ThugLife Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 Did anyone here, say over age 35, know anyone to committ suicide in school (a classmate)? I knew someone who did, but he was out of HS. I went to school with a kid who hanged himself in high school, I worked with a guy who hanged himself above his desk at work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fezmid Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 I went to school with a kid who hanged himself in high school, I worked with a guy who hanged himself above his desk at work. If this was a crime show, the investigators would say, "It's quite a coincidence that two different people around you died in the exact same way... We need to bring you in for questioning." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrDawkinstein Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 (edited) A 14 year old girl in my sister's freshman class purposely ran out into traffic to kill herself. When I was 17, a classmate hung himself. People of all ages have been killing themselves since the beginning of time. Nothing new here. People all over do horrible things all the time, to themselves and others, and have been doing so forever. The Internet/21st Century "News" just throws it in our face immediately and repeatedly. Edited April 5, 2011 by DrDankenstein Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UConn James Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 Why not? There's a meteoric rise in allergies. There's a meteoric rise in obesity. Why can't a chemical imbalance in the brain be growing at an alarming rate too? Or diagnosis simply increasing. One has to wonder how many teens labelled as "moody" thirty years ago would be diagnosed with depression today. Diagnostic criteria and clinical definitions change with time, too - the DSM-IV doesn't have "four" in its name just because someone liked the number. I meant "can't just be physical" as in, there has got to be some corresponding rise in the environmental/social causes. To use Fez's examples, there's multiple sides in the causes of those, i.e. increasing profligacy in trees (due to increased CO2 levels?), and the rise of grossly over-manufactured foodstuffs. Allergies and obesity increases don't happen in a vacuum. Neither, I think, does depression. True enough, Tom. It may be more in the margins, and in the severity of pre-disposed individual cases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shrader Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 A 14 year old girl in my sister's freshman class purposely ran out into traffic to kill herself. When I was 17, a classmate hung himself. People of all ages have been killing themselves since the beginning of time. Nothing new here. People all over do horrible things all the time, to themselves and others, and have been doing so forever. The Internet/21st Century "News" just throws it in our face immediately and repeatedly. The 21st century thing seems to be the whole "I'm going to take as many people with me as possible" mentality. Luckily that wasn't the case with this girl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thisistheyear Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 A couple of thoughts... Read Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point. There's an interesting anecdote regarding teen suicide in a polynesian (if I remember correctly) country. The argument was that teenage suicide, like smoking, is socially contagious. My other thought is big pharma is to blame. It seems like half the anti depressants on the market CAUSE suicidal thoughts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef Jim Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 Suicide is not new. Not saying anyone is implying that but all you have to do is think about Romeo and Juliet. BTW had someone I went to school with (a very small school) attempt suicide with a shotgun to the mouth. Saw him at my 10 year runion. Not a pretty sight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrDawkinstein Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 The 21st century thing seems to be the whole "I'm going to take as many people with me as possible" mentality. Luckily that wasn't the case with this girl. I meant "21st Century News" as an entity. Only concerned with getting clicks and viewers by providing lazy, lowest common denominator, shock-value, paranoia inducing "reporting". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbb Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 Graduated HS in 80 and college 84, and I don't remember one person in either place attempting suicide. I do think it's more prevalent now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Tom Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 I meant "can't just be physical" as in, there has got to be some corresponding rise in the environmental/social causes. To use Fez's examples, there's multiple sides in the causes of those, i.e. increasing profligacy in trees (due to increased CO2 levels?), and the rise of grossly over-manufactured foodstuffs. Allergies and obesity increases don't happen in a vacuum. Neither, I think, does depression. True enough, Tom. It may be more in the margins, and in the severity of pre-disposed individual cases. My point was simply that "a rise in diagnoses" can be attributable to a HELL of a lot more than a rise in incidence. And depression can most certainly occur in a vacuum (for that matter, so can obesity and I presume allergies. It's called genetic predisposition.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chilly Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 Why is it that suicide is so publicized? Why is it that this girl who is pretty cute and looks so ...normal? I think you answered the first question with the second question. look at the reporting on disappearances. Jon Stewart had a great satire bit on coverage of pretty white girl kidnappings vs other kidnappings and the coverage they receive. As the news organizations have evolved, they have moved to a model of reporting on stores fill up their that are quick to report on, cheap to produce, fits into preconceived ideas, easy to relate to, and make a strong emotional impact with viewers. As Tom pointed out, this is an effect of the 24-hour news cycle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Jack Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 I just remembered, my roommate in college tried to commit suicide because his girlfriend back home broke up with him. He sliced his wrists the wrong way though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peace Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 I think you answered the first question with the second question. look at the reporting on disappearances. Jon Stewart had a great satire bit on coverage of pretty white girl kidnappings vs other kidnappings and the coverage they receive. As the news organizations have evolved, they have moved to a model of reporting on stores fill up their that are quick to report on, cheap to produce, fits into preconceived ideas, easy to relate to, and make a strong emotional impact with viewers. As Tom pointed out, this is an effect of the 24-hour news cycle. If a cute white girl gets kidnapped, it's a national story--always. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeviF Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 (edited) Not only is suicide not new, but I would say that suicides aren't publicized that much at all. I rarely see them in the news. A girl in my class in high school killed herself in a rather public way, and local news never covered it except for her obit in the local newspaper. It's when they take people with them that you hear about it on national news. Suicides aren't news, murders are. Edited April 5, 2011 by LeviF91 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boyst Posted April 5, 2011 Author Share Posted April 5, 2011 The idea that the human mind is changing chemically is very plausible, kids are maturing at a faster rate physically then ever, obesity is up, allergies and autism, too...makes you wonder what else is going on inside the brain. But, then you have to wonder the triggering point for this, at what point does the idea become more then a thought and a reality? Maybe it is that when we look at a picture of a "goth" type we see a crying out or a cry for attention - in the "normal" people we do not so easily see them and makes me think of the chaos theory. What appears most normal isn't. That she did this at school and how she must have felt in the hours before this are sad, just like so many other cases...suicide sucks. Growing up my brothers best friend, whom was like my 2nd older brother and someone I looked up to a lot had attempted several times before being able to committ. He was bi-polar and dropped out of school, etc. He went to a pretty big Catholic school and won an award as the outstanding student for his 4 years; top scholar and amazing athlete. He drove up to a backroad in the country and put a shotgun in his mouth. His younger brothers are doing well, though; one is a doctor and the other had a 4 year career in the NFL after playing at Penn State to become the first walk on freshman to start as a freshman for Paterno. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbb Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 Not only is suicide not new, but I would say that suicides aren't publicized that much at all. I rarely see them in the news. A girl in my class in high school killed herself in a rather public way, and local news never covered it except for her obit in the local newspaper. It's when they take people with them that you hear about it on national news. Suicides aren't news, murders are. Actually, I think that's the rule for newspapers. They don't want to give a suicide victim any publicity, and therefore encourage those on the fence - Hey, at least I can make the paper on my way out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
....lybob Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 I don't remember any suicides what I remember is Deaths by the following- alcohol poisoning, alcohol related car crashes, alcohol related hypothermia, drownings in the Niagara river, Broken neck in the diving pool, Train track deaths (hit by train,found beaten to death, found stabbed to death) and a couple of falling deaths (abandoned Kobackers, grain mill) causeway between river-walk and Niagara street- it's possible we had some suicides because I remember a couple of quiet girls who suddenly stopped coming to school and never came back but if it was a suicide no one said anything and sadly I don't remember anyone asking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbb Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 I don't remember any suicides what I remember is Deaths by the following- alcohol poisoning, alcohol related car crashes, alcohol related hypothermia, drownings in the Niagara river, Broken neck in the diving pool, Train track deaths (hit by train,found beaten to death, found stabbed to death) and a couple of falling deaths (abandoned Kobackers, grain mill) causeway between river-walk and Niagara street- it's possible we had some suicides because I remember a couple of quiet girls who suddenly stopped coming to school and never came back but if it was a suicide no one said anything and sadly I don't remember anyone asking. You had all those deaths in your high school? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boyst Posted April 6, 2011 Author Share Posted April 6, 2011 You had all those deaths in your high school? No, he just watched a marathon of the final destination movies... Actually, I think that's the rule for newspapers. They don't want to give a suicide victim any publicity, and therefore encourage those on the fence - Hey, at least I can make the paper on my way out. I have never thought of people who die by suicide as suicide victims. I am not sure how I view them... and the only reason we (well, I) was able to find out the identity of the girl was that someone had posted her information on another site, as well as probably causes; her memorial page got trolled. Hard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbb Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 No, he just watched a marathon of the final destination movies... I have never thought of people who die by suicide as suicide victims. I am not sure how I view them... and the only reason we (well, I) was able to find out the identity of the girl was that someone had posted her information on another site, as well as probably causes; her memorial page got trolled. Hard. LOL on the first part!..........Yeah, I didn't know what word to use so I said victim. Doesn't seem right to me either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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