Where Did The Idea Of suicide Come From And What To Do To Combat It?

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

According to the World Health Organization, a chilling figure of close to 800,000 people kill themselves a year and many more try. Today, suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people aged 15 to 19 years …

Recent cases as famous as that of Ari Behn, husband of Princess Marta Luisa Norway, who took her own life on Christmas Day, or more recently that of the creator of Ugly Betty at just 47 years old, put this heartbreaking tragedy back on everyone's mouth.

We speak with the renowned international lecturer and Spanish psychotherapist Esther Perez, who has a degree in Psychology from the University of California UCLA in Los Angeles. How does suicide arise in people's minds? Is it normal for someone to commit suicide overnight without anyone suspecting it?

“More than 90% of people who decide to commit suicide, suffer from some type of mental health problem when they kill themselves. Those mental illnesses stem in many cases from negative experiences, such as unresolved childhood trauma. The mental illness that most people lead to suicide is depression, when the patient finds no other way out for their pain, says the psychologist.

"If a person is suffering or has unexplored trauma and does not go to a specialist, in the absence of adequate or effective treatment, any subsequent negative life experience can severely exacerbate depressive symptoms until they turn their thoughts into suicidal thoughts," hence the importance of going to a consultation or encouraging our loved ones in trouble to do so.

What experiences can exacerbate suicidal concerns in a human being? "A person with depression can be overcome by such devastating experiences as the loss of a loved one, a divorce or the end of an existing relationship … In other cases it may be a lack of self-esteem, when we feel that we did not meet the expectations that were about us, or even what we have about ourselves, or perhaps having disappointed someone very important in our environment, "says Esther.

Until they hit rock bottom: “ The battle is lost when hope is lost. It is the inability to see a solution and know that over time things change and even tend to improve.”

As for the profiles most likely to end up triggering this tragedy, “it occurs in people who are in a limit situation, victims of physical or mental abuse, relatives of people who have suffered such abuse, suffering from chronic physical pain, pain emotionally intense and basically, any human being who suddenly feels trapped in a situation to which he sees no way out."

How can we know that a close person is at risk of committing suicide? According to Esther Pérez, “some people die by suicide due to depression with genetic factors and do not always show depressive symptoms or signs that may indicate suicide risk, but they are the least and there are common signs that we can observe in people and alert us to that something is not right. For example, if you know of someone whose depression seems chronic and that affects their behavior in their daily life for a long time; if he has ever communicated to you or close people the desire to die; if they remain pessimistic, irritable for a very long time, if they begin to get rid of their possessions…”

As for what to do if we suspect that a close person is having suicidal thoughts, the mental health expert recommends that we encourage you to see a specialist, go to a medical center or talk to a psychologist or psychiatrist, because it is very important that they are evaluated psychiatrically so that they can receive the most appropriate treatment for their needs at that very moment”. He also ensures that in a crisis you should go to an emergency medical center so that they can medicate you, including hospitalizing you until you overcome the crisis at that particular time.

When leaving the hospital, the expert recommends that the patient not only follow the prescribed medication to the letter. It is absolutely necessary that you combine it with therapy by going to a psychologist to find the underlying depression and possible unresolved childhood trauma that is the trigger for everything. That is, find the origin of the disease in order to heal it.

Depression is a disease that can be cured if it is treated, but it requires determination to deal with psychologists and psychiatrists until they find the appropriate treatment for each person and then adhere to it to eradicate symptoms and prevent relapses.

If you feel bad, don't give up. Communicate with your loved ones and seek the help of a professional, because as they say, everything has a solution except death. There is a future waiting for you, even if you can't see it now. With a little patience, you will very possibly feel better soon and remember that life is worth living to its fullest consequences.