Authors Note
No. This is not a suicide note. But, this is an attempt to speak on behalf of those who have already commited suicide or have ever experienced suicidal thoughts.
Is it a personal Problem?
On a deeper spiritual level, it is indeed a pointer towards personal growth, let it be under the topics of “self love”, “mindfullness”, “understanding ego”, “learning to be resilient”, “emotional awareness”, “emotional inteligence”, and the topics can go on.
Below statistics from Australian Beaureaux of Statistics Australia shows us that in 2018, suicide stands at the 14th cause of death with a median age group of 44.4. Now, if you take a closer look at the first 13 places, the median age is above 70. That would mean, that suicide in fact stands at the 1st place as cause of death for younger age groups.
Hence, this appears to be no longer a personal problem. This would have significant impact to a society, culture, and economy of a country in the longer term.
Social, Cultural, and Economic Impact
Maybe no one you know have attempted suicide or know anyone who died that way. Maybe your only experience is your train to work being delayed because “some idiot decided to jump in front of your train”.
What if that idiot was your parent, sibling, child, partner, or friend? Would you care more, and care less about the meeting or interview you missed?
They were someone’s parent, sibling, child, partner, or friend. So from a social level, a group of people are now impacted. So in 2018, we have had 3046 groups of people across australia tramatized by someone’s death, blaming themselves as they could have done something. The children in these groups may grow up thinking this is the norm, or even worse, they would start blaming everything and anything they suspect as the cause. So this definitely has a larger impact, but not visible as it happens. It’ll take a number of decades for us to realize the soical and cultural impact it has had.
Further, this same age group is vital for any country’s economy and cultural design. These are the bread winners of the economy. Maybe teachers, scientists, artists, doctors, nurses, authors, poets, or the person who had the potential to discover a cure for cancer.
So, it is high time we as a society relook at this. Maybe find out what the causes were, and work towards making changes to both social situations, as well as personal growth.
I am blessed to see a lot of focus on the topic of “Mental Health”. Many organisations promote the topic and bring this to everyday practice, and the organization culture.
I can see the topic being discussed in social media, and many teachings being promoted, and even offered free.
It is clear, that as a society, we are aiming towards being resilient. But, each of us take our own time. So it is vital for us to look after one another.
How can we improve?
In my humble opinion, also having sufficient life experience to represent those who have attempted or had suicidal thoughts, I feel below improvements can be made:
- Australian Government, already do a lot towards “Mental Health”. However, I feel an increase in the number of Medicare covered sessions, would help. It would also help, if one can directly approach a counsellor or psycologist, without having to go to the GP. I mean, I love my GP, and I feel like he is already a psycologist. But, when the need arises, I might not have a mental health care plan. So I’d rather get help first, and then organise the care plan. I also feel, that there should be some form of standard about the fees charged by counsellors or psychologist.
- CATT Team. Having had to deal with the CATT team once, fortunately due to a false alarm from my family, also having experienced, no one raising any alarm, when I was close to strategising suicide, I feel CATT team approach, although effective, lacks personal touch. For someone who is crying for love, two strangers walking into your house at 8pm in the night, while the house is a mess, with a file and pen, really lacks personal touch. I’m unsure what can be done about it, but I’m sure, some research done from people who have experienced it would guide us in the right direction.
- Mainstream Media. This group can definitely improve if not for others, for themselves, if they wanna be in business in the near future. We can reduce the dramatic exagerations made about each and every news item. I mean, people may get attracted to it, because of the drama, and sound affects, but it most likely will not do them any good. And eventually, when they realize the impact for themselves, they will switch to some streaming platform and have a choice. Very soon, even news will be such personalized content, hence it’s high time they become “Conscious” businesses, if they wish to remain in business.
- Friends, Family, and Colleauges. I must say I have experienced both too much love and not enough love, the two times my actions caused false alarms. Both were equally annoying. And I can tell you now, both those occations I was far from suicidal. In fact both occations, I was in a pretty good head space (although I may have looked like a complete loony, I wasn’t suicidal). The times I have been in really dark spaces, no one knew! The work pressure was the same, pressure from family was the same, everything was the same. Yes, I take a lot of blame, for not telling. But, I hope those who read this post can see, that this area can improve. But please don’t treat your friends who have had such episodes like psychiactric patients. In fact, try to show them that they are indeed a lot more than the mental health label they have got.
- Personal Growth – Take help. Please don’t think counsellors, psychologists, and life coaches are ONLY for those who have had a mental health issue. In fact, when the issue arises, it is rather difficult to get help. The help must be taken as an education, before any potential issue. If you go down, once you are back up, remember how you felt, go over the situation, and see for yourself, areas for growth. Do what ever you have to do. Help can come under different banners like medical, spiritual, religious, social, or maybe even Disney movie, or any movie for that matter. But I highly recommend keeping these movies or any social media/media content a little positive, as life’s own challenges are already high, so why do you consume challenges from media as well?
– Nim –
A Moment with Nim! 