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Why do people commit suicide?

People who kill themselves see this as the only remaining solution to their problems. People differ in their ability to handle the troubles that cause such desperate feelings. Many find it difficult to recognize and solve personal problems in a calm and ordered way. Researchers believe this inability to cope may be connected to biological and chemical imbalances.
Some suicides are the result of impulsive decisions based on a situation that seems hopeless - loss of a job, divorce, or a breakup with one's girlfriend or boyfriend. These “reasons” for suicide are not the actual “causes” of the suicide. Rather, they are “triggers” for suicide in a person suffering from a mental illness. Suicide attempts triggered by major disappointments, such as romantic rejection, problems with peers, or failing a big exam, are common among depressed teenagers, who haven't had the life experience to realize that these “injuries” heal with time.
Ninety percent of the people who commit suicide have a mental or substance abuse disorder (or both). More than half of the people who kill themselves are seriously or clinically depressed. Although most depressed people are not suicidal, most suicidal people are depressed. Serious depression is considered a medical illness by the World Health Organization. Serious or major depression is a long-lasting sadness that doesn't let up for two weeks or more. In children, depression is often indicated by irritability.

Some of the signs of depression are:
• Sadness and crying.
• Feeling tired all the time or complaining of having no energy.
• Changes in appetite or sleep.
• Loss of interest in doing things.
• Trouble thinking or concentrating.
• Spending more time alone.
• Feeling hopeless or worthless.
• Having suicidal thoughts.
Twenty to twenty-five percent of people who kill themselves are intoxicated. Of course, most people who drink do not kill themselves. Alcohol by itself is not a cause of suicide. However, alcohol lowers self-control and increases impulsive behavior. Someone with a mental disorder who drinks is at increased risk of suicide.
Other people are depressed due to circumstances such as chronic illness or pain. The elderly are prone to this type of depression and can be a suicide risk. They can be helped by medication, pain management, counseling and family support.

TYPES OF SUICIDAL ACTS

DROWNING …..
How it’s Done: Maybe a relationship tremor has caused you to rethink your life here on the planet, and the weight of it all has made you decide to drown yourself. Sometimes, driving or even convincing yourself to walk into a large body or water will do it, otherwise many perish in as little water as a slightly-filled bathtub.
Results From Failure: Oxygen deprivation can cause severe and permanent brain damage.
ELECTRIC SHOCK………….
How it’s Done: Sometimes the thought of continuing to live in a world inundated with problems and insurmountable issues results on one wanting to die by electric shock. Something as simple as jamming a utensil in a wall outlet, to the more notable dunking an appliance in an occupied bathtub, can result in death by electric shock.
Results From Failure: Deep burns from 500-1000 volts, ventricular fibrillation at 110-220 volts, and severe neurological damage.

Exsanguinations :
How it’s Done: Frequently the most obvious way to rapidly harm one’s self yet pass on relatively slowly, is to slit the wrists or the carotid, radial, ulnar, or femoral artery. Using a sharp implement is the easiest way to go. Razors or knives are popular. Contrary to popular belief, the effective method for this is not to cross the wrist, but to draw the blade up the forearm (as is evident in the photograph above). This is the same way Japanese perform Jigai (women) and Seppuku (men), although their’s is often for more spiritual purposes.
Results From Failure: Extreme loss of blood causing the heart to dramatically slow eventually depriving the brain of oxygen. Also, most often, deep scars and tissue damage.

JUMPING…….
How it’s Done: Pondering the emptiness in one’s life can be a painful experience. Yet, when it all seems so overwhelming, you might decide to plummet from a significant height to your own death. Leaping from a building to the pavement below is quite lethal, and popular. However, romantics may choose to use a cliff over jagged rocks. Or bridges.
Results From Failure: Shattered femurs from impacting with water up to severe bodily harm from impacting with any solid surface.

SUFFOCATION………..
How it’s Done: You’ve decided that your life is in disarray and you can no longer stand the pressure. One way to end it all is to encase your head in a plastic bag and asphyxiate yourself. Or, if you’re really ready to go, nitrogen or helium directly inhaled is useful.
Results From Failure: Turning back at the last minute before passing out can result in serious and long-lasting to permanent brain damage.

CARBON MONOXIDE INHALATION…….
How it’s Done: It’s all so difficult and the full weight of the world is seemingly square upon your shoulders. You’ve decided to go to the great beyond and you are going to lock yourself in a car, in a closed garage with the engine running and go to sleep. Or, if you have any appliance that puts of CO, that’ll do.
Results From Failure: CO molecules irreversibly attach themselves to human hemoglobin and the result is often fatal even if one backs out.

POISONING……………
How it’s Done: Romeo and Juliet had it down when, once seeing the other presumably dead, the other fatally poisons himself. Taking a substance internally not meant to be done so can be considered poisoning: cleaners, industrial fluids, diazepam, cyanide, and the like.
Results From Failure: The toxic levels of poison required to kill one’s self are generally non-reversible. However, hospital staff can attempt it and often make one vomit or something similar. Lasting effects can include internal organ damage.

HANGING…………
How it’s Done: It’s all over. Nothing in life seems to make it worth living any more. You can acquire a length of rope and construct yourself a noose, which is, by the way, considered a deadly weapon if tied correctly. Once built, wrap one end securely around something high: a rafter or a ceiling fan, and leap, head fastened within the loop, from a chair. Or, if you’re short of rope, anything strong enough to support your weight from your neck can be employed.

Results From Failure: Brain damage from lack of oxygen, Often, failure to actually break your own neck may only yield strangulation and you can be saved, but damaged. Also, permanent rope burns or implement scarring can occur.

DRUG / ALCOHOL OVERDOSE…………
How it’s Done: The pressure and stress of daily routines has beaten you down for the final time. Within your medicine cabinet lies the answer to your extermination: prescription and over-the-counter meds. A huge mouthful can do you right in. Or, to speed along the process, couple your target pills with a few swigs of alcohol. Many of our favorite musicians have chosen this route. Even alcohol alone, in extreme excess can kill you.
Results From Failure: Severe to permanent organ failure if successful removal isn’t achieved, as well as impaired judgment. Often, clinical assistance is necessary if attempt is repeated.

GUN SHOT……………
How it’s Done: One of the most often achieved forms of suicide is by gun shot. Generally a head shot is desired since its results are 99 percent effective, however a chest shot can be equally as devastating.
Results From Failure: Sometimes the blast isn’t enough to kill. In this case, severe to permanent bodily damage can occur as well as blood loss, organ and tissue damage, and brain damage.
NOTE:…………..Suicide is never a solution. There is no problem so great that it can not be resolved with time and care. This list is meant not as an instruction guide, but a description of the most common forms of suicide.Please remember, no matter how bad things get, someone, somewhere is able to listen to you and help you through.

Produced by:
Shehzada Behram
Karachi