Suicide....

[Fiatseicento2002]

I keep reading and being told at work that this is something we should all be preventing,

Thing is it's very difficult to tell what a stranger is thinking

anyone else think maybe we make to much fuss of something that happends naturally?

sorry I know this is a bit of an awkward sad subject but I wanted to get people's perspective

 

[Gavv8]

We had a chap at work commit suicide a few years back by hanging himself in the back of an artic trailer, he did it at the weekend when the depot was fairly quiet so he wasn't found until Monday morning.
I didn't know him too well but he seemed like a pretty chirpy and friendly sort of bloke and not very old either ,early thirties I think but it turned out he'd been having serious problems with access to his children from his ex partner.
From what I remember from the people who knew him well none of them had a clue that he would do something like this as they all said that he didn't seem depressed at all, I think the difference is that some people use an attempt at suicide as a cry for help and some people decide one day that life is just too hard and take themselves away somewhere quiet to call it a day....so to speak.

 

[IJK]

The company I used to work for push everyone so much were always losing someone for a few months with stress. That puts everyone else in the doodah though but if we all all pall together we survive it. The person gets deployed for a few months on less stressful jobs then gets brought back in. The annoying thing is we can see them cracking but no helps until they go off
What strikes me the most is its got worse since the crash 5 years ago. Everyone seems to sacrifice their lives to keep in work. (me included) and no one wants to fail to deliver the impossible.

 

[homeward]

Sadly, I've known a few people who've committed suicide -- usually because of physical or mental health issues.

However, read this... -- I think it says a lot; and is very uplifting....

 

[Gavv8]

Sadly, I've known a few people who've committed suicide -- usually because of physical or mental health issues.

However, read this... -- I think it says a lot; and is very uplifting....

There are still pockets of humanity in this country despite the best efforts of government and religion, sadly I think stories like this will become more common as resources are withdrawn by politicians hell bent on taking us back to pre-Victorian Britain .

 

[scout]

Regardless of what companies, government and bosses say, its surprising how much just being yourself affects those around you. I'm not saying you as an individual will have a dramatic affect on someone but everything you do does change the way someone else views the world (for good or bad). Just being pleasant to someone with depression can have a profound effect on them and costs you nothing.

 

[jenks69]

I keep reading and being told at work that this is something we should all be preventing,

Thing is it's very difficult to tell what a stranger is thinking

anyone else think maybe we make to much fuss of something that happends naturally?

sorry I know this is a bit of an awkward sad subject but I wanted to get people's perspective

What do you do for a living?

 

[Fiatseicento2002]

I work on the railway and there are a lot of new measures being brought in;

we current have people who walk the platforms to attempt to stop people stepping of the platform but that doesn't work they are now just waiting till they walk off and now they want to divide the platform in half to again attempt to stop people doing it,

the problem is if someone doesn't want help you cant force it on them and they will find a way around it

 

[middo85]

I think the difference is that some people use an attempt at suicide as a cry for help and some people decide one day that life is just too hard and take themselves away somewhere quiet to call it a day....so to speak.

This is generally the case in my experience. The latter tend to be the ones with more serious mental health/life problems and those close to them often didn't see it coming.

The former are often attention seekers and as such get more support/resources.

In any case its a very sad event for all concerned

 

[dave]

I work on the railway and there are a lot of new measures being brought in;

we current have people who walk the platforms to attempt to stop people stepping of the platform but that doesn't work they are now just waiting till they walk off and now they want to divide the platform in half to again attempt to stop people doing it,

the problem is if someone doesn't want help you cant force it on them and they will find a way around it

they need to invest to prevent it [ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platform_screen_doors[/ame]

 

[Fiatseicento2002]

they need to invest to prevent it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platform_screen_doors

problem with that solution is it requires all trains using the platform to be the same which isn't possible without a new fleet...

 

[Gavv8]

I can't see a realistic solution for the rail companies, tragic though it is for the victim and traumatic for the railway staff, if someone decides to throw themselves off a train platform there is little that anyone can do to prevent it.

 

[Focus Owner]

perhaps society needs to be more understanding about mental health.
make it less of a taboo subject.

also couldn't hurt to have a few leaflets on the platforms even a poster.

talked to a few people about the subject
a couple of people i know had attempted suicide, and I have always struggled to come up a decent response other than ****ing hell.

 

[scout]

The people that are the most in need of support won't be recognised and certainly won't read a leaflet. The best way to help these people is if society in general was more friendly, its amazing what a few kind words can do.

 

[Fiatseicento2002]

all platforms on the station I work on have Samaritans posters and phone numbers already.... they ignore them

 

[jenks69]

I think if more is done at the stations the attempts will be made elsewhere. Three years ago my ex partner made several attempts on her own life. When she was pregnant several times she went to the local station, small two platform job, with high speed passing trains. Thankfully something or someone always stopped anything happening. Last year she succeeded in taking her own life, this time via an overdose at home.

We had talked many times for years that if she really is going to do it, think about the consequences for others. In her worst state of mind she really thought the train station was the best, she had timetables and knew which was the best bridge or level crossing etc. It wasn't until one of the mental health workers explained what happens to the train driver, people who see it and those who scrape up what's left, and how many of those suffer for years afterwards.

I understand the need to stop it happening on the railways, but I really think it pushes the problem elsewhere, since barriers were installed at the stations, I've noticed more suicides being reported of people jumping off motorway bridges etc.

There is no right or wrong answer to suicide, some people are simply programmed from birth to act on dark inner thoughts. All we can do is be there for those around us, sadly even that isn't enough for some people.

 

[Paddynabs]

Like most people I can think of four or five people who have killed them selves. (Three of which have been collegues which does raise a whole bunch of different issues!) I don't think that there is a lot you can do for people unless they ask for help. If some one is suffering from depression then the best you can do is be available to them if they need to talk and maybe point them in the direction of proffesional help (which is varied in it's quality). If someone is suffering from a different mental illness you can only hope that they or their loved ones are aware enough to spot it.