Tree climber commits suicide

[Johny Utah]

That post is totally out of place - please remove it! :msp_sad:

Looks like it was written with good intention, but no need to relate this to a spiritual, god perspective.

 

[SawTroll]

Opinions don't belong?

Sorry to hear about your climber PDQDL.

Using peoples misfurtune to promote religion, shows really bad taste and judgement! :bad_smelly:

 

[pdqdl]

Death & religion are irreversibly linked in most folks minds. Each of us faces the finality of our lives with a different perspective; I won't be judgmental about this particular foray into religion. For the most part, I agree that we should leave religion out of this forum.

I drew no offense, I doubt if Ralph would have, and I wouldn't want this thread to become any kind of battlefield.

 

[ClimbMIT]

Hello Everyone,
I am new here and just came across this thread. I first want to say I am very sorry to those of you who had recent lost. Second thing I would like to say is I disagree with suicide being 100% preventable. I do agree that having faith in a higher power can help prevent a person from commiting suicide. I believe this because I am alive now. I suffer with major depressive disorder, past drug addictions, and suicidial ideation. Do whatever it takes to get well! I choose God but I am not going to push him on others. I respect others with different beliefs.

 

[sgreanbeans]

Sad, sorry to hear that.

 

[TreeAce]

Some problems are permanent.

A problem may be "permanent" but how a person percieves that problem will almost always change. It just takes time and maybe some help. That mans story is chillingly familiar to me.

 

[ropensaddle]

Sorry pdq and prayers sent for all involved there have been times in my life, I could of thought the ease of ending it would of been the answer. I'm so glad i did not listen to the reasoning of an insane person." Now" no matter how bad things seem , I know it will pass as the only certainty is change and usually the only thing I have power to change is myself and my views. rip.

 

[2muchgrass]

It's difficult to help people with depression because it distorts reality. Trying to get them to see that things may get better is like telling an anorexic that they're too thin. I had a friend who had moderate to severe depression on a pretty regular two month cycle. He told me that when he was OK it was impossible to remember how bad it felt at the bottom of his depression and when he was depressed he couldn't grasp the concept of ever feeling good again. a pretty tough illness that may lead to suicide and the survivors shaking their heads wondering what they could have done to prevent it.
Phil

Exactly right. That is as good a description as I have ever heard. And while one is on the low end, the fear of life and the pain is so great, the thought of suicide can actually make you happy. There is nothing anyone could have done, not even the victim. Everything sort of goes on autopilot until the deed is done.
I enjoyed a wonderful evening, full of laughter and reminiscing with a lifelong friend and his brother at his kitchen table one evening. The brother stood with tears in his eyes from laughter and announced he needed to go to bed as he had to get up for work in a few hours. 10 minutes later we heard the boom from a shotgun at the end of the hall. 10 years of thinking about those final moments and still I can't remember one single indicator of what was about to happen to my friend.
On the flip side of his suicide is the logical one. Another childhood friend called me from the west coast and informs me he has an incurable condition. After a lengthy conversation, he had my blessing. We said our good byes and a month later, I was told that he died "suddenly" at his home alone.In his situation, I would have done the same thing.
It angers me to see a disease like depression take a person's life. "A permanent solution to a temporary problem" is so right and it is so preventable with the correct medications. It is so hard to get the person to act aggressively enough to see that he gets the correct medications from a largely uncaring and unresponsive medical community.

 

[pdqdl]

I had a severe head injury once, and was prescribed medication for a mild depression. Much to my surprise, it actually worked! I have come across a lot of folks that don't seem to understand that depression is an illness, not a choice. Should those same individuals become clinically depressed themselves, they may still refuse to seek help, and persist in their belief that they should just "man-up" and tough it out. This is the course that frequently leads to self-extinction.

I can't comment on what Ralph's particular problems were, except to the extent that I already have previously. I did not recognize any signs of clinical depression, but then I am not trained for that either.


A few weeks after Ralph died, I had another employee that had serious drinking problems and was constantly in trouble with the local government. He was looking at serious jail time if he didn't go back to the halfway house one night, and I knew he didn't intend to go. It was obvious to me that he intended to kill himself that evening, after he had taken a nice last meal and gotten nice & drunk, too. I presumed that I would hear from him later that evening...Yep! I was up several hours in the middle of the night, trying to tote his sorry ass back to jail. I got the job done, but it took several hours, and I was damned tired the next day. He's been locked up since then, probably to his great advantage.

Like a bad penny, he will be coming back again...

 

[lt1nut]

Depression is a female dog that I know all to well. Sometimes it takes me for a walk, sometimes I it. The only way I can describe "being down" is as if you were being flushed down a toilet, spinning faster and faster in ever smaller circles, fighting to hopefully stay at the same place until the bowl starts to fill with water again. Taking everything you have and leaving you sapped of energy for no appearant reason....

That fight is often unbearable; the "logical" action at that time, for me, is too simple. Without my family that action would've been taken years ago- I refuse to give in that easily and shudder at the thought of them finding me afterwards. I wish this guy would've found the one thing that stops him before he let himself stop living.

I've gotta go wipe my eyes again, this so sucks!!!!