GoodPersonEffed
Brevity is my middle name, but my name was TL
- Jan 11, 2020
- 6,727
Background, skip to TLDR:
In the recent thread titled "How to overcome fear of killing myself, @Backwood_tilt posted a link to this (dramatically titled) article in FSU News, "Practice makes deadly perfection, FSU suicide researcher says"
The article states:
In a groundbreaking theory outlined in his new book, "Why People Die By Suicide" [..., FSU psychology professor Thomas Joiner] says that those who kill themselves not only want to die, they have learned to overcome the instinct for self-preservation. The desire for death, according to Joiner, is composed of two psychological states: a perception of being a burden to others and a feeling of not belonging. Alone, neither of these states is enough to instill the desire for death, but together they produce a desire that can be deadly when combined with the acquired ability to enact self-injury.
(It is helpful to note, as stated in the article, that his father committed suicide. In my opinion, this could have created a bias regarding burden. I do not think it is universally applicable, because I do not feel I am a burden; however, I also do not desire death, but rather the sole means of escape that it provides because the problem is worse than the solution, and there is no forthcoming alternative solution. When I hate the reality of the experience of living more than the discomfort of dying, and the unknown reality of the experience of death, I will go for death.)
What got me to thinking about SS is this quote:
If you think you belong or that you are contributing, you are going to be protected from suicide no matter what else is going on[.]
I agree it is protection, but take issue with the the assertion "no matter what else is going on." I might have blindly agreed if I didn't have a pretty big something else going on that I'm not protected from.
TLDR:
So I break it down to just this and present it as the motivation for discussion should anyone care to join:
"If you think you belong or that you are contributing, you are going to be protected from suicide[.]"
Thesis: SS functions paradoxically, which may induce cognitive dissonance.
My first post in the discussion:
Belonging and being valued enhances life and encourages attachment to it; the inclusive environment of SS supports detachment from life.
Protection from suicide and permission to suicide coexist. A member may seek the latter and be confronted with the former, and so accept the former, only to be confronted with the latter.
Having experienced belonging and appreciation for contributing, a member's participation may:
enhance what is left of their life;
motivate rather than discourage a choice to live;
motivate prolonging acting on the choice to die;
instigate despair at having experienced belonging and being of value while still wanting or needing to pursue the option to die;
and/or instigate additional conflicatory* effects.
*"Conflicting" and "conflictory" should be "conflicatory" imho.
In the recent thread titled "How to overcome fear of killing myself, @Backwood_tilt posted a link to this (dramatically titled) article in FSU News, "Practice makes deadly perfection, FSU suicide researcher says"
The article states:
In a groundbreaking theory outlined in his new book, "Why People Die By Suicide" [..., FSU psychology professor Thomas Joiner] says that those who kill themselves not only want to die, they have learned to overcome the instinct for self-preservation. The desire for death, according to Joiner, is composed of two psychological states: a perception of being a burden to others and a feeling of not belonging. Alone, neither of these states is enough to instill the desire for death, but together they produce a desire that can be deadly when combined with the acquired ability to enact self-injury.
(It is helpful to note, as stated in the article, that his father committed suicide. In my opinion, this could have created a bias regarding burden. I do not think it is universally applicable, because I do not feel I am a burden; however, I also do not desire death, but rather the sole means of escape that it provides because the problem is worse than the solution, and there is no forthcoming alternative solution. When I hate the reality of the experience of living more than the discomfort of dying, and the unknown reality of the experience of death, I will go for death.)
What got me to thinking about SS is this quote:
If you think you belong or that you are contributing, you are going to be protected from suicide no matter what else is going on[.]
I agree it is protection, but take issue with the the assertion "no matter what else is going on." I might have blindly agreed if I didn't have a pretty big something else going on that I'm not protected from.
TLDR:
So I break it down to just this and present it as the motivation for discussion should anyone care to join:
"If you think you belong or that you are contributing, you are going to be protected from suicide[.]"
Thesis: SS functions paradoxically, which may induce cognitive dissonance.
My first post in the discussion:
Belonging and being valued enhances life and encourages attachment to it; the inclusive environment of SS supports detachment from life.
Protection from suicide and permission to suicide coexist. A member may seek the latter and be confronted with the former, and so accept the former, only to be confronted with the latter.
Having experienced belonging and appreciation for contributing, a member's participation may:
enhance what is left of their life;
motivate rather than discourage a choice to live;
motivate prolonging acting on the choice to die;
instigate despair at having experienced belonging and being of value while still wanting or needing to pursue the option to die;
and/or instigate additional conflicatory* effects.
*"Conflicting" and "conflictory" should be "conflicatory" imho.
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