FREE ESSAY ON SELF DESTRUCTION

SELF DESTRUCTION

Julien Rouleau Suicide: A Self- Destruction Suicide is the act or an instance of
intentionally killing oneself According to Emile Durkheim, suicide is applied to all
cases of death resulting directly or indirectly from a positive or negative act of the
victim himself, which he knows will produce this result (44). Suicide is a rarely ever a
spur of the moment thing. The Susceptibility to suicide is lowest among those who have
strong community ties. Involvement in church, synagogue or temple may help the disquieted
person feel that he is part of a religious fellowship bound together by ties of sympathy,
love, and mutual concern. House of worship often substitute for a missing family. We this
reach the conclusion that the superiority of Protestantism with respect to suicide
results from its being a less strongly integrated church than a catholic church (Durkheim
159). Grollamn noe Augustine (354-430) denounced suicide as a sin, there was no official
church against it (23). Today people continue to commit suicide for a variety of reasons:
Love, insanity and chronic depression. There is usually a series of events and warning
sign before an attempt is made. Suicide is not spoken much and is a topic that needed to
be explored. Statistics on suicide attempts changes so rapidly, that none can be stated
with accuracy. Grollman write that Almost everybody at one time or another contemplates
suicide. Self-destruction is one of many choices open to human beings(5). If one is alert
and observant, there is a chance that the suicide victim can be saved. Imagine the
thought of being dead. Would the world be better off without that one life? Probably not,
but some people may think so. That life will be greatly issued by someone. It may even
cause a person to want to commit suicide in order to join the friend that died. Imagine
how it would feel if pressures of everyday life increased the greatly. Perhaps a parent,
brother or sister was lost. What if an adolescent person was arrested? How would his
family and friends react to this little misfortune? Say there is a test in math or
science class, and when the test came back the same person had failed it. It would seem
to him to be just another failure in a series of botched attempts to further himself. It
seems that the last month or two has been nothing but hardship. There is no place to go.
So, he feels, there is only one thing that can help, suicide. Man prefers to abandon life
when it is least difficult (Durkheim 107). The child may think: If I where to die now, my
parents would feel sorry for their meanness (Grollman 6). For days, even weeks, a plan is
formulated. How does he leave the loved ones and his problems behind respectably? Finally
he thinks of a plan, sleeping pills, in hopes that a final slumber will take all the
nightmares of reality away for good. Klerman note that An act like this is prepared
within the silence of the heart, as is a great work of art (55). The pills are taken,
after a while sleep sets in. At last, the final rest that has been so long awaited for. A
blurred vision appears and slowly focuses. A white room appears, the vision gets clearer.
He focuses in on details such as an IV stand with several bags hanging on it. The
hospital room was not the expected place to awake. This attempt was just one more failure
in his life. The next time he will think of a more lethal way to seek eternal peace.
After the attempt. He will go to a hospital where all his actions will be monitored. In
the end, a counselor is usually called in. hopefully its will help him in the struggle to
deal with life's problems, all this done in hopes that another attempt is made. 12 % of
those who attempt suicide will make a second try and succeed within two years (Grollman
73). To think all of this could have been prevented if he sought help in the beginning.
To further understand suicide, we must take a look at the different reasons behind the
act itself. Suicide is not a genetic disease, but rather a series of events that are very
depressing or stressful. Dolce implies that For years people assume that only mental or
emotional problems drove people to commit suicide (33). Lester writes, Zimmerman et al
found that depressed inpatients who had experienced more psychological stresses had also
attempted suicide more (205). Without depression, most people would not attempt to take
their own lives. People have been killing themselves since the beginning of recorded
history. Attitudes toward suicide vary from age to age and from be simple civilization to
civilization (Grollman 17). Typically depressed patient is apt to be young woman under
the age 40 (Klerman 107). While suicide remains a major source of mortality, depression
is a major source of morbidity (Klerman XV). Depression, is a vital issue in almost every
suicide attempt. The victim feels very depressed and everything seems to be going the
wrong way. Depression is not just sadness. Depression is a mild form mental illness,
which can be permanent or temporary. It can things like the loss of interest in usual
activities. Showing sign of sadness, hopelessness, helplessness and irritability are
common in suicide victims. If rapid changes in appetite, weight, behaviors, level of
activity or sleep patterns, or loss of energy occur, one must be cognizant of the fact
that these are prime warning signals. While making negative comments about one's self can
be because of lack of self esteem, it is also be something to be watched for, especially
in one who seems to be purposefully putting their personal affairs in order, giving away
their possessions, or has a sudden intense interest I personal wills or life insurance.
The youth gives away all this valued books and prized phonograph records (Grollman 74).
If one notice a person appears to be cleaning their slate of personal incidents in the
past, red warning flags should go up, particularly if this person has had suicide
thoughts or fantasies, or has made previous attempts at suicide. Be familiar with a
sudden change from extreme depression to being at peace, in one who has previously been
talking, writing or hinting about suicide. Once a person has decided to kill himself he
almost always acts a little bit differently (Grollman 74). This list does not describe
all suicidal people.  Davidson found that 17% of a sample of drug abuser had previously
attempted suicide (Lester 303). Some may not show any signs and yet be suicidal. Others
may show all these sign and not be suicidal. In many cases, the victim would choose
differently if they were not in such great distress and were able to evaluate their
options objectively(Stoney). Depression is like a bad dream, but with help, a person can
overcome this bad dream and awake. The start of what leads a person to suicide does not
have anything to do with the person's present experiences, but with their early childhood
life experiences. Traumatic or difficult birth experiences put certain people at a much
higher risk for suicide (Dolce 33). Scientific studies indicate that babies who suffer
respiratory difficulty during or shortly after birth may be more prone to suicidal
tendencies late in life (Dolce 36). This is because the view of others, outside family
and friends, has no contribution to the pain that causes suicide and depression.
Depression can include: self-pity, shame, envy, and grandiosity. All of these things play
a role in depression one way or another. Depressed people are usually subjects to desire
and grandiose ideation. Some psychologist suggest that depression and grandiosity are in
some ways, mirrors of each other, both being types of narcissistic disturbance (Conroy
104). Grandiosity is best described as when a person starts thinking they are above
everyone and everything else. They absurdly exaggerate many things in their lives just
for the attention it brings them. Envy, another cause of depression, has two aspects. In
its primary sense, envy is the experience of pleasure, when the person who has that
desired quality suffers misfortune. (Conroy 85) Shame, in depression, is usually aimed
inward toward the victim, or depressed person. The feeling of, why did I not do that? or
why did I not take that chance? rather than having pity for other people's mistake or
misfortune. When self-pity, another depression mode, is thought of, it usually brings up
the feeling of being sad or angry for mistakes that have happened in the past. David L.
Conroy gives a better example of self-pity by saying, Our recognition of our own
suffering is much more vivid than our appreciation for the suffering of others (99).
Shortly before an attempt at suicide is made, a note may be written. Eaton and Reynolds
found that adolescent attempt suicides were less likely to leave a suicide note than
adult attempters (Lester 261). This article is refereed to as a suicide note. It is one
of the only things that can be examined after the attempt or completed suicide to help
the friends and families determine what the victim was thinking and/or feeling at the
time. Here is a letter that has most of the depression characteristics discussed earlier:
It is hard to say why you don't want to live. I have only one real reason. The three
people I have in the world which I love, don't love me. Tom, I love you so dearly, but
you have told me you don't want me and you don't love me. I never thought you would let
me go this far, but I am now at the end which is the best for you. You have so many
problems and I am sorry I added to them. Daddy, I hurt you so much and I guess I really
hurt myself. You only wanted the best for me and you must believe this is it. Mommy, you
tried so hard to make me appy and to make things right for all of us. I love you too, so
much. You did not fail. I have no place to go so I am back where I always seem to find
peace. I have failed in everything I have done and I hope I do not fail in this. I love
you all dearly and am sorry this is the way to say good bye. Please forgive me and be
happy. Your wife and daughter (Lester 79). When looking at and examining at suicide note,
there are severals factors to look for. One of the factors might be that the victim is
faced with depressing problems that are extremely hard to deal With. His situation is
viewed as long history of similar crisis. He believes that death is the only way to
escape the problems in his life. The victim usually becomes socially isolated, so
isolated that the distress cannot be shared with others. The victim must also overcome
the belief that suicide is not irrational or immoral. The victim feels less constrained
by social rules. He feels that the problem is not of his own making, and there is not
other solution. He makes a statement that his problems will not occur after death (Lester
78). The following are illustrations of people who failed committing suicide because it
is not easy as the Hollywood movies make it seem. 1. Tom, a teenage boy, put a .22 pistol
to his head and pulled the trigger. The bullet entered his temple, ripped through his
brain, ricocheted around in his skull, and lodged in his jaw. He did not die. Now
severely brain-damaged, he lives on, unable to work or go to school. 2. Marry jumped from
a high bridge into a river, many people have died making this same jump. Marry did not.
Rather, she entered the water at a bad angle and broke her back. She was rescued before
she could drown. Marry lives in a wheelchair. 3. George shot himself with a large-caliber
pistol in the stomach. He destroyed a kidney. Fortunately, he had two. 4. Bryan, arrested
on a drug charge and fearful of his parents reaction. Attempted to hang him self and
loosing consciousness. The loss of oxygen to his brain caused permanent brain damage. 5.
Janice cut her wrists-sideways. One of the cuts ran deep enough to sever a tendon. Janice
used to play piano. She still does but not so swell (Quinnet 118). A good assumption to
make about suicide attempts would be, the more lethal method a person uses, the more
their body will be disfigured if their attempt fails. This not a major concern of the
victim, but causes untold grief to those left behind to care of what is left of that
person. Here are several reasons why suicide should not be an option. One, funerals are
expensive, two, the Mr. Rogers way of thinking, people can like me just the way I am.
There are many signs and reasons people commit and attempt suicide. They are usually in
extreme emotional pain. They do no see another way out of their problems. These victims
of emotions running rampant need lots of love and understanding. But what they need most
is someone to really listen to them and tell them, I do not want you to die.