Oversight, and thus the lack of help for a person suffering from depression can have tragic consequences both for the sufferer and its surroundings. The most serious of these is suicide.
Failed suicide attempts by depressed people are several times higher than among people in a healthy population
It was found that 50% of suicides were at the doctor in the last month or even the week preceding the suicide attempt. The pronunciation of this is more tragic, that many deaths could have been prevented if the physician had asked about suicidal intent directly, made the right diagnosis, implemented appropriate treatment or referred the patient to the hospital.
In Poland, every year for 100,000 people from the general population - about 15 commit suicide
The percentage of suicidal deaths in depressed patients is thousands of times greater! According to statistics, the cause of death of about 20-25% of people suffering from depression is a suicide attempt. You must know. That women in depression are more likely to commit suicide, and men more often commit suicide. Women choose less drastic types of death (eg poisoning with drugs, gas), men are more violent, such as throwing a vehicle under the wheels or jumping from a height. Any such death is an individual drama that can and should be prevented.
The main perpetrators of suicides - stress and mental illness People commit suicide most often because of being in a state of stress unbearable or in acute mental disorders. In a large percentage, these disorders are associated with mental illness. Suicides are most often committed by people suffering from depression, schizophrenia and alcoholism. From the point of view of the community, there are three reasons for committing suicide: against society, for the good of society (altruistic suicide) and suicide during crisis moments.
It is believed that the following risk factors for suicide can be mentioned: - season of the year; most often spring and autumn - beginning of the week - male gender and age over 45 - parting with partner - divorce or partner's death - job loss - chronic or incurable diseases - previous family suicide - coexistence of severe mental illness - addiction - serious personality disorder
Trailers of the intention to take their own lives
A well-known researcher on the problem of suicides, Ringel described the characteristic behavior of a person intending to commit suicide. He called it a presuic team. It is characterized by:
- experiencing mainly anxiety and fear - threats, feelings of lower value and inefficiencies leading to resignation
- directing aggression towards you - escape from real problems in fantasizing about death and making plans for suicide
Undoubtedly, the poet Charls Boudelaire wrote his poem about the deceased in a close mood of suicide: In a greasy, full of snail depths of blackberry I myself dig for myself, as a shark drowns in the sea, I will fall asleep, having lifted my old bones freely. I mock the testaments, I despise the tombs; Cities humbly beg the world for one small tear, Alive - I would rather talk with ravens that they would plow my vile body. Red! Without blackness and ears, the black friends, The deceased and cheerful approach to you! But you, the sons of garbage, the thinkers of misery, let not the disappearance of my conscience touch me. Tell me, are there still any torments for a dead soul without a soul!
Prevention of suicidal tendencies - classic statement
The great thinker of ancient Rome - Seneca, who lived in a time when his friends often chose such an ending of life, and whose thoughts on suicide were not alien, gives such advice to his disciple: Even when reason advises us to finish with ourselves, not too hastily , you can not succumb to this drive too fast. A brave and wise man should not escape life, but leave. But above all, one should avoid that feeling that many embrace: the lust for death. There is, my Lucyljusz, some unfortunate soul train to death, as well as other things, often mastering noble and great men, and often also cowards and sloths: they despise life, they can not bear his burden. Some also experience the exaggeration of doing and watching the same, and not so much hatred of life as repugnance ...
Signs announcing a tendency to part with life
If a person in a state of turmoil or already very ill begins to behave in a certain way that makes one think that he may want to part with life, we call it sending out signals of suicide. Most often these are:
- initiating statements like: it would be better for you without me, it would be better to finish yourself
- drug collection or collection of chemicals
- getting a rope or a sharp tool - viewing places that are considered convenient for suicide
- writing a will and farewell letters - issuing property orders
- unexpected visits to relatives making the impression of goodbye - frequent visits to the pastor
- sudden isolation from the environment
- considerations about death, talk about graves, etc.
- content about death, executions, funeral appearing in dreams - giving away your things, giving away to dogs or cats
Warning! Not always suicide signals mean: "- I do not want to live!". They usually mean the protest "I do not want to YES live."
Of course, not only people in deep depression commit this type of deeds. Sometimes these are also ill-conceived acts due to enormous emotional tension or those whose intention is to manipulate others in order to achieve something specific. Especially vulnerable to suicidal behavior are those who have poor impulse control - they can not control what is happening to them, and react very impulsively to everything. Suicide for such people can be an impulsive discharge of mental tension.
A message from the author for the reader
Depression is an emotional state characterized by sadness, less activity and the inability to enjoy life. It is one of the most common psychological problems. Depression, acting chronically as a stressful month, may cause health disorders and pathogenic disease complications. The whole of the study presented on our website presents typical symptoms of depression as well as its various variants. In the following chapters, we describe the principles of treatment as well as the rules of dealing with a person suffering from depression. The characteristics of depression are enriched by authentic statements of patients, descriptions of their ailments and difficulties in overcoming the disease. The author has been conducting extensive private practice for years, in which depressive patients make up the majority of applicants. .
Doctor of Medicine Janusz Krzyżowski
