Is Suicide Contagious?

Discovery News

On Jan. 14, Department of Defense officials acknowledged that during 2012, service members committed suicide at a record pace as more than 349 people took their own lives across all of the military's four branches.

This article basically states that although the act of suicide is not a virus or contagion, it can spread like one through the influence of media, genetics and relationships.

Apparently even the news of the suicide of military forces has prompted already emotionally unstable or mentally ill people to consider this themselves.

"It tends to facilitate feelings of helplessness and hopelessness," said David Rudd, Dean and professor of psychology at the University of Utah's College of Social and Behavioral Science. "It also facilitates the false idea that suicide is a solution to life's problems."

Now this article is only giving the data on suicide within the military but what about the rates for the rest of America?

Between 2008 and 2009, the suicide rate in the United States rose by 2.4%, with a reported 36,909 suicide deaths, according to a report by the CDC.
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Furthermore, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, an emergency crisis hotline, revealed that the volume of calls they received between 2010 and 2011 increased by 14%.

That same article states that in 2010, 20% of the U.S suffered from mental illness -


What gives? Is it the because of the state of the economy? The medias portrayal on the ideal life and then disappointment of some sort?
Personally, I have suffered depression my entire life, but the idea of taking the quick way out seems cowardly and selfish. I have lost people close and far and in no way is that meant to offend anyone, but it just seems rather alarming how the rate is rising all over, including Canada and other places in the world...

If you don't see a point to life, what's really so cowardly and selfish.

It's more selfish to keep a person alive that just wants to end it all.

You say you are depressed but you then say cowardly and selfish. You clearly don't know what true severe depression is.

Suicide is a small part of the Agenda 21 plan.

The elite would love it if we all offed ourselves and saved them the trouble of "depopulating" the world.

They want us dead, they don't care HOW it happens.

Ultimately the goal is to prevent us from connecting with our divine purpose and destiny.

reply to post by Chukkles


Well you and I are strangers so our life experiences will never be known, but for those 20% of people who suffer from mental illness in the U.S, of those, how many have caring families and friends who suffer tremendously from their loss?

And my question was in regards to the cause.

reply to post by RooskiZombi


It's a touchy subject for me.
Would you condone someone living for other people in absolute misery?
Because they don't live for themselves.

I can agree and atest that yes, suicide is contagious, at least the idea of it and the attention it garners.

Allow me to relate some personal information as to how and why I come to this conclusion.

I have a brother-in-law that was totally healthy and fit but a lazy SOB, that flat refused to get, and keep a job. He would rather sit home and eat and play video games. Everything in his life centered around how to NOT work, how to leech off of others, how to get around doing what a man should do. He impregnated his wife 7 times.

They ended up living in poverty, getting welfare, food stamps, section 8 housing.

He tried and tried for 8 years, to find ways to get on the government dole. In the meantime, he found himself, strangely, in multiple car accidents, where he was an injured party. He had one lawsuit where he settled and won 65,000. It was gone... in less than a year.

Still trying to get on the government dole, he decided to go for mental health disability for depression. He kept at it, going to see shrinks, getting doped up on meds, laughing about how he had filed over and over with SSDI and got denied, but finally got a free attorney, and this time he was going to win.

He was sitting in his chair watching television, taking some 27 medications, sticking himself with needles, and finding himself in and out of mental hospitals. He was only in for a few days at a time, but enough to secure a diagnosis of bipolar and depression.

Mind you, this was during the time his wife was having, and raising 7 children in this destructive atmosphere.

Now, he finally won disability after some years, he is a drooling idiot, still doped up on meds he has now become dependent upon. His life has spiraled out of control, and he has become a self fulfilling prophecy.

In the meantime, his children, having lived through all this, been raised in all of this, are following in his footsteps. All of them, at one time or another, have attempted "suicide", been committed, are on welfare, food stamps, and SSDI. Some of them do it on a regular basis to assure their Medicaid will not be discontinued. When it comes up for renewal, they suddenly have a fit of depression and into the hospital they go for the 2 or 3 days.

One of them has had their child removed from the home.

Is it contagious? The lifestyle most certainly is.

He now has 7 children on SSDI, some married, with their spouses also on SSDI, all living under one roof, all getting food stamps and Medicaid. They rake in more money than myself and my husband combined, and STILL beg for money and food from the church.

But hey, they all have Iphones, wide screen televisions in their rooms, video game consoles, and every gadget you could think of.

All while they watch their father sit drooling in a chair on 27 different medications. But at least he gets a check.

reply to post by Libertygal
eh no offence to what u claim but it has nothing to do with this post,it sounds like it should be in a welfare post where u have an issue with whos claming it.

What is the purpose of suicide, when you are presented the opportunity to learn from your suffering to be a better person, a role model, that can inspire others who may also endeavor a similar path.

Peace

Originally posted by sparky31
reply to post by Libertygal

 

eh no offence to what u claim but it has nothing to do with this post,it sounds like it should be in a welfare post where u have an issue with whos claming it.

I thought I just related how suicide was spread through relationships. The man raised 7 children who have all attempted suicide at one time or another, some more than 10 times.

The few that got married even have suicidal spouses, and one had her child, his grandchild, removed from the home.

Because of his wishes to gain SSDI through feigned mental illness, he is now really mentally ill due to taking 27 medications a day. As I said, a self fulfilling prophecy.

In the meantime, he created 7 suicidal children, and by proxy, 3 suicidal spouses.

That was by relationship, straight from the OP.

I don't understand your chastisement of my post.

This false endorsement, like that for products and
services, also works if the suicide is done by friends,
relative, schoolmate or coworker.

"Seeing that people similar to ourselves succeed in
performing a particular type of action tends to
strengthen our beliefs in our own ability to perform
the same type of action," explained Peter Hedström,
director of the Institute for Futures Studies in
Stockholm, Sweden.

His actions were a direct result, by relationship, in creating their actions. That is from the article in the OP.

I suppose it didn't fit the idea of romanticized suicide, too bad. Eventually, one or some, or all of his children will succeed. I suppose because they haven't succeeded yet, I shouldn't be allowed to have an opinion as to how and why I believe it can spread by relationships.

I do not see anyone who is suicidal as a coward. I would imagine it would take great courage to end your own life.

Suicide is ALWAYS the worst thing a person can do and will take you AWAY from your purpose and destiny as well as God's will.

...the act of suicide rejects God's inherent sovereignty over life and is therefore sin if committed with full awareness of what one is doing.

God alone has the right to give and take human life. God is sovereign, appointing both the beginning and the end of our days (Job 14:5; Psalm 139:6).

"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's" (1Corinthians 6:19-20).

Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple. (1 Corinthians 3:16-17)

A suicide has an enormous impact on the immediate family and on society. The bereaved suffer catastrophic feelings of guilt for supposed neglect which allowed the suicide to happen. This pain is compounded by normal concerns about the eternal destiny of the suicide victim.

Suicide

Look at it from God's point of view. He has already made ample provision for every conceivable circumstance of your spiritual and physical life.

"His Divine Power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and Godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue" (2Peter 1:3).

To ultimately run out of hope and commit suicide is unpardonable, because it is supreme defiance and "blasphemy against the Holy Ghost" (Matthew 12:31), and "hath never forgiveness" (Mark 3:29). The sin of suicide will never take you to the Heaven where Jesus is. "Then said Jesus again unto them, I go My way, and ye shall seek Me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come" (John 8:21).

True Christians will not commit suicide because True Saints do not "die in [their] sins" (John 8:21). Only "he that endureth to the end shall be saved" (Matthew 10:22).

What the Bible Says About Suicide

Tamara Laroux tried to end her life by shooting herself with a .38:

Tamara Laroux was broken and aimless and thought her only option was to put a gun to her heart. Tamara attempted suicide by shooting herself in the chest. She died and came back to life. She believes she experienced the afterlife between the time she was bleeding out and when she recovered. I was convinced there was no way to live a completely happy life. If I couldn’t live happy, I didn’t want to live at all.

I believed the only answer for me was to end my life. I began screaming out to God, “God, forgive me.” The gun went off. My lungs began to fill up with blood. I began to go deaf. My eyes were open, and I became blinded. I knew that death was gripping my soul. Then all of a sudden I felt my soul leave my body. I instantly began falling and falling.

At that moment I knew I was no longer in control of my destiny. I ended up in a place that was complete torment. My body was burning. I no longer was lonely. I was no longer depressed. I became depression. I became loneliness. I became a tormented being of fear. I saw all of these other people and everybody was screaming out in pain. The mutual thing that everyone shared there was their desire to scream out to everybody on earth, “Do not come here. Acknowledge that life is about Jesus Christ.”

Eternity is real. Hell is real. Heaven is real. How you live your life will determine where you go. Everybody cried out that their loved ones would hear the truth.I saw the hand of God literally come down. I knew that He was coming for me. His hand picked me up, and instantaneously I was no longer a being of tormented sin. I now was being cleansed. God took me over the Heavens.

Source

Below is another quote from someone that committed suicide and came back to tell about it:

"Is this what you really want? Don't you know that this is the worst thing you could have done?"

I could feel his anger and frustration, both because I'd thrown in the towel and because I had cut myself off from him and from his guidance.

So I answered: "But my life is so hard."

"You think that was hard? It is nothing compared to what awaits you if you take your life."

When the Father spoke, each of his words exploded into a complex of meanings, like fireworks, tiny balls of light that erupted into a billion bits of information, filling me with streams of vivid truth and pure understanding."

Angie Fenimores NDE Story of Suicide
www.bibleprobe.com...

Angie Fenimore - near-death experiences
www.near-death.com...

"The pain will be severe... eternal consequences
www.abovetopsecret.com...

"Don't you know that this is the worst thing you could have done?"
www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by Night Star


I agree with you on that!

I suffer from depression and can't stand the fact that it seems no matter what I try doesn't help for long anyway. I get really sick of feeling like this but I'm way too chicken to do it. Plus I believe it's something I just have to keep fighting. I refuse to give up.

I do believe tho that suicide in a way is contagious. Seems there's just more and more people offing themselves.I've lost a few friends this way and it's devastating and I hate the fact they chose to end their life, but in the same respect I truly hope they found the peace they were looking for.

reply to post by RooskiZombi

Usually OP when things go bad its always a sort of snowball effect and things kind of pick up and get worse and worse and the whole thing picks up momentum and it keeps going down hill. Its the saying, when it rains it pours. However the exact opposite is also true when things are good then things sort of just open up to you and life is just much more funner and easier and better.

It is the nature of this world and existence things sort of multiply and add to whatever effect you got going on, or whatever is effecting or afflicting you. And it can last anywhere from a day, to years, to even lifetimes. SO yes in a way you could say that suicide is contagious. But so is everything else in there own ways. However it is not easy by any stretch of the imagination to destroy the cycles and break out of it. So whatever is afflicting you, good luck.