I could never kill myself, especially not by jumping. I live near Beachy Head and go there quite a lot, but if there’s one thing I couldn’t do, that’s jump off it! You’d probably be dead by the time you hit the bottom, but what if you’re not, and you feel the pain? It doesn’t bear thinking about. I really feel for the people that guy left behind.

That poor calltaker. Poor everyone, really.

Have you ever come across Kay Redfield Jameson’s Night Falls fast? It’s a brilliant look at suicide and I’d recommend it to anyone who might have to deal with people in suicidal crises, personally or professionally.

Argh, this reads like comment spam. No, I promise, you just made me think of it.

uphilldowndale,

the beautiful day might have been part of the problem. Suicides peak in spring. One reason is that the sunlight and warm weather gives people energy. Suicide takes a lot of energy to nerve oneself up to, apparently, so it is very possible to be too depressed to do it. Then you get some energy, and you still want to die, so… Another reason is the mood you mention. When you’ve made it through a rough winter, and now it’s spring and everyone around you is feeling happy, and you know that you normally would as well, but something in your brain chemisty just blocks it… it can make what you were already experiencing seem even more hopeless and horrible and endless.

Yes Julian, I’ve heard that before too, that it’s the decision to end their life that actually lifts their mood, so everyone thinks they’re getting better when in fact it’s simply because they know their suffering is near an end.

The question of what could drive a person to do such a thing though - the reasons are many and varied. In Schizophrenics it’s either to escape their living nightmare or because the “voices” demand it of them. At one time Mr Man believed that the voices would kill me if he didn’t sacrifice his life for me.

I feel so sorry for this man and his family, but especially for his father if he was with him when it happened. How utterly helpless he must have felt.

There must be no nice way to see your child die, but I think that this must have been a horrific way to go, it must be remembered that suicide (not 7 tables!) attempts take a great deal of courage for the person who is trying to commit suicide to actually go through with it, in my past life I have worked in psychiatric units and we had lots of young people coming through the system who just “Couldn’t cope / talk” I sympathise and empathise with them and my heart goes out to the grieving families who are left behind when the attempt becomes a success!

“There but for the grace of god go I”

I can kind of understand why people kill themselves, but I can’t understand why anyone would jump from a 7th floor window. I would take sleeping pills and just drift away!

Mark, he obviously meant his suicide to be a success. He may have tried the tablet option before and failed - I know Mr Man did. Or even if he hadn’t, although suicide seems like an irrational act, he may have been thinking rationally enough to know that probably most suicide attempts with tablets don’t work (you are probably in a better position to tell me if this is true or not).

The violent nature of his suicide says a lot about his state of mind, and I believe that this is something that is assessed in psychiatric wards when a risk assessment is carried out. The contributors of Mental Nurse would be able to tell you more about that than me.

I think a deliberate overdose works if you mean it to, and know what you are doing. A lot of overdoses are cries for help rather than an actual attempt to end their life, so the patients deliberately don’t take enough tablets or seek medical help before it’s too late. I suppose also that the patients who overdose will be too messed up to plan it properly, and get rescued that way. I guess jumping is one way to be certain :-/

“I can kind of understand why people kill themselves, but I can’t understand why anyone would jump from a 7th floor window. I would take sleeping pills and just drift away!”

If you jumped 7 floors (or from a cliff) you’d die pretty much instantly. But if you took tablets, there’s a chance that it might not be successful, or that it would be a long, agonising death.

I was greeted at a door the other day by a 3 year old who just said ‘mummy doesn’t want to live anymore’.

No answer to that one really…………………

SD

Crikey! Unless you were *way* out of your area, I think there were actually two guys who had jumped out 7th floor windows… spooky in a very bad way…

Oh ok. I must’ve gone to the other one then….mine was given as 25F head inj. he certainly had one of those…..

What a horrible thing to do! Life can be hard sometimes, but I don’t know what drives people to do such desperate things.

Personally I think it is selfish to commit suicide as the effect on the relatives left behind can be very devastating, however some people have given up hope on life and think this is the only way out. I feel for the dad.

The Driving Instructor

If its the call I went to in SE, it wasn’t very nice……FRU and crew coped admirably with hysterical father and partner on scene with young children also in the flat………Story goes the fella was depressed due to being hounded by a finance company………..what a waste!

Womb,

At least you have had the joy of children. That is what i think depresses me the most. I’m 40, single and have missed out on the joy of cuddling my own son and showing him that I can’t play football. Whenever I see other guys with their kids it really depresses me. I wish I could just stop without the pain of killing myself. If only there was a quick and easy way for people like me who are just wasting other people’s air to end it all.

Mike

Thanks for sharing