He talked about how he had suffered from deep depression for years and how a multitude of issues drove people to suicide. He mentioned burying the son of a family he knew well who died from a drug overdose. He mentioned how deeply the LGBTQ community was affected and driven to suicide. He went on to advise all of us to be more understanding of those who are different This all hit me like a freight train 'cause these are humans who we have trouble having empathy with. I'm going to redouble my effort to be more understanding, someone's life could depend on it and that's important to me, no matter who it is. Donald Trump, pray for forgiveness, seek forgiveness and I will support you.
I spoke with my father today about a good friend of his who recently committed suicide. She had breast cancer and had been going through chemo. The prognosis was excellent but the meds made her hallucinate and most likely were the main contributing cause to her suicide. She leaves two adult children and several grandchildren behind.
I think this is a great idea and we should all be nicer to people. However, just being nice to people wont help much. These suicide and mass shootings are a reflection on our society and what we value, not how much we smile and hold the door for each other. Look at Kate Spade and Bourdain, both of them had everything any or us could wish for and it wasnt enough. As much as I dont like religions the community that the church provides is probably a big step in the right direction for a lot of people, but its only a small part of the support network that should be available and isn't. Our whole country needs to take a long look in the mirror but we wont because that would affect the bottom line.
I also believe fully that a large percentage of those who kill themselves do so due to imbalances in their brain chemistry. Like my fathers friend I spoke of, she was on chemo that twisted her thought processes. I had suicide ideation at one point in my life due to being on the stop-smoking drug chantex. When I got off of the drug all thoughts of suicide evaporated and have never returned. Of course there are others with rotten brain chemistry naturally or due to past drug addiction who need some stabilizers and psychiatric assistance. So there needs to be a several pronged effort in our society on top of being nice or having a great community around you. We need doctors to more closely monitor their patients for side effects, not just for the efficacy of the intended drugs purpose. We need to make sure that those without psychiatric assistance throughout society have avenues very easily available and promoted to get the help they so desperately need. We need to stop overprescribing in general. We also need to change the narrative in America so that ones mental health is discussed openly and without judgement. Take the stigma away from seeking help and make sure that help is easy to reach. This is not a small problem. There are so many moving parts but I think society is starting to realize and work towards correcting some of the problems. It's going to take a lot more effort to really see a major correction
I'm not sure "mental health issues" is the best term to describe suicide. Mental health issues covers far more than depression. I prefer "sensitive issues". What is causing so much pain the person is too sensitive to live with it? In some suicide cases, the pain is physical caused by an illness . Some people are more sensitive to physical pain than others. In other cases, the pain is emotional, such as the lose of a loved one (whatever the cause). Some people can live with the grief, others are too sensitive.
When I was most contemplating suicide (never truly planning it) it wasn’t a sensitivity at all. The stop smoking drug I was on was inhibiting a neural pathway responsible for dopamine (the reward our body gives us to feel good). It wasn’t that anything was overly negative just that life included zero joy. So depression sets in and then it became a cycle.
And I didn’t realize I wasn’t able to feel any joy, I had memories of joy. The feelings just didn’t happen. When there is no joy reward, there is no reason to go out with friends, read an uplifting book or go for a jog. Seclusion sets in and then the feeling of being out of place.
if you have not had your brain chemistry out of whack it is extremely difficult to understand what actual depression can be. It’s not synonymous with sad, at least it wasn’t for me. It’s a lack of anything positive. No good outcomes. And unfortunately when there are no good outcomes it blurs the line between very bad outcomes like suicide.
I've heard about this but never experienced it. I think they've got new medicines that work really well if taken on a regular basis.
It depends for what. The pills I took were supposed to block that pathway so I wouldn’t have the urge to smoke. Problem is, instead of being on Chantix for 3 months I got several new prescriptions and was on it for one year. My fathers friend was onChemo drugsthat did this as a side effect The brain is very complex
Believe you missed the point of the message. Or at least this point. Someone doesn't need to seek forgiveness or pray for forgiveness for man to forgive them. Mankind is not the judge. Therefore our only duty is to forgive regardless of what their actions are.
Jesus on the cross asked his Father to forgive the people who were killing him, they never asked for it. This also implies he forgave them. Also along the same line Jesus also said, “he who is without sin cast the first stone.” Now I’m not here to get into it with people over God, Religion, the Bible. Do what you want (Not that I could stop you lol). Just pointing it out. Ultimately in the Biblical world view sins are against God, when Trump or whom ever says something hurtful, hurts people, his Judge is God not us, because like Jesus said, what you have done to the least of these you have done to me. Which is why it’s so important to treat all people as if their have intrinsic value no matter who they are. Anyways like I said I’m not here to argue with you, or anyone on how they view the world, atheist, Muslim, Buddhist, Christian, catholic, whatever.
life choices....we can look at the beauty in the world or the ugliness around the world ...both are always there. glad some can find joy in prayer...better than finding it in a needle or the bottom of a bottle. physical work is my go to move...I also think if someone wants to check out of life....so be it. Chemical inbalance is it's own issue...that can be corrected...we just had a thread about over population but for some reason....people seem to be more concerned about suicide. living a life of suffering is in some cases...not living a life. I've come to the point where I can easily just let go of the need to save someone from their choices...but I don't have the concept of heaven, hell or limbo to fear or look up to.....if someone did horrible things to my loved ones, there'd be no forgiveness from my camp.
Have to say I agree with Lanny on this one. If someone does a serious injury - I'm not talking about getting to the parking spot first, but a really serious injury - and not only does not apologize, but escalates, for example, by saying it's your fault or you're making it up or I was right to lynch, rape, commit genocide, I honestly don't know what it means to "forgive". I have heard "forgive" from friends who claim Christianity but they can't define it. Does it mean what they did was OK? That the victim is wrong to be angry or hurt? What? Never have gotten an answer. In traditional Judaism the period between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is set aside to seek forgiveness of those we have harmed and make amends, because Judaism teaches G-d can't forgive a sin committed against a person until that person forgives. There is also the obligation to forgive anyone who truly repents, but no obligation to forgive those who do not. What if they say "I can grab them by the pussy because I'm a star". The woman has to forgive? Bullshit.
I spent a large portion of my teenage years struggling with the concept of forgiveness, specifically of my father. He left my family, left the state, went and started another family, and when they left him and moved across the country, he followed them to Georgia to be near them, with no thought to his original family. I hated him for that for years. Initially, I took the instruction to "forgive as Christ forgave you" to mean exactly what Lanny said--my sins aren't forgiven until I repent, so I had no obligation to forgive my father until he does the same. However, I eventually came to understand that the forgiveness available through Christ is unconditional and immediate, meaning that I needed to be willing and able to offer the same to any who have hurt me, meaning my responsibility was to deal with my feelings of hurt in advance. Continuing to harbor animosity toward him served no purpose but to perpetuate my anger, whereas releasing my anger--even without an apology--freed me from any power that pain had over me. Long story short, Christ offers forgiveness before we accept it, and in order to forgive the way He does, we need to be willing to offer forgiveness before it is requested.
No, forgiveness does not mean that what the person did was OK. No, it doesn't mean the person is wrong to be hurt. And no, it doesn't mean that the person has to pretend that the offense didn't happen. And no, it doesn't mean that there aren't legitimate consequences for the infraction. To me, forgiveness involves a release of the anger held toward another, not allowing past hurts to negatively impact your opinion of and responses to that person. And to me, that all starts with a de-escalated self-perspective, like John the Baptist's decree of "He must increase and I must decrease". It's easy to forgive transgressions against me if I am of no great significance, especially in light of my own faults and failures that Christ has already forgiven.
