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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Aug 12, 2014 12:33:51 GMT -5
Most people with bipolar don't attempt suicide, much less succeed at it, of course, but the odds are higher than for people with other types of depression, IIRC. (My go-to book on the subject is Kay Redfield Jamison's Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide. Jamison is an absolutely luminous writer & an expert on bipolar disorder; she also suffers from it herself & has attempted suicide. I'm in awe of her, though not for the last-listed detail, of course.) I've tried myself, at a particularly low ebb back in mid-December 2004. Once you've opened that door, it's not as if it can't be closed ... but you do know it's there & that it's accessible, so to speak, which is a pretty sobering thought. All things being equal, I've long been amazed that my mother never (AFAIK) tried. She certainly threatened it enough when I was a kid. *sigh* Your enthusiasm for that book (which I will check out for some better understanding) reminds me of being moved in a much similar way for something that i deal with myself; Drinking: A Love Story by Caroline Knapp. Unfortunately the writer had other issues that seemed similar, like depression. She also struggled with anorexia for part of her life, (mostly between binge drinking and after she successfully stayed sober if I recall correctly) and ended up dying in her 40's of (edit)lung(edit) cancer. But her words, her description, her expressions about alcohol and how it made her feel were like right out of my mouth. Things I thought so often but never shared, as I knew (or thought) no one would understand. She just laid herself out in that book to hopefully reach people. I'm not going to finish this paragraph with saying I had the same success she did, but to hear that someone knows exactly what it feels like, to word it like it was your own, it at least put the thought in my head that anything is possible when one is willing and ready. I do not recall the names at the moment, but I have read several books on bipolar by people with bipolar to try and help me understand what my wife goes through. Because it seems that it's very complex and quite different for each person so it's hard to case study a whole to get an answer for each individual. For me it's not the answer, it's the journey I don't have yet, so I guess that can be frustrating knowing that there may be no answer. I am sure that it is also frustrating (and it really is for me) that health care as we know it, or as most people have isn't sufficient enough to care for people with mental illnesses. My wife gets care from a local institution because I am the sole income we fall into a category of "paid by the state" for the psychiatrist she sees as well as just about 95% of her medication. You shouldn't have to to not afford care or be insanely rich to pay for it. But that's a whole other topic, and my rambling is getting off subject.
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Post by Rob Allen on Aug 12, 2014 16:44:00 GMT -5
It takes more than haggis to scare a classic comics fan!
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Post by Pharozonk on Aug 12, 2014 19:29:35 GMT -5
If deep fried Coke isn't a welcome, I don't know what is!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2014 0:50:47 GMT -5
Another entertainment legend lost.
R.I.P. Lauren Bacall, who passed away at age 89 today.
Bogey and Bacall was a duo that made magic on and off the screen. Rest well, your legacy lives in the ghosts of the silver screen.
-M
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Post by zryson on Aug 13, 2014 1:18:15 GMT -5
Mental illness is a hard thing for many people to understand because there are so many factors involved; genetic predisposition can play a part, as well as biochemical factors. In the case of the recent suicide of Robin Williams many cannot fathom how a person who seemingly had everything to live for can suicide in such a violent way (in his case, hanging himself as well as slashing wrist). What is known is that Robin Williams was a very different person privately in contrast to his on-stage persona. If he was in a room with just two people he would shut down and be very quiet, but if three people were in the room he felt he had an audience and out would come the comedian in him. We also know he had substance abuse issues (alcohol and drugs) throughout his life. Unlike many rich and famous people he was very honest about this, as well as other issues he was facing. Many say he was very down to earth in personality, a genuinely nice and caring person, which of course makes the news all the harder to bear.
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Post by the4thpip on Aug 13, 2014 2:02:51 GMT -5
I have three generations of literal uncles in nooses hanging over my proverbial head. Really hoping this generation will end that sad series.
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Post by zryson on Aug 13, 2014 8:48:58 GMT -5
It was a little disturbing watching some of the press conference earlier in which more details about Robin Williams suicide were announced. It was said that rigor mortis had set in. What I know from the more gruesome aspects of death is that happens generally around six hours after the person has died.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2014 9:09:42 GMT -5
I have three generations of literal uncles in nooses hanging over my proverbial head. Really hoping this generation will end that sad series. Such things really do run in bloodlines, though of course (thankfully) genetics doesn't equal destiny, or whatever. Going back to Kay Redfield Jamison again, her Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament (written before she "came out" as bipolar herself, I'm pretty sure) is replete with family histories dotted with suicide, insanity, etc. Fascinating, if not exactly pick-me-up material. In my own case, whether such tendencies predate my mother, I have no idea. It's not something we ever talked about, & of course she's been dead for going on 30 1/2 years now. A first cousin on my father's side has told me that depression is nothing new on that side of the family, but then to be honest I suspect that's not exactly unusual in any family, unfortunately.
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Aug 13, 2014 9:33:05 GMT -5
Another entertainment legend lost. R.I.P. Lauren Bacall, who passed away at age 89 today. Bogey and Bacall was a duo that made magic on and off the screen. Rest well, your legacy lives in the ghosts of the silver screen. -M Key Largo has been a favorite movie of mine since childhood. Sing it Bertie!
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Post by zryson on Aug 13, 2014 9:37:56 GMT -5
In previous years there was a tendency to not talk about feelings. It was deemed unseemly and distasteful so people often kept their feelings to themselves. Even today in the year 2014 there is still a stigma attached to depression and other forms of mental illness with people who suffer from it made to feel lesser than. I've lost count of the number of friends who have suffered from depression only to have those around them tell them that they need to stop acting like a wet blanket and just deal with it. Too often its that kind of judgement which makes sufferers retreat from seeking out others to talk about what they are experiencing and going through.
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Post by DE Sinclair on Aug 13, 2014 9:41:43 GMT -5
I have three generations of literal uncles in nooses hanging over my proverbial head. Really hoping this generation will end that sad series. Such things really do run in bloodlines, though of course (thankfully) genetics doesn't equal destiny, or whatever. Going back to Kay Redfield Jamison again, her Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament (written before she "came out" as bipolar herself, I'm pretty sure) is replete with family histories dotted with suicide, insanity, etc. Fascinating, if not exactly pick-me-up material. In my own case, whether such tendencies predate my mother, I have no idea. It's not something we ever talked about, & of course she's been dead for going on 30 1/2 years now. A first cousin on my father's side has told me that depression is nothing new on that side of the family, but then to be honest I suspect that's not exactly unusual in any family, unfortunately. Only too true that no family is immune. I lost an aunt to suicide and my mother had massive, undiagnosed mental issues before alzheimers took its toll. I'm aware of the genetic links, particularly to alzheimers, but I refuse dwell on it. With luck it will skip over me or there will be effective treatments if the time comes, but otherwise I'm going to live as well as I can as long as I can. I can't and won't judge what drives people to extremes like suicide, but it's not something I could do to my family.
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Post by zryson on Aug 13, 2014 10:07:33 GMT -5
What kinds of things drives a person to make a suicide attempt or commit suicide? Sometimes its love and loss. I remember talking to somebody once who told me they had a recent patient, a young male who was in hospital. His girlfriend had broken up with him and devastated, he took an overdose. It didnt kill him outright. He lingered in hospital for days afterwards, suffering from organ failure until he died in agony. Another time I was looking after a group of kids. I finished my shift and the following day was told one of the kids, a mid-teens girl had taken a knife and slit her arms. She was in the psych-ward at hospital under observation and that was the last I heard about her. What caused her to do such a thing? From what I was told it was some fight between two brothers.
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Post by DE Sinclair on Aug 13, 2014 10:28:52 GMT -5
So do the Scottish! Someday I'll make it there. I am determined to try haggis. Many areas have Scottish festivals, sometimes called Highland Games, where you can sample Scottish food, music, sports, etc. Though a large part of my ancestry is Scottish, I've never been to Scotland, but I've had haggis. Not bad, somewhat similar in taste to liverwurst. My daughter is nearly obsessed with it. Our local megamart, Woodmans, also carries it frozen at about $12.50 a pound. As to the Scottish being adverse to eating healthy, we do seem to be genetically predisposed to deep frying things. After all Scotland is the country who invented deep frying candy bars. I've told my daughter it's just God's way of making sure we don't take over the world. We're either too content with bellies full of fried food & haggis, or we die early from heart disease. Either way, the world is safe.
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Aug 13, 2014 12:39:30 GMT -5
Someday I'll make it there. I am determined to try haggis. Many areas have Scottish festivals, sometimes called Highland Games, where you can sample Scottish food, music, sports, etc. Though a large part of my ancestry is Scottish, I've never been to Scotland, but I've had haggis. Not bad, somewhat similar in taste to liverwurst. My daughter is nearly obsessed with it. Our local megamart, Woodmans, also carries it frozen at about $12.50 a pound. As to the Scottish being adverse to eating healthy, we do seem to be genetically predisposed to deep frying things. After all Scotland is the country who invented deep frying candy bars. I've told my daughter it's just God's way of making sure we don't take over the world. We're either too content with bellies full of fried food & haggis, or we die early from heart disease. Either way, the world is safe. I could probably do some research and find if there is a festival or restaurant that has Scottish cuisine, I just haven't done it. I did however find that I liked Indian food from a booth at a renaissance fair held her once a year. I'm really afraid to get a bad first impression of it if it isn't done by someone who knows how to cook it, you know, someone Scottish. I feel it might be like tripe or chitlins, if it's not right it can be very bad.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2014 13:49:29 GMT -5
Someday I'll make it there. I am determined to try haggis. Many areas have Scottish festivals, sometimes called Highland Games, where you can sample Scottish food, music, sports, etc. Though a large part of my ancestry is Scottish, I've never been to Scotland, but I've had haggis. Not bad, somewhat similar in taste to liverwurst. My daughter is nearly obsessed with it. Our local megamart, Woodmans, also carries it frozen at about $12.50 a pound. As to the Scottish being adverse to eating healthy, we do seem to be genetically predisposed to deep frying things. After all Scotland is the country who invented deep frying candy bars. I've told my daughter it's just God's way of making sure we don't take over the world. We're either too content with bellies full of fried food & haggis, or we die early from heart disease. Either way, the world is safe. I've read somewhere that the Southern predisposition to frying things supposedly stems historically from the heat down here; frying is of course quicker than baking or other forms of cooking, & the less time in the kitchen, the better. Also, cooked food keeps longer than uncooked food, I guess, & before modern refrigeration that was a major factor in a very hot clime as well.
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