Linkblogging

[telophase]

MindHacks links to an interesting article in the New York Times on the myth that if a suicidal person is prevented from killing themselves they'll just find another way. It seems that only about 10% or fewer of those prevented from doing so actually go ahead with it, as most suicides are impulsive. Something as simple as putting pills in blister packs can reduce the suicide rate by adding time for the person to think about it and get over the initial impulse.

calixa is watching a cracked-out medical j-drama called Iryu Team Medical Dragon. "MEDICAL DRAGON IS TRAINING HIS BATISTA TECHNIQUE....BY... BY... STANDING SHIRTLESS ON THE ROOF... AND LETTING SMOKE SWIRL ABOUT HIS NAKED BODY...AND... DOING THE HAND MOTIONS OF SURGERY."

The Frontal Cortex quotes Robert Sapolsky on his baboon study and how violence and non-violence seems to be tied with culture.

The Outlaw Design Blog talks about how freelancer artists and designers can increase their referrals.

Comments

[janni.livejournal.com]

I can understand the jump impulse, too--which I sometimes think of as the "what if I just stepped in front of that car" impulse. I think I understand it better than the more deliberate sort, actually. It's--almost as much curiosity as depression.

The best deterrent I know of is actually the friend of mine who killed herself five years ago--I've had at least a couple other people say to me since then that while they used to have suicide in the backs of their minds as an option, after seeing just how much pain that suicide left behind, doing the same was no longer an option for them.

It can go the other way of course--suicide leads to depression in those around the person leads to more suicides. But I do think people underestimate or minimize, when considering it, just what sort of devastation they leave behind (or maybe are in too much pain to be able to care). I've never been suicidal myself (though I have been clinically depressed), but it became clear to me when my friend died that it's not overstating it to say that killing yourself is an act of violence, not only against yourself, but against your loved ones as well.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I agree, though I think in a lot of the cases, at in at least a couple of suicidal friends I've known, when they're in suicidal states they're incapable of realizing how much it will affect those around them. Their pain or wonky brain chemistry convinces them that they're a burden on others, or that nobody cares about them or will miss them, and if they don't get that thought process interrupted in time by therapy, support, or what-have-you, it can go badly.

[janni.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I believe in her journal our friend even reasoned that it would take maybe a months, tops, for us all to get over what she was about to do--and she believed it.