Multiple Suicide Attempts

[Upa]

I sometimes see on the forum someone saying they had multiple suicide attempts over the previous year. What does it mean if someone tries and doesn't succeed multiple times? They aren't saying it was a cry for help. If it was a genuine attempt to die, why do they keep not succeeding?

Can anyone explain? Trying to understand.

 

[Hifan]

I'm not quite sure why this needs an explanation? For whatever reason, the method used was not enough to cause death.

 

[Vujid]

Either what Hifan said, or someone else found them and stopped it from working for example by taking them to hospital and having their stomach pumped or their wounds sewn up etc, etc.

 

[Asevu]

Also if they end up in the ICU comatose or or in surgery they maybe "saved" from their death. Even some people who get hit by trains survive. I agree with Hifan, why does this need an explanation?

 

[Akababa]

If it was a genuine attempt to die, why do they keep not succeeding?

That is exactly the issue, and part and parcel with whether or not it is a "genuine" attempt to die. People become suicidal and attempt death, but a persons brain also has a subconscious defence mechanism that thwarts that.

If you look at the statistics for suicide attempts, women are most likely to try pills. Why? Double edged sword, they can't stand physically hurting themselves, they don't want physical marks on them if it doesn't work, and the biggie... is that the chances of someone finding them and high, AND, the chances that the tablets taken have the potential to kill in large doses are usually slim.

Again... subconsciousness is at play whether you know it or not. There is a reason you can't drown yourself without the aid of something to hold you under that you don't control, such as a sufficient weight and inability to escape the attached device. Your brain otherwise forces you up to breathe.

Attempts ARE exactly a cry for help. Notice how I used the plural, not singular. Either or are a cry for help... a cry that something is wrong and the person wants to die, but they also want to live... they're just unsure which it is exactly.

Those who succeed first time, they aren't within the unsure zone; they're clearly in the wanting to die and they don't let anyone know about it. They plan it, they ensure there are no failsafes or ways out during when the brain fights back to survive. Jumping off of a building, for example, removes all such things for people. Whilst it is said half way down they will change their mind, thus their brain is working against their conscious desires, there is nothing they can now do except impact and die.

Attempts is absolutely a scream for help... probably beyond cry for help, but scream!

 

[Ojik]

Thank you Akababa for getting at what I wasn't understanding. If I wanted to kill myself without a possibility of being stopped I'd take an overdose, cut my wrists AND jump from the roof of a 40 storey building. The method used would be "enough to cause to death". Otherwise I have to question whether death is actually intended.

I said multiple suicide attempts. Not one train jump that didn't work out.

I'm open to a different point of view but the question isn't about one failed attempt. Why repeated attempts that don't work if the attempt is genuine? If the attempt isn't genuine, can the person be expected to know that?

 

[Wiweve]

Why repeated attempts that don't work if the attempt is genuine? If the attempt isn't genuine, can the person be expected to know that?

That is the problem... the conscious brain says "kill yourself" and your unconscious says "I'm going to try and stop you." Yes, the latter is without your consent. The human body is complex, hence why I used the trying to drown yourself example, being that you can't because your unconscious brain will override everything else to force you up and to air.

Repeat process as many times as you want... same thing. As you outlined:

If I wanted to kill myself without a possibility of being stopped I'd take an overdose, cut my wrists AND jump from the roof of a 40 storey building.

If you knew about your subconscious brain overriding your conscious decision, then your above scenario is exactly the level, and even further, required to kill yourself with surety.

You actually mention cutting your wrists, which is another example. Cutting your wrists won't normally kill you. It is a fallacy and myth. Yes, it does kill some, however; they are the minority, not majority, who slice their wrists. Blood clots and slows, thus your chances of being found before you bled out is far more likely than you dying. If you wanted to really die, you would cut your vein down your arm, not across your arm, which highly increases your chance of death from loss of blood, as blood clotting won't stop it and your life expectancy would be counted in minutes, not hours.

Unconscious brain versus conscious brain. Wanting to die versus wanting to live, but not as your life currently is which is worth screaming for help.

 

[Bafig]

This thread strikes me as hurtful to those who have attempted and not succeeded. Oh, it wasn't a SERIOUS attempt, "just" a cry for help. Why all the judgment? If you can't understand, can't you just accept it for what it is?

 

[Wiweve]

I don't believe anyone is judging anyone else here, except maybe the above author stating such. Discussion of fact is not judgement, it is just factual discussion. How you choose to interpret that is not the fault of another's, it is your interpretation and you own how you interpret something.

 

[Ora]

If you can't understand, can't you just accept it for what it is?

I'm asking for help understanding. Would you like to help with that? How can I accept it for what it is when I'm asking - what is it?

I didn't say

"just" a cry for help

I said that people didn't say it was a cry for help.

I'm not talking about one or two attempts - multiple. Are you?

 

[Bafig]

You don't need to understand to accept something.

It seems like the anon forums are a bit more brazen since they are anon. I was stating how I interpreted things, as is my right. How helpful is it really to just say "well it's YOUR fault that you interpret it that way". Well, not very.

And yes, I am referring to multiple attempts. I have attempted multiple times so I understand in a way you simply cannot. This is why I say that sometimes you just need to accept things rather than dissect them, picking them apart, and never really understanding in the end anyway (because you can't).

 

[Jugu]

It's a fantastic thing to be bad at.

I've tried numerous times, granted in a bit of a quirky way, and have sadly proved the adage that the way to survive in battle is to not care if you do. I've walked across a minefield, because I wanted to die, and didn't. The people behind me got that path. So bonus. I've gone "cliff diving", and my body hit perfectly to knife right in (but I've knocked myself unconscious on accident in a public pool). I've picked fights with big bads who should have clobbered me. I've mouthed off to gang bangers (similar to suicide by cop). I've swum into cramped places to locate survivors not knowing if here is an air pocket (hoping not). And maybe a dozen or a hundred other things all when I was suicidal. I usually try to pick ways that someone will get the benefit of. But sometimes the impulse got the best of me and I simply made a stab with whatever was handy. Like the Latin Kings. Or a bluff off Hwy 101.

But when I WANT to live? I break my ankle skipping on the beach. Flatline in surgery. Wanting to live is dangerous.

Another thing to remember is that most of the time people who are suicidal are in soooooo much pain that they're myopic. They CANNOT tell that the person in the next room is there. So if there is a crash as they fall over AND the person hears it AMD they actually go in instead of shouting to stop being so clumsy AND do the right thing? (I've been called to a suicide by hanging where the kid was still alive. But in the x minutes they waited for the ambulance didn't cut him down. Permanent brain damage. Ditto on bleeders, etc.) A whole LOT has to go right/wrong for someone to save someone who has made an attempt. And in the myopic swirl of wanting to die, all those steps vanish. & Voila. Attention seeking attempts sadly often end in successes. Because one of those dominos didn't fall.