Suicide Without Warnings
Providing grief resources is among the cremation services offered in Tallahassee, FL. People who’ve lost a loved one to suicide often struggle with grief and regret that they could not have prevented the death of someone they loved.
More than 100 people in the United States commit suicide each day. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of all deaths in this country. Among people between 15 and 24 years of age, suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death. Among people who are between the ages of 25 and 44, suicide is the 4th leading cause of death.
Some people struggle with a lifetime of chronic and severe depression or other mental illnesses before taking their own lives in a moment of desperation and hopelessness. Some people who commit suicide have a long history of threatening to commit suicide or attempting to commit suicide.
All suicides leave many questions and few answers for the families and friends who must live the rest of their lives without someone they love. But most baffling, it seems, are suicides that have no warnings.
People whose loved ones commit suicide without any warnings share similar stories about the previous days, weeks, and months of their time together. The loved ones who take their lives are often relaxed, normal, and even optimistic or happy.
The reality is that many people who commit suicide never give any indicating that they are thinking about committing suicide or planning how to commit suicide. We can often wonder how a person could hide such a momentous decision behind a façade of being fine and being upbeat about life.
To understand how this could be, we have to consider several factors that are associated with deaths caused by suicide.
One of these factors is the stigma that is associated with suicide. Letting people know that a person is thinking about or planning to kill themselves is to put oneself under labels of “crazy,” “selfish,” and “weird.”
Another factor is that most people who commit suicide understand how painful, on some level, it will be to those they leave behind. Not discussing what they are thinking and planning, in their minds, lessens the amount of pain they are inflicting on friends and loved ones.
A third factor for people who are thinking about and planning to commit suicide is the possibility that their plan to kill themselves will be thwarted when others find out. For people in emotional pain, the thought of living longer may be too unbearable to even contemplate.
Although each suicide and the reasons behind it is unique, there are some common situations that may increase the risk of – and raise warning flags for – people thinking about and planning suicides. These can include a significant loss (such as the death of a spouse or loss of a job), a life crisis (like a breakup of a longtime relationship or a divorce), loss of social support (because, for example, of a move to a new place or the relocation of family or close friends), a chronic or terminal illness, or the suicides of family members, friends, or favorite celebrities.
For family members and friends of someone who has died as a result of suicide, it can be difficult to find answers to the question of what they didn’t see that could have prevented the suicide. The answer is that the person who committed suicide intentionally made sure that there was nothing to see.
For information about cremation services offered in Tallahassee, FL, including grief resources, our caring and knowledgeable staff at Lifesong Funerals & Cremations is here to assist you. You can visit our funeral home at 20 S. Duval St., Quincy, FL 32351, or you can call us today at (850) 627-1111.
