Suicide

Because suicide has has such a powerful effect on my own life, in any consideration of the affective disorders, I must also include some discussion of suicide,which is often; but not always, the outcome of mood disturbances. The precesses which lead a man or woman to take his or her own life are at least as complex and difficult  as those  which lead him to go on living. Yet we know  that a major factor in this complex process IS depression. In a retrospective study of a sample of successful suicides, one group of experimenters found that 94percent of them had gone through episodes of serious depression. Another group of researchers found that in their sample of patients who had committed suicide, approximately 80percent had been very depressed for a considerable period of time prior to the fatal attempt.Suicide is NOT a spontaneous, or even quickly arrived at decision.

The Incidence of Suicide

For many reasons all of which I will NOT go into here, accurate statistics on the incidence of suicide are very, very, difficult to obtain. Many of those who commit suicide prefer to make their deaths look accidental, whether to enable survivors and loved ones to collect insurance, to spare families the shame, and accusations, still linked with suicide, or should the attempt fail--to avoid a criminal charge. At least, 25% and probably a much higher percentage of all automobile, all-terrain vehicle, boating, hiking, hunting, snow-mobile, skiing, snow-board, excreta,  accidents are actually suicides.

However, even with all the missing statistics, national estimates of the number of suicides each year range from a ridiculously low 25,00 to a still extremely low 60,000, while at least 200,00 more attempt to kill themselves and fail. At least, 2 million Canadians have made suicide attempts. Suicide is now one of the most common causes of death in North America. Among young people aged fifteen to twenty-four, it is considered the SECOND most common cause of death and there are statisticians who argue that if all self-inflicted deaths were accurately recorded, suicide would rank as the fourth or fifth most common cause of death.

Whatever the accuracy of the statistics: Life threatening behaviour and/or suicide constitute a EXTREMELY-- HUGE,Huge PROBLEM in this country.

Many, SENIORS-old people, and YOUTH as well; have limited incomes and little support from friends or family.The GOVERNMENT ??? could save huge amounts on health care by simply increasing support for these two groups. When such little support and so few reinforcements are available depression, other physical and mental health issues, and suicide are the inevitable result.

Who Commits Suicide?

One very definite possibility is those with a hormone imbalance. A theory is quickly gaining ground that depression has to do largely with hormone imbalance. Some researchers suspect that depression is due to a general malfunction of the hypothalamus. The problem may not lie so much with the general malfunctioning of the hypothalamus as with one specific function: the control of hormone production The hypothalamus regulates the pituitary gland, and both the hypothalamus and the pituitary  control the production of hormones by the gonads and the adrenal and thyroid glands. There is substantial evidence that in depressives there is some irregularity in this process. In the first place, depressives often show abnormal hormone levels. Second, people with abnormal hormone activity often show depression as a side effect. But perhaps the best evidence is that depression can sometimes be effectively treated by altering hormone levels. In certain cases, for example, induced changes in thyroid output have aided in recovery from depression; in others, oestrogen, a sex hormone, has proved an effective treatment. 

There are certain social variables that correlate with successful and unsuccessful suicide attempts. For example, although three times as many woman as men attempt suicide, three times as many men succeed in killing themselves as do women (as has been shown in several other fields, women tend not to be very efficient). Statistical studies also show that while living in a common law relationship has little or no bearing, twice as many single people as married people kill themselves, and that in general the likelihood of a person's commuting suicide increases as a function of age, especially for males.The person who most commonly attempts suicide and survives is a native born Caucasian female, in her twenties or thirties, who attempts to kill herself by swallowing barbiturates and gives her reason either as relationship difficulties, or depression. In contrast the person who succeeds in taking his or her own life is a native-born Caucasian male, in his forties, or older, who , for reasons of ill health, depression, or MARITAL difficulties, commits suicide by shooting, or hanging himself, or by poisoning himself with carbon monoxide.

Is there a type of personality that is predisposed toward Suicide?

Apparently not. Suicide may be undertaken by any type of person in anyone of a variety of different moods, ranging from the most frenzied, to the most sober and calculating. Even so formidable a psychological intelligence a Freud's was not immune to suicidal thoughts At age twenty-nine, in the throes of passion, he wrote his fiancée: "I have long since resolved on a decision (suicide), the thought of which is in no way painful, in the event of losing you.
LINK--http://thegirvanway.blogspot.com/2010/03/suicide-among-young.html