This article is by far one of the most useful ways to understand
suicide in a rational sense, and the following posts are concerning
topics discussed in the article. I strongly recommend reading the full
article. (Original Article by Scott Anderson)
In the case of the Ellington and Taft bridges, the bridge and general suicide rates dropped when a barrier was installed to prevent jumpers. Now, where are these type of people now? Is it possible that coming close to suicide "scared them straight"?
Well Richard Seiden tried to figure out (original study here).
His study called "Where are They Now?" looked for precisely that. He researched about 515 people who have been pulled from the Golden Gate Bridge's edge, from the day it opened to see how many of them actually ended up finding another way.
Of the 515 people, only 6 percent of the people ended up committing suicide. That means that 94 percent of people were actually saved from the death they almost inflicted on themselves.
"They were having an acute temporary crisis, they passed through it and,
coming out the other side, they got on with their lives."
Sunday, March 25, 2012
The Urge to End It All: The Ellington Bridge
This article is by far one of the most useful ways to understand
suicide in a rational sense, and the following posts are concerning
topics discussed in the article. I strongly recommend reading the full
article. (Original Article by Scott Anderson)
Jumping off a bridge is one of the most impulsive ways for someone to commit suicide, and there are a number of people who study the way it works.
One study was concerning the Ellington Bridge in Washington D.C..
"Running perpendicular to the Ellington, a stone’s throw away, is another bridge, the Taft. Both span Rock Creek, and even though they have virtually identical drops into the gorge below — about 125 feet — it is the Ellington that has always been notorious as Washington’s “suicide bridge.” By the 1980s, the four people who, on average, leapt from its stone balustrades each year accounted for half of all jumping suicides in the nation’s capital. The adjacent Taft, by contrast, averaged less than two."
In order to prevent more suicides, a barrier was proposed to stop people from jumping. The group of people who proposed the idea were met with the argument "if they don't jump off the bridge, they will find another way".
Well it turns out this is not necessarily true.
The barrier was indeed established, and the suicides on the Ellington dropped to zero. Now if the people were just going to "find another way" they could have easily walked a few hundred yards to the Taft bridge and jumped the identical height, but the Taft bridge's suicide rate did not even surpass two people a year, the same as it was before.
Jumping off a bridge is one of the most impulsive ways for someone to commit suicide, and there are a number of people who study the way it works.
One study was concerning the Ellington Bridge in Washington D.C..
"Running perpendicular to the Ellington, a stone’s throw away, is another bridge, the Taft. Both span Rock Creek, and even though they have virtually identical drops into the gorge below — about 125 feet — it is the Ellington that has always been notorious as Washington’s “suicide bridge.” By the 1980s, the four people who, on average, leapt from its stone balustrades each year accounted for half of all jumping suicides in the nation’s capital. The adjacent Taft, by contrast, averaged less than two."
In order to prevent more suicides, a barrier was proposed to stop people from jumping. The group of people who proposed the idea were met with the argument "if they don't jump off the bridge, they will find another way".
Well it turns out this is not necessarily true.
The barrier was indeed established, and the suicides on the Ellington dropped to zero. Now if the people were just going to "find another way" they could have easily walked a few hundred yards to the Taft bridge and jumped the identical height, but the Taft bridge's suicide rate did not even surpass two people a year, the same as it was before.
The Urge to End It All: How?
This article is by far one of the most useful ways to understand
suicide in a rational sense, and the following posts are concerning
topics discussed in the article. I strongly recommend reading the full
article. (Original Article by Scott Anderson)
One of the problems with suicide is that too many people look at it the wrong way. The actual act of suicide appears on impulse more that anything else, and this transcends over both groups stated before.
Imagine a case where a man shot his wife. We realize how important the gun was in the situation, and we don't naturally assume he would have killed her in some other way if the gun hadn't been there.
This does not hold true to people's perception of suicide, when it should. If a person shoots themselves, we tend to assume that if there hadn't been a gun they would have found another way.
And although that sounds realistic, it is not necessarily true.
Many people look at why someone killed themselves in terms of trying to prevent it, well this article discusses how someone kills themselves, and uses that data to prevent suicides in the future.
One of the problems with suicide is that too many people look at it the wrong way. The actual act of suicide appears on impulse more that anything else, and this transcends over both groups stated before.
Imagine a case where a man shot his wife. We realize how important the gun was in the situation, and we don't naturally assume he would have killed her in some other way if the gun hadn't been there.
This does not hold true to people's perception of suicide, when it should. If a person shoots themselves, we tend to assume that if there hadn't been a gun they would have found another way.
And although that sounds realistic, it is not necessarily true.
Many people look at why someone killed themselves in terms of trying to prevent it, well this article discusses how someone kills themselves, and uses that data to prevent suicides in the future.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
The Urge to End It All: Who?
This article is by far one of the most useful ways to understand suicide in a rational sense, and the following posts are concerning topics discussed in the article. I strongly recommend reading the full article. (Original Article by Scott Anderson)
Who is it that completes suicide?
"The National Institute of Mental Health says that 90 percent of all suicide “completers” display some form of diagnosable mental disorder."
That means that those people are the ones in serious need of help, but they are also they type of people who display the "signs" of a suicidal person.
These people generally choose the less lethal methods of suicide ranging from overdosing to slitting wrists. "Less lethal" in this sense, means they choose methods that leave them with a higher chance of survival.
On the other hand of the spectrum, there are the other 10% of suicide "completers". These are the people who are truly lost to suicide, because they have no mental problems, they just acted impetuously.
Something pushed them to the edge, and they acted too quickly, without letting the impulse pass. These people do not choose methods of suicide that are a "cry for help" as stated with the prior group, they choose methods that are quick and efficient such as firearms or jumping.
The reality of this, is that very few people who commit suicide actually want to die. Of the 90% group, many of them just act as a call for help, and do not really want to die, where in the 10% the people do not want to die either, they just wanted quick relief to the stress they were under.
When I continue discussing this article, it is important to understand these two groups, their similarities, and differences.
Who is it that completes suicide?
"The National Institute of Mental Health says that 90 percent of all suicide “completers” display some form of diagnosable mental disorder."
That means that those people are the ones in serious need of help, but they are also they type of people who display the "signs" of a suicidal person.
These people generally choose the less lethal methods of suicide ranging from overdosing to slitting wrists. "Less lethal" in this sense, means they choose methods that leave them with a higher chance of survival.
On the other hand of the spectrum, there are the other 10% of suicide "completers". These are the people who are truly lost to suicide, because they have no mental problems, they just acted impetuously.
Something pushed them to the edge, and they acted too quickly, without letting the impulse pass. These people do not choose methods of suicide that are a "cry for help" as stated with the prior group, they choose methods that are quick and efficient such as firearms or jumping.
The reality of this, is that very few people who commit suicide actually want to die. Of the 90% group, many of them just act as a call for help, and do not really want to die, where in the 10% the people do not want to die either, they just wanted quick relief to the stress they were under.
When I continue discussing this article, it is important to understand these two groups, their similarities, and differences.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Kurt Cobain, and the Copycats
There is trend that has been noticed over the years, which has been given the name "Copycat Suicides". The idea is that when people are exposed to the suicide of a person they know, or a person they look up to, there will be suicides that follow.
"Point clusters are clusters of suicides localised in both time and space, and have been attributed to direct social learning from nearby individuals. Mass clusters are clusters of suicides localised in time but not space, and have been attributed to the dissemination of information concerning celebrity suicides via the mass media." (Mesoudi)
This is mostly seen in the "romanticism" of these deaths, where the media or people will portray the death as an almost heroic end of life (which is seen throughout literature) instead of the selfish act that it is. The study was found in when famous celebrities committed suicide, and similar suicides would appear in the news. Point clusters were later noticed, and these two phenomena have led to the idea of a copycat suicide.
One peculiar case, was the suicide of Kurt Cobain. Experts feared that with his death there would cause a large amount of copycat suicides, however this was not the outcome. Much fewer copycats ended up committing suicide after his death and this baffled many researchers and led to confusion regarding the theory of copycat suicides in general, until they looked at both sides of the media.
Courtney Love, Cobain's girlfriend at the time, had a unique response to his death. Instead of discussing how much she missed him, she cursed him, and let everyone know how selfish he was for leaving Love and her daughter, and how he ignored his obligations to their family.
"Referring to her band's 22-year-old guitarist, Love said: ''He goes: 'God, Kurt was cool'. No, he wasn't.
''Not in the sense of that action. That action had a horrible effect on our family. It's not cool. It just wasn't cool.
''And that action was regretted the second it happened. I was expected by the zeitgeist to go with him or something.
''But I worked. I had to work to get money to feed my kid." (The Telegraph)
Love's reaction had a different effect on the way the suicide was taken up by society, and instead of making it seem like a tragedy, she made Cobain seem weak for quitting early.
Since then, there has been an unspoken agreement in society that suicide will not be publicized in a romantic way, but this does not hold true to the "point clusters", which is what all people should have in mind. After a suicide, we must remember the person, but also the pain that their death caused to their family members, and the permanent physical solution to the temporary spiritual problem. Although this may seem a bit cold-hearted, these copycat suicides DO exist, and glorifying them will only lead to more.
"Point clusters are clusters of suicides localised in both time and space, and have been attributed to direct social learning from nearby individuals. Mass clusters are clusters of suicides localised in time but not space, and have been attributed to the dissemination of information concerning celebrity suicides via the mass media." (Mesoudi)
This is mostly seen in the "romanticism" of these deaths, where the media or people will portray the death as an almost heroic end of life (which is seen throughout literature) instead of the selfish act that it is. The study was found in when famous celebrities committed suicide, and similar suicides would appear in the news. Point clusters were later noticed, and these two phenomena have led to the idea of a copycat suicide.
One peculiar case, was the suicide of Kurt Cobain. Experts feared that with his death there would cause a large amount of copycat suicides, however this was not the outcome. Much fewer copycats ended up committing suicide after his death and this baffled many researchers and led to confusion regarding the theory of copycat suicides in general, until they looked at both sides of the media.
Courtney Love, Cobain's girlfriend at the time, had a unique response to his death. Instead of discussing how much she missed him, she cursed him, and let everyone know how selfish he was for leaving Love and her daughter, and how he ignored his obligations to their family.
"Referring to her band's 22-year-old guitarist, Love said: ''He goes: 'God, Kurt was cool'. No, he wasn't.
''Not in the sense of that action. That action had a horrible effect on our family. It's not cool. It just wasn't cool.
''And that action was regretted the second it happened. I was expected by the zeitgeist to go with him or something.
''But I worked. I had to work to get money to feed my kid." (The Telegraph)
Love's reaction had a different effect on the way the suicide was taken up by society, and instead of making it seem like a tragedy, she made Cobain seem weak for quitting early.
Since then, there has been an unspoken agreement in society that suicide will not be publicized in a romantic way, but this does not hold true to the "point clusters", which is what all people should have in mind. After a suicide, we must remember the person, but also the pain that their death caused to their family members, and the permanent physical solution to the temporary spiritual problem. Although this may seem a bit cold-hearted, these copycat suicides DO exist, and glorifying them will only lead to more.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Window of Opportunity?
I once spoke with a teacher who in years past went to Taiwan and worked with education there. This is what he told me (as best as I can remember): "At that time, there was only one major university in Taiwan. Everyone who planned on succeeding academically went to that university, and there were students from all around SE Asia. But when I got there, I was surprised by what I saw: On every story of the building, there were nets for suicide jumpers. The amount of pressure those students were under was tremendous."
This window of opportunity for students was also a window of suicidal potential, which is one of the many things that makes suicide so hard to rationalize.
This window of opportunity for students was also a window of suicidal potential, which is one of the many things that makes suicide so hard to rationalize.
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