Suicide is the new normal now. Is it society or mental illness??

[tbh2023]

'Real Housewives of Potomac' Star Matthew Byars Dies by Suicide at Age 37 as Melissa Gorga, Karen Huger and More Pay Tribute - NewsBreak

The Real Housewives of Potomac star Matthew Byars died by suicide at age 37, the Maryland's Chief Office of the Medical Examiner. "He died of multiple blu

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He died of multiple blunt force injuries. What's that method??

 

[MatrixPrisoner]

It's defintely society IMO. Declining at an exponential rate. Maybe I'm just getting old. But I'm just thinking that when people like Logan Paul, Mr. Beast and Kim Kardashian are some of the most notable voices of a generation, that is a bad sign.

 

[lnlybnny]

I think people are realizing not everyone has to put up with all this shit and that there's a way out. I admire their strength to overcome SI so much!

 

[astr4]

marx wrote about this before. theory of alienation. when you live in a capitalist society and your only purpose is to work or die, your life has no meaning, many people gravitate towards suicide. i mean look at how many of us are on here, either for money reasons, or because we're fed up of the endless work eat sleep cycle.

 

[failureofahuman]

People are replaceable under capitalism and they need to compete with others for resources, instead of collaborating and forming community. There's no social support and people are increasingly retreating into themselves. People who can handle it thrive, people who can't suffer. Survival of the fittest, but of course some people have advantages over others, and if you get behind you will have a hard time ever catching up.

 

[PrisonPlanet]

Depression and suicidal ideation is definitely a societal and sociological issue now. With everything in the world being shit now, it's no wonder everyone wants to be dead. I'm a 37 year old taking college classes. A group of students were hanging out after an exam talking and shooting the shit. One girl said how she wants to kill herself. She was talking about like it was normal like talking about the weather.

 

[curiouscvnt]

Is this a hypothetical? i.e. 'If suicide became the new normal / leading cause of death..." For some age ranges in the US at least, I think suicide ranks in the top 3 leading causes of death per figures from within the last decade, but even on this scale I'd hardly call suicide 'the new normal'.
It is most definitely not the new normal IMO, not until voicing suicidal ideation with people who personally know you is socially accepted.
IMO (and in that of current medical knowledge / agreement in the US, at least) suicide per se does not constitute mental illness. At the same time, suicidal ideation is listed as a symptom of multiple mood / psych disorders and merely talking about suicide is heavily stigmatized (hence the existence of this forum apart from other online forums).
I myself have never experienced a group social experience in which suicide was a casual topic, and even then, I think I'd hesitate to call it 'normal.' The recommendation from crisis and support lines and even my psychiatric provider is to contact them or go straight to the emergency room even if you just have ongoing thoughts, regardless of having taken concrete steps to end your life or not. I am unaware of anything else that would be considered 'normal' that is said to warrant a visit to the ER.

marx wrote about this before. theory of alienation. when you live in a capitalist society and your only purpose is to work or die, your life has no meaning, many people gravitate towards suicide. i mean look at how many of us are on here, either for money reasons, or because we're fed up of the endless work eat sleep cycle.

have you read the Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus? The premise of that book is suicide -- the first and fundamental problem in philosophy, according to Camus. Camus doesn't interact w/ Marx's work there but your synopsis of theory of alienation makes me reminds me of what Camus called the beginning of consciousness, which for him happened through the awareness of weariness of repetitive life and the meaninglessness of "the endless work eat sleep cycle." He writes about this at the very beginning of his short-ish book in which he expounds upon absurdism. Maybe in the currently late-stage-capitalism, very globalized, very networked world absurdity, or a sense of the absurdity of life, is becoming accessible to increasing proportion of the population -- Does that jive with your understanding of the theory of alienation?

 

[tbh2023]

I

It's defintely society IMO. Declining at an exponential rate. Maybe I'm just getting old. But I'm just thinking that when people like Logan Paul, Mr. Beast and Kim Kardashian are some of the most notable voices of a generation, that is a bad sign.

agree with you.

 

[avoid_slow_death]

It's defintely society IMO. Declining at an exponential rate. Maybe I'm just getting old. But I'm just thinking that when people like Logan Paul, Mr. Beast and Kim Kardashian are some of the most notable voices of a generation, that is a bad sign.

Ya ain't wrong about that. But the saddest thing is it's us older folks that set this course with the horrendous example we have been setting for younger generations. Especially of late. We exploit and degrade our peers so often that no wonder younger folks are how they are. They have our horrendous example to look up to, so it's not like the decline is on them, it's on us for not only showing the way, but eagerly promoting it as well....

 

[tbh2023]

Depression and suicidal ideation is definitely a societal and sociological issue now. With everything in the world being shit now, it's no wonder everyone wants to be dead. I'm a 37 year old taking college classes. A group of students were hanging out after an exam talking and shooting the shit. One girl said how she wants to kill herself. She was talking about like it was normal like talking about the weather.

Right? At my job, We talk about suicide. We literally express that we want to die as if we are discussing lunch time. We watch the news and you read at least 3 suicide article daily. My cousin just told his mom " if you ask me to stop using drugs, I will kill myself". I don't know if it's bad or good, but definitely scary.

 

[Jack_Nimble]

I think the answer could be both depending on how you personally define mental illness. Is depression a mental illness? Is being depressed because of this shit society a mental illness? Or do you mean a mental illness that would exist within someone regardless of how good of a life they may have? The author of the book The Depression Cure calls depression a disease of civilization.

 

[tbh2023]

People are replaceable under capitalism and they need to compete with others for resources, instead of collaborating and forming community. There's no social support and people are increasingly retreating into themselves. People who can handle it thrive, people who can't suffer. Survival of the fittest, but of course some people have advantages over others, and if you get behind you will have a hard time ever catching up.

We definitely lack social support and resources. Can't agree more with your points.

marx wrote about this before. theory of alienation. when you live in a capitalist society and your only purpose is to work or die, your life has no meaning, many people gravitate towards suicide. i mean look at how many of us are on here, either for money reasons, or because we're fed up of the endless work eat sleep cycle.

Same routine everyday and for what? Well said.

I think the answer could be both depending on how you personally define mental illness. Is depression a mental illness? Is being depressed because of this shit society a mental illness? Or do you mean a mental illness that would exist within someone regardless of how good of a life they may have? The author of the book The Depression Cure calls depression a disease of civilization.

I do think people get depressed or other mental illness from their family, society and unrealistic expectations or obligations from the individual. I don't know why I have depression, but I know I being sad my whole life. I was labeled and bullied by my mom. She called me names until I left her house. I have no ideas why. She was angry at my dad but how is that my fault? Then you go to school which they expect you to know it all. I will have to read that book. Thank you for sharing

Is this a hypothetical? i.e. 'If suicide became the new normal / leading cause of death..." For some age ranges in the US at least, I think suicide ranks in the top 3 leading causes of death per figures from within the last decade, but even on this scale I'd hardly call suicide 'the new normal'.
It is most definitely not the new normal IMO, not until voicing suicidal ideation with people who personally know you is socially accepted.
IMO (and in that of current medical knowledge / agreement in the US, at least) suicide per se does not constitute mental illness. At the same time, suicidal ideation is listed as a symptom of multiple mood / psych disorders and merely talking about suicide is heavily stigmatized (hence the existence of this forum apart from other online forums).
I myself have never experienced a group social experience in which suicide was a casual topic, and even then, I think I'd hesitate to call it 'normal.' The recommendation from crisis and support lines and even my psychiatric provider is to contact them or go straight to the emergency room even if you just have ongoing thoughts, regardless of having taken concrete steps to end your life or not. I am unaware of anything else that would be considered 'normal' that is said to warrant a visit to the ER.

have you read the Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus? The premise of that book is suicide -- the first and fundamental problem in philosophy, according to Camus. Camus doesn't interact w/ Marx's work there but your synopsis of theory of alienation makes me reminds me of what Camus called the beginning of consciousness, which for him happened through the awareness of weariness of repetitive life and the meaninglessness of "the endless work eat sleep cycle." He writes about this at the very beginning of his short-ish book in which he expounds upon absurdism. Maybe in the currently late-stage-capitalism, very globalized, very networked world absurdity, or a sense of the absurdity of life, is becoming accessible to increasing proportion of the population -- Does that jive with your understanding of the theory of alienation?

Thank you for sharing, you're absolutely right, but young generations do discuss suicide in school and when they get together- I discuss it with my friends and with my coworkers. So just talking in general about suicide and how often we see it happening. I see suicide news more than homicide those days. It's normal for the doctor or mental health professional to intervene when we are suicidal that is part of the normal process just like diabetes or hypertension. We have at least 15 inpatient psych hospitals within 20 miles radar. They opening more.. Doctors and nurses talk about their own suicidal thoughts and mental health struggles which it wasn't like that before..

 

[lilah]

suicide is still extremely rare. i think us depressed people have a tendency to forget that the majority of people aren't. maybe it's a coping mechanism.

 

[ijustwishtodie]

Suicide isn't the new normal at all. It never will be because we live in a pro suffering society where people would rather suffer horrifically for as long as possible than kill themselves even one day earlier. This society wants to live for as long as possible no matter what it takes. Hell, even the majority of people fucking desire immortality out of all things. It's honestly terrifying to see and it goes to show just how scary human beings can be.

Anyways, if the suicide rate has increased, I bet it's because of society and more and more people realising just how pointless it is to perpetually keep on fighting for survival (even though we most likely have the technology now to make working obsolete). More and more people are giving up which is a good thing because there's no purpose or reason to fight to begin with. There's so much indoctrination during childhood to always fight and be resilient to the hardships of life no matter what. Schools love to preach examples of the classic story of a poor person becoming rich due to perpetual resilience and the same things are preached in movies as well. I guess more people are realising at how bullshit that is and that's a good thing because it is bullshit. There's nothing wrong in giving up because this isn't a fight that has value or importance anyway

 

[saii]

There were always suicides and suicidal people but I feel like the lack of resources made it more difficult and in my country, especially under occupation if you were found after failing you would be removed from society a put into an institute for the rest of your life and treated as insane, which is especially sad when you consider that most of these suicidal attempts were made because of how bad place was to live here at that point, and even "normal" people will consider suicide once the alternative is slowly dying of hunger.

But I think that the bigger aspect was the fact that people were more connected. My grandmother lived under both the Nazzi and USSR occupation of Poland, has seen so many horrors and so many of her family members killed and yet she still continued going forward, I asked her why and the reason was that she still had family members with her, people really used to care about each other, going forward for the sake of each other, and there was a sense of community, people were way less selfish. Back then there was a real feeling of family and friendship, something that has somewhat disappeared from modern life. When I die no one will care and nothing will change. I am not saying that it was a wonderful time to be alive but I do think that one of the main reasons for me and many other people is that feeling of being removed and lacking connection to other people.

I feel guilty because compared to her at my age, I have a place to sleep, access to healthcare, and always available access to food. Yet at the same time, there wasn't a moment in the past 8 years I didn't want to end it all, I guess I am selfish. And honestly one of the reasons I keep going is waiting for her to pass away since I don't want to hurt the only person that cared about me, even if I am not sure I will be able to handle life any longer.

 

[MatrixPrisoner]

Ya ain't wrong about that. But the saddest thing is it's us older folks that set this course with the horrendous example we have been setting for younger generations. Especially of late. We exploit and degrade our peers so often that no wonder younger folks are how they are. They have our horrendous example to look up to, so it's not like the decline is on them, it's on us for not only showing the way, but eagerly promoting it as well....

I absolutely agree. The generation that raised them defintely has to share the blame. Luckily, I never had children, so I can luckily sayI didn't contribute lol.

 

[Gustav Hartmann]

The media are the reason for a wrong impression of suicide. They are keen one verything they could report about, especially if it concerns celebrity, that is their way to make mony. Statisticts paint a different picture, but who belives in statictics: "Don't ever trust statistics that you haven't falsified yourself."

 

[saii]

suicide is still extremely rare. i think us depressed people have a tendency to forget that the majority of people aren't. maybe it's a coping mechanism.

I think that actual suicides are rare, there are countries where the suicide rate is much higher than others so I do think that in some countries it is not as rare. But the actual feeling of someone wanting to commit suicide is somewhat common, did a quick Google search, and in a study apparently 4.3% of Americans have felt suicidal in the past year (The study was done 2015-2019) which is quite notable and I would assume in countries with higher percentages of poverty that statistic to be even higher.

 

[tbh2023]

suicide is still extremely rare. i think us depressed people have a tendency to forget that the majority of people aren't. maybe it's a coping mechanism.

I think that actual suicides are rare, there are countries where the suicide rate is much higher than others so I do think that in some countries it is not as rare. But the actual feeling of someone wanting to commit suicide is somewhat common, did a quick Google search, and in a study apparently 4.3% of Americans have felt suicidal in the past year (The study was done 2015-2019) which is quite notable and I would assume in countries with higher percentages of poverty that statistic to be even higher.

Absolutely! In America, suicide is not rare.

 

[saii]

The media are the reason for a wrong impression of suicide. They are keen one verything they could report about, especially if it concerns celebrity, that is their way to make mony. Statisticts paint a different picture, but who belives in statictics: "Don't ever trust statistics that you haven't falsified yourself."

I detest media and even social media so much, especially with the way that suicides are talked about instead of delving into why someone would do it and what led to it they always talk about people like they were crazy and it breaks my heart, this person has passed away and finally found piece and the only thing they do is shit talk them for entertainment. There is no hint of empathy.

I remember when a boy (I think he was like 14) ctb by crashing his parent's car I think, and on national television, they said that he was playing video games right before and that's why he did it (this was at the time video games were blamed for a bunch of shit) just a scapegoat, next fucking day they invited his best friend for an interview and made fun of him on national tv. What the fuck is wrong with them. A grown adult making fun of a kid whose best friend just died.

I remember watching YouTube videos about celebrities and other YouTubers who CTB and they fucking put horror music and spooky editing into it shit was super disrespectful, and that is seen as peak entertainment. I also fucking hate how drugs and alcohol are talked about in relation to it like they treat people like lesser because of it, and then they wonder what happened, not even acknowledging that a lot of people commit substance abuse as a way to cope.

 

[tbh2023]

I detest media and even social media so much, especially with the way that suicides are talked about instead of delving into why someone would do it and what led to it they always talk about people like they were crazy and it breaks my heart, this person has passed away and finally found piece and the only thing they do is shit talk them for entertainment. There is no hint of empathy.

I remember when a boy (I think he was like 14) ctb by crashing his parent's car I think, and on national television, they said that he was playing video games right before and that's why he did it (this was at the time video games were blamed for a bunch of shit) just a scapegoat, next fucking day they invited his best friend for an interview and made fun of him on national tv. What the fuck is wrong with them. A grown adult making fun of a kid whose best friend just died.

I remember watching YouTube videos about celebrities and other YouTubers who CTB and they fucking put horror music and spooky editing into it shit was super disrespectful, and that is seen as peak entertainment. I also fucking hate how drugs and alcohol are talked about in relation to it like they treat people like lesser because of it, and then they wonder what happened, not even acknowledging that a lot of people commit substance abuse as a way to cope.

I'm going to add something too, if you don't leave a note it won't consider suicide. They call it accident.

 

[Melancholic Muse]

marx wrote about this before. theory of alienation. when you live in a capitalist society and your only purpose is to work or die, your life has no meaning, many people gravitate towards suicide. i mean look at how many of us are on here, either for money reasons, or because we're fed up of the endless work eat sleep cycle.

And that's just at the fundamental level. We haven't even gotten into how the foot soldiers for these hedge fund hoarders want people like myself, the disabled, chronically ill etc. dead anyway and are just too bound by etiquette to say it out loud. The DWP over in the UK has a known, well established track record of being directly responsible for driving people to suicide and now it's only set to get even worse.

While I'm as much a champion about having the choice to die as anyone else, I don't think our advocacy can just stop at that. There needs to be more widespread recognition of the fact that governments are willingly putting policies into place that have driven people to suicide because there's no real alternative left. Might as well be one degree of separation from killing us with their own bare hands.

 

[JJJ]

i'd also like to add that at least in the US the official cause of death is subject to what an MD writes down on the death certificate.

I think that in times when suicide was especially frowned upon that even if it was suicide it may not have been reported as so. for many reasons. to spare the family shame. etc etc.
I'd argue that in other countries this also occurs too.

i think its hard to truly compare suicide rates in general and over time as data collection practices and cultural influence is real.
i bet the true rate is a lot higher than we even realize.

 

[limerentsaudade]

With automation and now AI, less and less of us are useful to the capitalist imperialist colonial workforce so we're basically disposable to the ruling elites. It's the same reason why they always go on about "overpopulation" when in reality if we just distributed food and other resources equally and didn't rely on farming animals for food, we'd be able to feed more than 10 billion people. But there's no profit in that. The system wants us to starve and struggle. They only need so many of us to maintain their way of life. They control the media. They don't care about their serfs killing themselves anymore because there's enough brainwashed by the promise of becoming an oppressor themselves, willing to work for scraps to keep the well oiled machine running.

 

[_D_]

It's not the new normal. Most people don't think this way. We here are abnormal.

 

[BlockHammer]

Well i agree that the suicide rate is increasing but to call it new normal? I dont think so, i can say this because the country that i live in!! note that probably it'll be diffrent in other country but in my country where most of the population is muslim, i don't think it wouldn't be a new normal. I mean abrahamic religion condone the act like suicide, calling it the act of a "sinner" But some of my country that used reddit as a form of comunication said that some of the had a passive suicidality, and so do i.