What stops homeless people from doing it?

[GordonWenlock]

I've often wondered, when I see homeless people rummaging through bins or begging or sleeping in doorways etc - what keeps them going? How do they have such incredibly resilient and hardy characters to not just CBT? I mean I'm sure the rate of suicide amongst the unhoused population is way higher, but there are still many who live like that for years, and I'm sure they have moments of happiness and hope in their lives. I would posit that many of the members here have objectively much better lives than them, yet we are constantly on the verge of suicide.

Is there some kind of mental trick they use to keep going?

 

[Macedonian1987]

I've often wondered, when I see homeless people rummaging through bins or begging or sleeping in doorways etc - what keeps them going? How do they have such incredibly resilient and hardy characters to not just CBT? I mean I'm sure the rate of suicide amongst the unhoused population is way higher, but there are still many who live like that for years, and I'm sure they have moments of happiness and hope in their lives. I would posit that many of the members here have objectively much better lives than them, yet we are constantly on the verge of suicide.

Is there some kind of mental trick they use to keep going?

I have been wondering the same thing for many years. I guess their brains are wired on a fundamentally different level than ours. The resilience these people have is... beyond words.

 

[tonicer]

I guess some of them have a survival mindset. Maybe even hope that they get back on their feet somehow.

 

[pepperfarmer]

Suicidal tendencies are not really strictly correlated to material conditions like that
Above is the 2019 map of countries by suicide rate by the World Health Organization. A lot of the poorer countries are dark green (less than 5 suicides per 100k people), but some are also red (20-30 per 100k), and then you've got a bunch of 'rich' countries being yellow (10-15) or red.

Aside from material conditions it also depends on local culture, social situation, personality, and personal conditions. It's also common for people to develop for surviving certain traumatic conditions only for those skills/mechanisms to turn against them, as is what happens with certain dissociative disorders.

 

[TimeTraveling4]

I have been wondering the same thing for many years. I guess their brains are wired on a fundamentally different level than ours. The resilience these people have is... beyond words.

I've often wondered, when I see homeless people rummaging through bins or begging or sleeping in doorways etc - what keeps them going? How do they have such incredibly resilient and hardy characters to not just CBT? I mean I'm sure the rate of suicide amongst the unhoused population is way higher, but there are still many who live like that for years, and I'm sure they have moments of happiness and hope in their lives. I would posit that many of the members here have objectively much better lives than them, yet we are constantly on the verge of suicide.

Is there some kind of mental trick they use to keep going?

If you're homeless, how are you realistically going to CTB? I'm assuming they'd have no money to buy the materials you need to successfully CTB. They probably go on because they don't have an option.

 

[hughmun9]

I've absolutely no idea. It's a mystery to me. One guess I have is they might still somehow have a better quality of life than people who end up CTB-ing, regardless of external circumstances. In the end what matters is how we experience the world through our minds, and perhaps theirs is somehow different.

Another guess is perhaps they have unusually strong SI. Or conversely people who end up CTB-ing have unusually weak SI.

If you're homeless, how are you realistically going to CTB? I'm assuming they'd have no money to buy the materials you need to successfully CTB. They probably go on because they don't have an option.

If you want to CTB and you're homeless you can scrounge up enough money to buy a climbing rope, it's like £16 in the uk. You also have all the time in the world to find a tree or ligature somewhere.

 

[Passenger4224]

I once heard some homeless people are able to find a way to be happy, I mean they're probably used to their life and don't have to spend the majority of their lives at a shitty job

If you're homeless, how are you realistically going to CTB? I'm assuming they'd have no money to buy the materials you need to successfully CTB. They probably go on because they don't have an option.

Jumping from high place, cold weather, starvation to name a few

 

[unluckysadness]

I guess it's just SI.

 

[Macedonian1987]

If you're homeless, how are you realistically going to CTB? I'm assuming they'd have no money to buy the materials you need to successfully CTB. They probably go on because they don't have an option.

If I was homeless I would have probably hanged myself. If I lived in USA in one of the places where homeless drug addiction is rampant I would have overdosed myself on purpose.

I once heard some homeless people are able to find a way to be happy, I mean they're probably used to their life and don't have to spend the majority of their lives at a shitty job

Jumping from high place, cold weather, starvation to name a few

You can intentionally mix benzos with plenty of alcohol and fall a sleep in a extremely cold weather with most of your clothing off. You could potentially ctb that way. This is especially doable in Russia and in many other northern countries.

 

[fadedghost]

SI instinct is so hard to overcome. If someone has any tiny urge to live, SI is almost impossible to get past.

 

[theboy]

Survival. It is only human to seek food and water, even when circumstances are getting the better of you.

 

[InversedShadow]

Their survival instinct is really strong within themselves, that's truly true.
But it's like, something out of their scope to commit to doing it, a lot of those people just dies gradually, slowly in misery as their body is exposed to constant cold, bacteria from rotting food, starvation, lack of hydration and so on.. or if given a chance they do something reckless purposefully..

 

[outrageage]

homelessness is grim, but by itself, it's not a death sentence. luck can change. material conditions can change. when you couple it with severe mental illness, that's when you're really fucked IMO.

to answer your question, coming up with $300 for a shotgun is probably hard when you're homeless.

 

[PeaceSeeker83]

Here in Melbourne Australia there are many homeless now. I give them some cash. In their own words they have limited responsibilities. Some have been high flyers in the past under a lot of stress. Some just accept their situation.