How would you prevent suicide?

[Tintypographer]

I'm a fundamentalist self choice advocate and outspoken mental health advocate.

I also have severe depression and difficult to treat suicidal ideation. I'm also a stats professional in data and analytics related to insurance and clinical trials.

One thing I'm certain of is that something in society is speeding up the rate of suicides per unit of population. The rate is growing and showing no sings of reverting to a slower rate right now. The causes are probably very diverse and a combination of effects

I realized that we don't talk to the people who are suicidal about what can be done to reduce their suicidal ideation and feeling of hopelessness.

I know that my own despair stems from a feeling that mant human systems have been set up to reduce people to sub-human. Systems from department of motor vehicles to schools to courts to airlines to public transportation to retirement finances to taxes are all designed to remove thught and care and to reduce people to a process. This makes me feel hopeless and as this type of things continues to get more and more prevalent I get more and more down that no one matters as a human. I also feel that bullying and dehumanization has become a protected right of free speech and we can't seem to reverse this.

The feelings of not mattering translate over to managed care for suicide treatment. I don't want to tell my therapist I'm actively suicidal because the insurance and treatment systems in place use that information as a red flag to invoke certain steps and processes.

I believe if we could do less inhuman hotlines with canned responses and shift toward more person to person care then we coukd reduce suicides


Does anyone else have any ideas. Again, not using this as a pro life. I'm just saying that I believe that a bureaucracy of healthcare and hotlines is not helping people address suicidal ideation..

 

[Enoughnow]

Personally I don't even want to get better I just want to die I wish they would allow euthansia for longterm mentally ill I have suicide ideation also I honestly don't think it's something that's ever gonna go away and like I say for me personally I don't even want it too I just wish I could die xx
I just get tired of attempt after attempt and keep failing I don't understand why I can't seem to die sometimes I wonder if I did actually die already and now I'm in hell
I hope you manage to find some peace hun all the best xx

 

[Pluto]

The problems are deeply engrained in the fabric of society. Resources that should go towards caring for the environment or looking after less fortunate people are instead being hoarded by the billionaire class. For them, the name of the game is taking ownership of the media and then using their influence to cause the masses to fight with one another over petty culture wars.

A lot of the grievances people seem to have pertain to both societal and personal dysfunction. That includes horrible families which victimise a scapegoat, a lack of quality relationships, a lack of a fulfilling role in society and a sense of dread over the future direction of the planet.

I would turn attention to preventative issues. Compulsory minimum standards for parenting. Holding schools to account for bullying. Genuine leadership regarding the ecological catastrophe and other issues of sustainability. Actually standing up against the billionaire class.

In answer to the question, though, I would imagine that a high quality suicide prevention system would involve something more than being locked up in a building surrounded by doctors. What about somewhere actually nice, perhaps in nature with pleasant activities, animals and non-judgmental people to just listen? I don't know, but we can surely do better.

 

[Angi]

Respect bodily autonomy. At least for me it would be much easier to live, this way. Also, it would let those of us who still need to kill ourselves.

I would turn attention to preventative issues. Compulsory minimum standards for parenting. Holding schools to account for bullying. Genuine leadership regarding the ecological catastrophe and other issues of sustainability.

Also, what Pluto said! Harder to implement than my suggestion, but would go a long way!

 

[The Abyss]

Ask each individual what the top 3 things that are driving them to suicide are & address them, fix the cause of the problems & you change the outcome. Ignoring ppl, calling them mentally ill & denying peaceful methods solves nothing.

Emotional/mental issue? Can be worked out.

Physical distress? Give them an operation or strong pain meds, so what if they're addictive & life shortening; suicide is even shorter.

Nobody matters anymore, we're numbers now with no community or belonging; there's no purpose.

The range of reasons is vast from medical issue to abuse.

 

[nightnightnitrite]

Like you said, it's the systems. Mine in particular is the court and financial systems set up to keep us down. Nobody really listens and honestly, despite me wanting to try and fix it myself(spread awareness on emotional abuse and messed up legal processes) it all seems pretty hopeless in the long run. It's easier for them if the victims stay silent and do the work for them then actually try and help us.

 

[Euthanza]

Root the problems and see if it has solution, often it doesn't then resort to legal and affordable Nembutal for all adults. This, I believe, must reduce suicide mess into rational suicide.

 

[Tintypographer]

Like you said, it's the systems. Mine in particular is the court and financial systems set up to keep us down. Nobody really listens and honestly, despite me wanting to try and fix it myself(spread awareness on emotional abuse and messed up legal processes) it all seems pretty hopeless in the long run. It's easier for them if the victims stay silent and do the work for them then actually try and help us.

This is exactly how I feel. Not just the court and financial systems but everything you run into. It's all created to avoid any thought or compassion. The goal is usually less liability or full accountability but it winds up being a sterile system of rules where any situation or need or consideration has no exceptions. And when faced with it, even on the side that has money for problems and should be able to deal with it, you're still stuck in the mess with no escape and no real future.

 

[Superdeterminist]

It's impossible I think. All we can do is try to reduce people's suffering, but we should never expect that this will guarantee they'll be happy enough to stick around. It's a question of trying to control what brains do. And we have no idea how to control a single brain, let alone a community of them.

 

[FuneralCry]

I just think that in a life like this, suicide is inevitable. We live in such a cruel and unfair world and many people simply do not see life as being worth living and it can be perfectly rational wanting to die. Some people like me have been suicidal since such a young age and it is simply the way that I am. In my opinion, peaceful methods should be easily accessible and our right to die should always be respected.

I do think that a lot of people are suicidal because of physical health conditions, who wanted to live before they got the condition. Maybe if they found cures for those conditions, then less people would have to ctb to free themselves from their suffering. I don't think that stuff like therapy and hotlines do anything to prevent suicide as it doesn't take away what actually causes people to want to ctb in the first place. The only way to prevent suicide would be to take away what makes people want to die, and I'm not sure that is always really possible in a world like this.

 

[kitch]

I have long concluded "Civilization" is a mental illness machine.

Our latest iteration is kind of a peak experience !

Global , huge numbers , faster , disorientating ...

The blink of an evolutionary eye from pre-Civ to now (less than 20 thousand years ?) , leaves the bald primate bemused and confused.

There is nothing OK or normal about life today .
It is ALL fucked .

This is an issue that is never addressed ... it is always the individual that is not adjusted.
Fuck that shit.

I'm down with the Krishnamurti quote about 'not being well adjusted to a profoundly sick society'.

It's difficult to emotionally disengage from the constant gas-lighting and scape-goating that society defacto uses constantly . Must keep it all going !
Must worship the construct !
Get in line !
Kiss the boot !

It seems the only way to survive is to be a chameleon / camouflaged 'yes-person' to get through the day , but have one's heart in a very different place .

None of this shit is our fault , it is a hideous construct that fell out of a random bucket of really bad choices over millennia .

 

[chloramine]

As everyone else has said there are huge systemic issues that contribute to people being suicidal. Fixing those wouldn't eliminate it, but it would reduce. From there giving people support systems would be a huge help. It's hard to litigate supportive helpful communities into being though- it would likely require a mass shift in how we thought about a variety of issues. In terms of potentially actionable solutions I'd say not taking away the need for consent with things like psych hospitals. If someone says they don't want to go to one then they shouldn't be forced. If they're terrified that letting anyone know that they're suicidal is going to result in a loss of bodily autonomy then they're significantly less likely to talk about it.

 

[want2dienow]

Preventing my suicide is assault. Forcing me alive and touching me without consent.

 

[obafgkm]

I have long concluded "Civilization" is a mental illness machine.

Our latest iteration is kind of a peak experience !

Global , huge numbers , faster , disorientating ...

The blink of an evolutionary eye from pre-Civ to now (less than 20 thousand years ?) , leaves the bald primate bemused and confused.

There is nothing OK or normal about life today .
It is ALL fucked .

This is an issue that is never addressed ... it is always the individual that is not adjusted.
Fuck that shit.

I'm down with the Krishnamurti quote about 'not being well adjusted to a profoundly sick society'.

It's difficult to emotionally disengage from the constant gas-lighting and scape-goating that society defacto uses constantly . Must keep it all going !
Must worship the construct !
Get in line !
Kiss the boot !

It seems the only way to survive is to be a chameleon / camouflaged 'yes-person' to get through the day , but have one's heart in a very different place .

None of this shit is our fault , it is a hideous construct that fell out of a random bucket of really bad choices over millennia .

Banning psychedelics, LSD, Ecstasy, psilocybin, is probably a reason. The rulers want people to be obedient and narrow-minded, to fight in Vietnam, to be part of the machine, forever trapped in consumerism.

Past civilisations probably were as bad as the present. But shamans guided patients through psychedelic trips. They experienced things in a different way and were more likely to find a solution. Silicon valley have probably benefited much from it. But ordinary people can only have their symptoms suppressed with antidepressants and painkillers, and become more and more addicted, depressed and suicidal.

 

[SleepyN]

I know that my own despair stems from a feeling that mant human systems have been set up to reduce people to sub-human. Systems from department of motor vehicles to schools to courts to airlines to public transportation to retirement finances to taxes are all designed to remove thught and care and to reduce people to a process. This makes me feel hopeless and as this type of things continues to get more and more prevalent I get more and more down that no one matters as a human. I also feel that bullying and dehumanization has become a protected right of free speech and we can't seem to reverse this.

I feel this. The whole neoliberal system where all resources/legal requirements are hidden behind a maze of bureaucracy is supposed to guarantee safety and security so people can pursue life how they want, but it really just removes meaning from life and makes consequences so hard to predict. And besides, those systems are so bloated that they no longer even really do what they're supposed to. So now, you don't have the freedom to do what you want, and you don't have the option to do it through bureaucratic methods because they're so convoluted it's almost impossible. And you can't complain because the only people you can argue with are not actually in charge. "Oh, you need disability accomodations, no problem! Just go through this bizarre and humiliating process of applying for disability. Oh, you don't want to/got rejected because the process makes no sense? Well I'm not allowed to give any accomodations without HR even though I definitely could so I guess you're screwed." I feel like I'm going crazy sometimes.