i'm not mistaken)

 

[little helpers]

Today I have watched a TV show where they talk about philosophy or religion. The topic today was religion. The guest was a very successful person. He said without relgion he would not have had the same strength. He said compared to many atheists he had more stamina because of his faith. I thought about that and I made some research.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7310534/
A research of the correlation of religions and suicidality. I have not fully read it but I recognized some interesting parts. In Switzerland they showed catholic religion protects more against suicide than protestant religion. But both relgions protect way more against suicide than atheism. However if you are religious in China it makes the likelihood higher to commit suicide.

What is your experience with religion and suicidality? I made only bad experiences. When I was younger I somewhat believed in God, I sometimes prayed. But when I had my first severe depression with severe depression I lost my faith fully and I am glad about it. I think there was a key moment in my life. I had extremely horrible nightmares. I dreamed there was a party in my school, patients of the psychiatries and bullies were invited. They had a party because I will kill myself and that I will go to hell after that. Someone spit in my face. The dream was very vivid.
I then tried to lose my faith, read a lot about religions/atheism. It worked to reflect about it. It was kind of a relief. The guilt tripping was horrible for me.

Though I think religion can give you a way to cope, can even make you more resilient. But this does not work for everyone. Some see meaning in their life due to religion. Sometimes it can hurt to be a nihilist. Jordan Peterson has made good lectures about existentialism and suffering.

Still I am glad to be an atheist. I try to worship other higher values. DFW had some interesting thoughts about that. I think religion had some good influences on the humankind. But the negative effects are higher imo. So many people were burned as witches, so much wars. And it goes on till today. The stigmatization of suicidal people, the rejection of the right to die. During a very severe crisis a very kind therapist tried to help. And it is fact she was really supportive. However she spoke sometimes about religion. She was very religious. Her attitude made me kind of mad. We had once like a little argument. I asked her if she thinks people who ctb go to hell. She agreed on it.
I am glad to be an atheist.
In addition to that I remember a roundabout 40 year old woman in clinic. She was very religious but also were very suicidal and I think for a long time. She always took her necklace with the cross and asked God why he did this to her. (At least this is what I remember.) I am glad not to be that women. The pressure from a God who hates/tortures you when you ctb is kind of horrible. At least for me.

if we're to look at the history of Buddism or say, Christianity, it's not hard to see there's always offshoots, sects, that turned into literal cults (governing millions of people) while operating under the guise of "religion".

India and 1940s Tibet. prime examples. both fell under the regime of Buddist offshoots. underclass people get nothing but neglect and debt, "monks" and some other bloodlines as "higher beings" eat and feast and fuck and r*pe. it horrifies me knowing there's still instruments made from human body on exihibition in fucking museums and shit. 1940s Tibet, skin peeled (ALIVE, in many cases) from d/Deaf people used for drums in "religious" ceremonies. India today, the "I get despised, got no education, no legal protection from men r*ping me, no Covid PPE cuz I'm from a lower caste and I deserve it I'm doing good for my next life" thing, still going on, heavily. and I guess everyone knows the deal with Christianity, don't we? queer, trans, (once upon a time,) Black people, witch hunt, crusades, and the "people who suicide goes to Hell"… organized religion = class system (AND vice versa). this never falls out IMO.

so there're two "religion"s: one that you practice with yourself, the other that's practiced upon you. the latter is bound to go awry at some point in human history, of the present, past or future - cuz religion is all about humans (idk how people can meet some celestial being speaking a goddamn human language), and humans are known to commit every crime against humanity on this earth.

honestly though, I like thinking about the Bible. a lot. from a theological/ philosophical perspective. there can't be one book in this world that doesn't have a single valuable concept in them. and I have prayed in the past, not the AA/NA prayer, and found it to be a great moment of self-reflection.

still I have a problem with preachers. see, saying anything other than what God has said himself is idolatry. cuz they're turning their own faces into God's.

use it nicely and you'd get to a nice place. use it badly then no one can save you, not even saving themselves.

I'm a whatever-this-is-none-of-my-bussiness-ist, religion (the ones you practice with yourself) wise. cuz, "hardcore atheism", the ones that preach atheism onto others, sounds truly religious too to me.

I think we can very well say that everyone has a religion, if in the first sense. it's the system of meaning we identify with. the stories we tell ourselves. we all have it and rely on it. it evolves. no die-hard truth to be found, the way religions are diverse and constantly reinterpreted. the existence of such a thing, for me, is beautiful.

 

[blueclover_.]

Yeah because in some religions suicide is literally a sin and you'll go crazy in fear of hell so you can't ctb. First hand experience.

 

[medjooled11]

I am a firm advocate for the use of religion and spirituality in life, especially if one is suicidal.

It has certainly helped me, but I suffer badly when I abandon studies, or stop devotion or surrender.

You don't have to believe in the creationism or theism to be religious or spiritual.

One of the best things these should provide, that often fails today, is community.

I wonder how many of us would commit suicide if we (SS) lived in a community and worked together toward shared goals other than suicide?

 

[Snake of Eden]

I wonder how many of us would commit suicide if we (SS) lived in a community and worked together toward shared goals other than suicide?

I dont think we would benefit from congregating much tbh. I think what needs to happen first and foremost is ending the taboo and stigmatization of suicide and for society and medical establishment to admit defeat with current methods of addressing mental health and suicidality. The only way to truly reduce suicide rates is to target those with fixable problems that led to their suicidality by investigating and developing solutions to save them from taking their own lives like people with financial problems