[UA] Suicide countdown

[Magnus Lie Hetland]

On Aug 17, 2006, at 15:10, Mike Lake wrote:

> I take this with a generous scoop of salt.

Feel free to, of course.

> "Some clue or warning" sounds like after-the-fact conclusions being  
> drawn.  It's vague, open-ended, mentions no time frame, offers no  
> contextual reference, and only bothers counting positives, making  
> it very easy for people to find clues and warnings where none existed.

As I said, this was not exactly an authoritative source. It does seem  
that there are statistics out there that many (8 out of 10?) who kill  
them selves have stated their intention prior to doing so. If this is  
so, then at least dismissing this sort of talk with the catch-phrase  
"those who mean it don't talk about it" won't be as easy.

You'd still have to execute plain, human judgement, of course. If you  
don't think a person is serious -- fine. I've heard people who work  
in the field giving the advice that one should take talk of suicide  
serious; if this is based on statistics, experience or superstition,  
I couldn't say at the moment (as I haven't done any research on the  
subject).

> That's how superstitions are born.  Until and unless there's an  
> authoritative study of people who do mention suicide, no matter how  
> casually or jokingly, and how many of THEM commit suicide in  
> comparison to the general populace,
> this "fact" is pretty well empty assertion.

Well, it does go counter to the notion that suicide victims don't  
talk about their intentions, at the very least. And, of course,  
people talking about the subject "casually" or "jokingly" is not  
exactly the same as someone stating a clear intention, right? Manuals  
in handling potential suicide victims list other warning signs such  
as having concrete plans, for example; or a sudden change in  
behavior, from clearly depressed to contented and serene (which is  
often what happens once people have actually made the decision to  
kill themselves).

But... This is getting really off topic fast, I guess.

-- 
Magnus Lie Hetland
http://hetland.org