Musings of a wounded healer

Thank you everyone for taking the time to complete the Sentence Completion task from last week’s Thought Provoking Thursday.

I think we can all agree that suicide is not an easy topic to know how to talk about, and we still have a lot of work to do to bring it out of the darkness and into the light.

It is often only by giving something the space to exist and be truly acknowledged for what it is that we can take the next step of knowing how to talk openly without as much misunderstanding or fear.

I have put together this video representing the range of beautiful, different, poignant and sometimes quite poetic descriptions of this experience; provided by people who have attempted suicide, thought about suicide, lost someone by suicide, fellow therapists and overall of course fellow human beings.

Please do share if you think it may help us all to bring suicide out of the shadows one step at a time.

A VIDEO OF OUR ONLINE COMMUNITY REFLECTION

SUICIDE IS…

 

As I was not able to include everybody’s vital contributions in the video above, here is a more complete list of the many ways in which the sentence ‘Suicide is…’ can be completed and the many association the word suicide brings.

Please feel free to add yours in the comment section, continuing this important conversation.I hope it will go some way to helping us as a society give space to something that we cannot continue to ignore, and empower us to continue talking.

Suicide is not a word or act we can avoid.

Suicide is complex.

Suicide is utter helplessness.

Suicide is a wound that never heals. 

Suicide is never the answer, even if it seems like it.

Suicide is sometimes the only way you can imagine things being better.

Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

Suicide is the only choice some people have left. Suicide isn’t an easy decision to make.

Suicide is resignation that things will never be different or better.

Suicide is a feeling that there is no other way.

Suicide is highly misunderstood as it can affect anyone, at any time, for any reason.

Suicide is what happened to my brother. It is something that is idealized when it feels like there is no way out, no solution to ones problems. When one feels like a burden to those around them, but are too scared or not wanting to be burdensome to them.

Suicide is what happens when the darkness of immense pain traps the soul and there is no light to help lead us out.

Suicide is a relatively common human experience. Suicide arises from emotional/psychological crisis. Suicide can happen when people feel like a burden or that they no longer belong. Suicide can be preceded by someone who has been depressed seeming unusually cheerful.

Suicide is when someone feels trapped, alone and unheard. It’s when a person doesnt see any way out or any hope that anything can change or get better. It’s when relationships and connections have failed or are not strong enough to understand what a person is going through. It’s ending pain.

Suicide is seen as a way out, an end to suffering whether it be mental suffering, physical suffering or financial failures. There of course are many other factors but suicide is used when the person sees no other way out, no lifeline, no end in sight.

Suicide is not always a mental illness, it is either a great psychological problem unresolved or years of being downtrodden.

Suicide and also contemplation of suicide, is something that most humans being grapple with at some point in the human journey. So let’s bring it out of the shadows as a part of the human experience.

Suicide is a realistic life choice’. Many may think this is a very strange way to see it, but I believe the choice to end ones own life should be respected and given space to exist.

Suicide is not necessarily borne of mental illness. Suicide is a blessed escape for some people from unbearable physical chronic pain.

Suicide is the end of a conversation. A final statement. An irreversible decision. A pain and a question for those left behind.

Suicide is an answer… a seducer… a hypnotic temptress that stalks the loneliest moments of painful vulnerability, offering convincing arguments that it is the only logical solution…a stark warning to ask for help.

We are continuing these sentence completion tasks every Thursday for the rest of September. Make sure to join in. There is so much for us to learn from each other.

Much love

Dr. Krissy

Please note: I am aware this blog may bring up a range of difficult emotions for all of us. As always take care of yourself in whatever way you need. Do reach out to friends, family, Lifeline, or a professional if you are worried about yourself or somebody else.