ShadowOfASelf
Member
- Feb 10, 2026
- 50
This is something I've been thinking about a lot recently since discovering this site and the seeming disconnect between the discourse on this site (e.g. OD is a non-method, falling except from great heights is a non-method, etc) and what the general idea of suicide and self-death (including accidents and ODs) is (everything is super dangerous and could kill you). A lot of people think suicide is easy, and a lot of people assume they can die from ODing on OTC or prescription medication fairly easily because they read about it on the news or they read stuff online about how dangerous it is, how risky it is, how likely you are to hurt and kill yourself, and then they come here and the response is that the odds are so low as to be a non-method.
And this brings me to how humans assess risk, which is more about fear of likely consequences over actual odds. Like is a 1/2 chance of something happening high or low? Well, for most people, if you have a 50% chance of winning $100 those are good odds, but if you have a 50% chance of getting your arm cut off, those are bad odds. It's about consequence not actual odds.
For most non-suicidal people, any chance of death is too high. So falling from a bridge, overdosing on benadryl, overdosing on alcohol and medication, etc... even if the chances are of dying aren't 95%, they aren't 0% and that's too high for them, so (besides that news only reports on sensational and successful deaths/suicides/etc) the common conception is these are all very risky things to do and very easy ways to die and commit suicide with.
For most suicidal people, any chance of FAILURE is too high. So falling from a bridge or overdosing have too LOW odds because we don't want to survive (and we certainly don't want to end up in a worse state that makes it harder to CTB and/or leaves us paralyzed/mentally damaged, etc). So those methods are seen as non-methods. It's the fear of the consequences that changes how people perceive risk. For non-suicidal people, the consequence they fear is death, so all sorts of things seem like near-certain ways to die, whereas for suicidal people, the consequences we fear is living, so all sorts of methods are seen to be basically ineffective.
The other factor that influences how human beings perceive risk is how in control we feel. For example, more people fear flying than driving even though driving is among the most dangerous things we do every day and the odds of dying in a car crash are much much much greater than dying in a flight accident (https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/all-injuries/preventable-death-overview/odds-of-dying/), but when people drive they feel they can control whether they crash or not, they have some measure of control and feel safer, while flying you have no control (there's also that dying in a plane crash sounds horrifying while most people don't fear car crashes quite as much).
In much the same way, a lot of discussion about CTB methods and which ones are recommended and how to go about have to do with how much control you have. That's another reason why ODs are seen as non-methods, once you're out, you can't control if people find you and call 9/11 or if you call 9/11 while you're still conscious but have no memory of it/control over yourself. And also why people suggest doing stuff like hangings at night or in a hotel room where you can control whether people can find you or not.
This is basically just my thoughts on why so many people outside this forum have a completely different idea about how easy it is to commit suicide and which methods are viable versus when people go to this forum and read about what is or isn't considered an actual method. And also might help new people who come here and wonder why stuff they've heard all their life as easy ways to die (mixing drugs with alcohol, jumping off an overpass, etc) are not seen as methods at all here.
And this brings me to how humans assess risk, which is more about fear of likely consequences over actual odds. Like is a 1/2 chance of something happening high or low? Well, for most people, if you have a 50% chance of winning $100 those are good odds, but if you have a 50% chance of getting your arm cut off, those are bad odds. It's about consequence not actual odds.
For most non-suicidal people, any chance of death is too high. So falling from a bridge, overdosing on benadryl, overdosing on alcohol and medication, etc... even if the chances are of dying aren't 95%, they aren't 0% and that's too high for them, so (besides that news only reports on sensational and successful deaths/suicides/etc) the common conception is these are all very risky things to do and very easy ways to die and commit suicide with.
For most suicidal people, any chance of FAILURE is too high. So falling from a bridge or overdosing have too LOW odds because we don't want to survive (and we certainly don't want to end up in a worse state that makes it harder to CTB and/or leaves us paralyzed/mentally damaged, etc). So those methods are seen as non-methods. It's the fear of the consequences that changes how people perceive risk. For non-suicidal people, the consequence they fear is death, so all sorts of things seem like near-certain ways to die, whereas for suicidal people, the consequences we fear is living, so all sorts of methods are seen to be basically ineffective.
The other factor that influences how human beings perceive risk is how in control we feel. For example, more people fear flying than driving even though driving is among the most dangerous things we do every day and the odds of dying in a car crash are much much much greater than dying in a flight accident (https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/all-injuries/preventable-death-overview/odds-of-dying/), but when people drive they feel they can control whether they crash or not, they have some measure of control and feel safer, while flying you have no control (there's also that dying in a plane crash sounds horrifying while most people don't fear car crashes quite as much).
In much the same way, a lot of discussion about CTB methods and which ones are recommended and how to go about have to do with how much control you have. That's another reason why ODs are seen as non-methods, once you're out, you can't control if people find you and call 9/11 or if you call 9/11 while you're still conscious but have no memory of it/control over yourself. And also why people suggest doing stuff like hangings at night or in a hotel room where you can control whether people can find you or not.
This is basically just my thoughts on why so many people outside this forum have a completely different idea about how easy it is to commit suicide and which methods are viable versus when people go to this forum and read about what is or isn't considered an actual method. And also might help new people who come here and wonder why stuff they've heard all their life as easy ways to die (mixing drugs with alcohol, jumping off an overpass, etc) are not seen as methods at all here.
