A Long, Melancholy Roar: The Human Most Likely To Cause Your Violent Death Is You
Among those things I am involved with is suicide prevention. A friend in our local coalition forwarded this third and final piece in a fascinating series about predators. The whole series is worth a read, but these final paragraphs are what she highlighted for us:
Today, in many parts of the world, the human being most likely to cause your violent death is: you.
Yes. You are the person most likely to kill yourself violently and on purpose. Suicide rates have risen dramatically over the past 50 years. Worldwide, deaths from suicide now outnumber deaths from war and homicide together: the World Health Organization estimates that each year around one million people — predominantly men — kill themselves. The true number is probably higher, because for many countries there is no data. In some countries, suicide is now among the top ten causes of death. For the young, worldwide, it’s in the top five.
A huge effort has rightly been devoted to trying to understand the particular causes of suicide in different places — unemployment, drug addiction, relationship breakdown, intelligence, predisposing genes, what your mother ate while you were in the womb and so on.
But here’s another way to look at it. No other animal does this. Chimpanzees don’t hang themselves from trees, slit their wrists, set themselves alight, or otherwise destroy themselves. Suicide is an essentially human behavior. And it has reached unprecedented levels, especially among the young.
I’m not sure what this means. But it has made me think. We live in a way that no other animal has ever lived: our lifestyle is unprecedented in the history of the planet. Often, we like to congratulate ourselves on the cities we have built, the gadgets we can buy, the rockets we send to the moon. But perhaps we should not be so proud. Something about the way we live means that, for many of us, life comes to seem unbearable, a long, melancholy ache of despair.
8 Responses to “A Long, Melancholy Roar: The Human Most Likely To Cause Your Violent Death Is You”
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I had no idea the numbers worldwide were so high. I've often wondered how it was possible for me to know so many people personally who made that “choice”. They were almost without exception intelligent, vibrant and lovable people. Perhaps their knowledge of how things were or could be – compared to the way things are… perhaps that gulf became too wide, and the despair that filled it couldn't be fought off. Most of us experience it, but don't succomb to it. Everyone has a different threshold for emotional pain. Maybe they just lost their faith, or lost their way. Each of us has different demons, desires, dreams, expectations… but maybe not so different in the end. Maybe some of us have better insulation, but maybe some have too much insulation. Being human can be a rewarding but dangerous business. I wish I could believe I would see some of those people again…
Maybe some of us have better insulation; maybe some have too much insulation.
Ain't that the truth.
This is a very personal subject for me (as it is, apparently, for you, too). My father committed suicide in October 1978. He was 60; I was 28. Like most suicides, his motivations were complex, and obviously since I wasn't in his head I can only guess at them from what I knew about him. I know that a significant factor in his emotional torment was the Holocaust. His mother died in Sobibor, and I know he had complicated feelings of survivor's guilt. There were other factors, too, going back to his childhood, and he had been under treatment for years for depression and bipolar disorder (still called manic-depression back then).
Suicide has incredible ripple effects in families. I know that when she was younger my daughter expressed fears that I would kill myself (I'm subject to depression, too). Ironically (I think that's the right word), I would never, ever do that, precisely because of her. My father's death was one of the two most devastating events in my life (the other was my first child's illness and death). No matter how bad it's gotten inside my head, I always knew I would never take that final step as long as she was on the planet.
Suicide of a loved one has a bigger impact than if the same person were murdered. Both cause pain and anger, but the murder is somehow understood. Much research has been done on this subject – sociological and psychological. Of course, most do not wish to realistically approach the problem or it's many roots.
I, personally, find it intriguing that the rise in suicide is directly converse to the decline of faith.
From the Journal of Clinical Psychology. Vol 40(5):
“Analyzed official suicide statistics and data on religious involvement from the General Social Surveys (National Opinion Research Center, 1981) for representative subpopulations of the US. Variations in the suicide rates of White males, Black males, White females, and Black females from 1972–1978 were significantly inversely correlated with variations in the church attendance of the respective subpopulations during this period. No significant differences were found between the correlations for White and Black females and for White and Black males nor between those for Black females and males and for White females and males. Findings support the general hypothesis that religiosity deters suicide.”
http://psycnet.apa.org/?fa=main.doiLanding&uid=…
JD, Of course that only raises more questions, the first being just why religiosity might be a deterent. Is it fear of being condemned to hell? Or is it because church attendence gives some folks a critical sense of community? Is it the willingness to develop faith in a “higher power”? It doesn't surprise me this correlation is in evidence, but the existence of that correlation doesn't explain suicide nor does it create a general prescription. Yes, “religion” might be helpful for some of the at risk population, but I'm sure there are many suicides who have been as devout, sincere and knowledgable in their religious quest as any churchgoer.
Kathy, I think I understand what you're saying. It's the love of people we are connected to and feel responsible for that can keep us going. I too went through a period in my life when I seriously considered the big exit, but realized it would have been too devastating for my family, and so I persevered. Once I travelled beyond that dark area I was able to see things from a more useful perspective… so to speak.
I'm fortunate and blessed (in my secular way
to be the member of a large and loving family, but even that almost didn't protect me from what I thought of at the time as too much awareness. Perhaps for some folks a certain amount of ignorance is a blessing. I don't say this to be a smartass, but because I believe it is true. In any case, I no longer feel like I have to figure out why the universe ticks, it's enough to keep my own corner of the world “sensible” and to be as good a person as I know how… to enjoy those parts of the mystery that make life more fun and to not let the darker mysteries be a factor.
another article was released this year reaching the same conclusion: Psychiatric researchers at the University of Manitoba have established a link, they say, “between a person´s attendance at a religious worship service” and the desire to commit suicide. People who don't attend church or synagogue were twice as likely to have attempted suicide. About 33,000 Americans take their own life each year.
It isn't the 'religiosity' or even 'religion' that they've found a link with but simply attendance at church or synagogue.
Maybe it's that 'no matter how you feel, you get up, dress up and show up'. Maybe it's just doing that, getting up, getting out and showing up. There are also lots of opportunities to help others at a place of worship. My mom always said that if you're feeling down, go out and help someone else, you enter a state of being both giver and receiver, it gets you out of yourself. Maybe that has something to do with it. Maybe not. Maybe it's just being involved. I don't know but I do know that it has helped me over the years and over many dark periods.
Sure, that makes sense. Getting out of the house and going out and doing anything, some kind of physical work, cutting wood, visiting a friend of family member, even going for a walk, etc. might well accomplish the same thing. As you suggest, the going to church probably works because it creates a regular structure. Church doesn't appeal to everyone though, for it to work a person has to believe it has some relevance for them in the first place.
Maybe. Perhaps. It depends. I don't know. We're complicated beings. It's an interesting study but I doubt that it can be analyzed as to why it is so.