Comments on CalumCarr on .... Whatever: Baby 'P' and Suicide

rielouiseThanks, you make an excellent point.I thi...

2008-12-16T06:32:00.000Z

rielouise

Thanks, you make an excellent point.

I think your comment belongs in my "Bog Off David, You Are A Pain In The Ass." post but - no prob - I'll answer your comment here.

I think Dr Crippen didn't need to diminish teenage girls' problems. I must admit I hadn't picked up on this point. I was making a diferent point, as you know, but ... I should have picked up on this and commented.

Sorry that was me: Louise. I pressed the submit b...

2008-12-16T04:32:00.000Z

Sorry that was me: Louise. I pressed the submit button prematurely:

I posted this:

'Good post but I kind of winced when I came across this: ' We are not talking the teenage girl’s three paracetamol and an Alcopop'. Many teenage girls who self harm/ repeatedly overdose have, at some point in their lives, been through some kind of trauma (some have been sexually abused) You can make the case for 'David' without diminishing the psychological trauma that self-harming teenagers have to deal with.'

Was I wrong?

I posted this:'Good post but I kind of winced when...

2008-12-16T04:30:00.000Z

I posted this:

'Good post but I kind of winced when I came across this: ' We are not talking the teenage girl’s three paracetamol and an Alcopop'. Many teenage girls who self harm/ repeatedly overdose have, at some point in their lives, been through some kind of trauma (some have been sexually abused) You can make the case for 'David' without diminishing the psychological trauma that self-harming teenagers have to deal with.'

Calum....well again thought this was insightful......

2008-12-14T10:15:00.000Z

Calum....well again thought this was insightful...btw my Doctor wrote to the Psychiatrist he felt was being passed from pillar to post...he was sharing my frustrations.....

The Psychiatrist saw me he relayed along the lines he has many suicidal patients.......but he is stubborn...well when it is ones life you somehow know you do not wish to be living like that...mentioned to my Doctor that perhaps he has some many suicidal patients as he never sees them :)

Am not going back to mental health i have looked back over the last weeks from September and they have had no input at all, despite tremendous efforts on my part to help myself, waited all that time for help....so now am in limbo land....my point is how can you have faith and trust in a system such as this and many other reasons to long to go into.

Feel worked hard in those weeks to get help/support, did not expect them to solve my problems but somehow i thought they would come alongside me.

Went from massive extreme overdoses/alcohol to nothing and no input..the fact am here still is unreal as have no recollection of parts of the summer at all..just to get the help supposedly available.

Read a very very interesting article and he has more here, scroll down to 19th April where he writes http://nhsblogdoc.blogspot.com/2007/04/crippen-diaries-2007-16.html

Don't despair, James. Calum, this was a moving pos...

2008-12-11T10:08:00.000Z

Don't despair, James.

Calum, this was a moving post. I've been concerned at the outsourcing of responsibility--capita appointed the head of social services in this case, for example-- and the appearance of compassion masking the reality of poor organisation and tremendous pressures in social work for some time.

But you crystallise what is really at stake. The end of a life is the end of a world. Those who take life destroy a world entire, and that is something rational people should not do.

A society that does not allow people a little warmth, and which makes hope irrational, is one that those on the edge or who have seen the dark must bear witness against, or try to change.

For those reasons alone, suicide should be treated as a tragedy, with compassion, but opposed by anyone with an interest in life being more than a scramble in the dark.

I wish you well. I hope that you always find some reason to see the good in life, if only for a moment given your pressures, and that we can change it even when things seem dire.

JamesThanks.Unfortunately no-one that I know chose...

2008-12-11T10:06:00.000Z

James

Thanks.

Unfortunately no-one that I know chose to go down the suicide route. Often, I believe, there is no choice involved.

Suicide is at the end of a long road along which people are carried. Only near the end of the road of despair, pain and utter hopelessness does suicide become a logical choice.

If only one could say, "I will not go down this road.

With my current situation, there is every reason t...

2008-12-11T09:41:00.000Z

With my current situation, there is every reason to despair but to do so leads to that long, dark night to oblivion or to live as a semi-human. I'm determined never to go down that path, of which suicide is one of the options.

Dragonstar Thanks. Unfortunately I'm getting to h...

2008-12-10T12:06:00.000Z

Dragonstar Thanks. Unfortunately I'm getting to hear more painful stories of suicide and near-suicide.

Any insights I have come from the pain of others and any power from my anger at a system which shuns the needy.

NaViW Thanks for your very considered comment. Your second, third and fourth paragraphs: - I wish I had written! This is an excellent summary. Thanks are due for this alone. If I may I will quote this at some later date.

Again, many thanks for this and your kind words.

Excellent article as always Calum, although I wish...

2008-12-10T11:56:00.000Z

Excellent article as always Calum, although I wish that the situation were different and we didn't have the need for your powerful writing.

The problem is that suicide is feared and misunderstood by the vast majority of people, including many working in the health and caring services. It is a 'selfish' act or an 'attention-seeking' one - a conscious and deplorable act designed to drag oneself to the centre of attention.

Of course these views bear no resemblance to the reality of issues such as suicide and self-harm. Self-harm can often be a form of self-preservation, a way of the mind relieving intolerable stress within itself by inflicting distracting pain on the body. Suicide is the final desperate act of someone who can see no other option - if it is focussed on the self it is because the person has lost any opportunity to connect to a supportive external form of support or reference.

I hate when people say "it's just a cry for help" - of course it bloody well is, why then do we not listen to it. We hear the cry and then blame the person concerned for forcing us to be confronted with their pain - why couldn't they just keep it to themselves.

Your editing of the councillor's statement makes it the kind of reflection that we would like, and indeed deserve, to be seeing from our elected representatives, unfortunately it is still lacking. The death of Baby P was deplorable and disgusting - but so are the deaths, so often avoidable, of every other vulnerable person in our communities.

Powerful and insightful. I do so wish "they" woul...

2008-12-09T16:35:00.000Z

Powerful and insightful. I do so wish "they" would take notice.