People Who Hang Themselves

[maiforpeace]

We all have our mysteries in life, and one of mine is wondering why some people choose to commit suicide by hanging themselves. Please understand, I am not suicidal, but if I was, I sure as Hell wouldn't hang myself. Obviously, this is a decision that people make to end their lives, and, if I was ever in that mental state, I'd want to ingest as much morphine as I possibly could and just sort of mellow on out.

One of the problems with hanging yourself is that you have to get it exactly right the first time, or you just hang there like a stupid asshole, or maybe you evidentially die a slow death. In order to get it right the first time, do you practice tying knots or what?

We also might want to exclude those people who accidentally hang themselves while engaged...or is that engagged?...in auto-erotic asphyxiation. Hey, it's one thing to wank it when you want to, but those people who feel that they need to do it while hanging from their light fixture...I just don't get it.

OK, if any of y'all have any ideas why people choose to do this stuff, let's hear about it.

My guess is that they didn't plan and when they did decide to do it they just didn't have what they needed to do it the other ways - all you need is a length of fabric and you can kill yourself, otherwise all the other ways require some planning with tools.

I haven't searched myself, but according to a friend of mine who has apparently there isn't enough good information available on the internet to those folks who would choose to commit suicide.

I agree with Cunt. If someone wants to plan to take their own life they should have all the information they need to make it quick and painless. They are already in such pain to consider what they are doing, it's inhumane to make it even more difficult or painful for them to commit suicide when there are quick and painless ways.

[mistermack]

I agree with Cunt. If someone wants to plan to take their own life they should have all the information they need to make it quick and painless. They are already in such pain to consider what they are doing, it's inhumane to make it even more difficult or painful for them to commit suicide when there are quick and painless ways.

Painless for who? It might be painless for the one who is topping himself, but it could mean a lifetime of anguish and recriminations for family and loved ones.
I think the info should be hard to get, after all, who gives a toss if it's painful?
Some people live lifetimes in pain with no choice in the matter. A bit of pain is hardly a big deal for someone who's determined to be soon out of it.
.

[Feck]

I agree with Cunt. If someone wants to plan to take their own life they should have all the information they need to make it quick and painless. They are already in such pain to consider what they are doing, it's inhumane to make it even more difficult or painful for them to commit suicide when there are quick and painless ways.

Painless for who? It might be painless for the one who is topping himself, but it could mean a lifetime of anguish and recriminations for family and loved ones.
I think the info should be hard to get, after all, who gives a toss if it's painful?
Some people live lifetimes in pain with no choice in the matter. A bit of pain is hardly a big deal for someone who's determined to be soon out of it.
.

Ok I will play Devils advocate on this one, how about failed suicide attempts that result in permanent horrible damage ? Do you think coming home to find your loved one dead is worse than finding them brain damaged but alive ,or quadriplegic ? Nobody is saying that suicide is a good thing or that it should be encouraged but to say that they should suffer long painful deaths and risk horrible lifelong consequences because of the emotional pain their actions cause others is a bit vicious ? I don't think Pain puts many suicides off the act ,esp considering how many suicides have a long term history of self harm .
Of the 5 people I know that have suicided only one chose a painless method.

[maiforpeace]

I agree with Cunt. If someone wants to plan to take their own life they should have all the information they need to make it quick and painless. They are already in such pain to consider what they are doing, it's inhumane to make it even more difficult or painful for them to commit suicide when there are quick and painless ways.

Painless for who? It might be painless for the one who is topping himself, but it could mean a lifetime of anguish and recriminations for family and loved ones.
I think the info should be hard to get, after all, who gives a toss if it's painful?
Some people live lifetimes in pain with no choice in the matter. A bit of pain is hardly a big deal for someone who's determined to be soon out of it.
.

If someone is determined to kill themselves they will - and it will be painful for the living no matter what. I would guess it would be less painful for the living if they knew their loved one didn't suffer while dying, and/or if they found them lying in bed dead from an overdose of drugs versus hanging in the closet, blood all over from slit wrists, or with their brains splattered all over the wall from a gunshot to the head.

[Cunt]

I agree with Cunt. If someone wants to plan to take their own life they should have all the information they need to make it quick and painless. They are already in such pain to consider what they are doing, it's inhumane to make it even more difficult or painful for them to commit suicide when there are quick and painless ways.

Painless for who? It might be painless for the one who is topping himself, but it could mean a lifetime of anguish and recriminations for family and loved ones.

I think the suicidal person has a good case for having more anguish than any of the living.
To fuck with bullying people into going on living just because someone else may have their feelings hurt. It's fucking nonsense. If someone was suffering and dying of cancer would you tell them to go on suffering so you would feel better for a little while?

I think the info should be hard to get, after all, who gives a toss if it's painful?
Some people live lifetimes in pain with no choice in the matter. A bit of pain is hardly a big deal for someone who's determined to be soon out of it.
.

I don't mind the information being a little tough to get, but at the end of it all, google makes 'a little tough' ridiculously easy.

As to being insensitive to the 'bit of pain' for someone who would be 'soon out of it', I wonder if you would apply that same ethic to hunting and slaughtering practices...

[mistermack]

Ok, there's no black and white answer to this. How would you feel, if your teenage child had killed themselves, and you found that they got the details of how to do it painlessly from an internet site.
You might know that your child was in a highly emotional state, ( as most people are in their teens ) and that in a few weeks time, they would have been in love, or into some other teenage fad.
Not every suicide is the cool, determined, premeditated act that you seem to picture. Most are protests, about being ignored, dumped, bullied, or even just bored.
Make it easy to do it painlessly, and you will just encourage more spur-of-the-moment suicides.
If my website made the difference of just one person going through with it, instead of putting it off because it might hurt, I would find that very hard to live with.
I would rather some determined person suffered for a few minutes, if another highly emotional one thought twice, and put it off.
You can't have it both ways. There is no magic solution to this.
You have to choose a bit more pain, or a few more needless suicides.
I've made my 'choice' and I wouldn't change it.
.

[Feck]

Back to devils advocate..... why should I live my life just for the sake of other people ? I have to continue an existence I find no longer tolerable because people will miss me ? I don't think many suicides are cool calculated acts made by people acting rationally and for that reason I don't think information on how to do it increases the likelihood that people will .However tonight I googled suicide methods and found little but misinformation it was quite a shock .
I was hoping that at least one of the top three hits would has been a link to the Samaritans or at least an article saying "Don't fucking do it unless you are really sure" or even "Take a month to plan it !,it's mostly a permanent solution to a temporary problem."

[mistermack]

I've never been close to a suicide, but I can remember when I was very little, my mother was very highly strung. She walked out on us many times (only for a few hours) and I knew you had to be really careful around her. Magically, almost overnight she changed and was far more laid back and happy.

Many many years later, she confided in us that her life was a misery till she had an hysterectomy, and it completely changed her life, and looking back, she thought that she had put us through hell.
I shudder to think what life would have been like, if there was some website offering her some painless way to end it all.
I know that we would all have lost an incredible amount, as would she.
.

[Cunt]

Ok, there's no black and white answer to this. How would you feel, if your teenage child had killed themselves, and you found that they got the details of how to do it painlessly from an internet site.

A little better than if they had, through ignorance, tortured themselves for a few minutes first.

What is your point with this question?

If anyone killed themselves, I would hope for the least suffering. One loses enough when their life ends early without adding that.

You might know that your child was in a highly emotional state, ( as most people are in their teens ) and that in a few weeks time, they would have been in love, or into some other teenage fad.

Yup.
Again, what's your point?
Should we ban the internet?

Not every suicide is the cool, determined, premeditated act that you seem to picture. Most are protests, about being ignored, dumped, bullied, or even just bored.
Make it easy to do it painlessly, and you will just encourage more spur-of-the-moment suicides.

First of all, it is already easy to do it painlessly. (as much as we can know, anyway) Second there may be many more suicides now because of the information and, in some cases, outright encouragement, but what of it?
This is what we have to deal with.

If my website made the difference of just one person going through with it, instead of putting it off because it might hurt, I would find that very hard to live with.

I think about the people who are really tortured by continuing (be it cancer or some other reason) and am glad the information is out there for those who find themselves needing it.

I would rather some determined person suffered for a few minutes, if another highly emotional one thought twice, and put it off.
You can't have it both ways. There is no magic solution to this.
You have to choose a bit more pain, or a few more needless suicides.
I've made my 'choice' and I wouldn't change it.
.

My mind is open to being changed, but mostly I like to accept some facts about suicide.
Determined people will suicide from time to time. That is, so far, a fact.
I will make efforts to be respectful of that decision, even though I might strongly disagree with it.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I've never been close to a suicide, but I can remember when I was very little, my mother was very highly strung. She walked out on us many times (only for a few hours) and I knew you had to be really careful around her. Magically, almost overnight she changed and was far more laid back and happy.

Many many years later, she confided in us that her life was a misery till she had an hysterectomy, and it completely changed her life, and looking back, she thought that she had put us through hell.
I shudder to think what life would have been like, if there was some website offering her some painless way to end it all.
I know that we would all have lost an incredible amount, as would she.
.

Just about everyone could end it all, with relative ease. To me, this is one of the reasons I am so proud to know people who go on fighting (even the small battles).

The fact that there IS a website now, helping people make that decision carefully, is something which much of the world is just going to have to live with.

[Robert_S]

There are books and online info ..I have a good book on the subject ..but as I have said by PM to other members I think Explaining easy, sure and painless methods is slightly irresponsible ,I'm not sure I would like to find out that a member took his or her life over a broken heart or a depressive episode using a method I had recommended .

I think if someone is rationally suiciding, they will find what information they need, and if they are less rational about it, they are more likely to fail. Based on that, you would be 100% correct.

But that diving board, as I see it, would filter out many 'cry for help' attempts by letting people know that they ARE allowed to end it all. Once no-one is going to stop you, screaming 'you can't stop me' gets a bit redundant...

I still don't want to install a diving board, but if someone really wanted to, and my encouragement to find another reason to live didn't work, I would have to find a way to respect the decision.

There is a man I liked in my area who refused cancer treatment. He would have certainly extended his life by accepting treatment, plus had a better time that May. He declined treatment and while I consider it suicide I will NOT disrespect his decision. Mainly because it's a bit late for that, but I would like to think I respected his decision while he lived as well (though I did encourage treatment...selfishly...I miss him)

I know someone who refused treatment. He had cancer before and went through all the chemo and radiation. I think he was at a point where he was prepared to let go and live out his last few months in relative dignity.

If I were in the same situation, I would probably feel better about myself by if the people I knew were reluctant to see me go, even if it stung a bit at the same time.

[Svartalf]

I once slit my wrists after a night of drinking and heartbreak. I put rubber bands around my wrists to cut of the blood circulation so my veins would be easier to cut, luckily the knife wasn't sharp enough and I just ended up with a couple of scars and a terrified roommate.

I actually cut my left wrist, and the arm a handbreadth away from the elbow once, to get my then gf to snap out of playing with the razorblades... No tourniquet and I tended the cuts almost at once... but the one close to the elbow was deep enough that I still have a scar, while the wrist one's disappeared in less than 10 years.

[Svartalf]

I think there has to be better information available about how to do it correctly. With all the pain and suffering which would bring a person to the decision to end their lives, they don't need another dose.

Remember the scene in "Full Metal Jacket" where R. Lee Ermey hands out a book on how to kill yourself properly?

No, sorry. (it's on my 'to see' list)

+1 for you... I did see it, but sure don't remember much of it.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I think there has to be better information available about how to do it correctly. With all the pain and suffering which would bring a person to the decision to end their lives, they don't need another dose.

Remember the scene in "Full Metal Jacket" where R. Lee Ermey hands out a book on how to kill yourself properly?

No, sorry. (it's on my 'to see' list)

+1 for you... I did see it, but sure don't remember much of it.

From a very memorable lecture I attended back in 1970.

"There may come a time when you have to chose between being captured and taking your own life. Today we will discuss various methods of making the second option as fast, efficient and painless as possible." My favorite was clutching a grenade to your chest.

[mistermack]

I think that going on about pain is a deliberate red herring. Most suicides are not like that, as I'm sure you know. They might be the ones that get the the publicity, but most are nothing like it.
Suicides are often done while drunk, or drugged up, by people who are rejected, belittled, jilted or ignored. Many commit suicide through shame, over things that wouldn't matter to hardly anybody else. The drink and the drugs are temporary, as are the other problems, that a little more time usually cures.

Keep pushing the example of people in horrendous pain if you like, but you're only fooling yourself. The proportion of suicides due to this is extremely small. And pain can be managed, far more effectively than death.

What a lot of people don't realise, is that the medical profession is gently easing people out of their pain and into eternity every day. I'm not sure I'm happy with that, but at least they are experienced enough and qualified to know if there is no hope.
.

[Svartalf]

Will you then explain me, O fount of Wisdom, why my hatred of having my airways blocked or impaired in any way is what decided my putting hanging, strangulation, plastic bags and drowning in the 'unacceptable' category of methods I would consider using for suicide? (and being deeply depressive, I have thought about it a lot).

The unpleasantness of the method used for the act, and that does include pain, if it's not limited to it, is an integral part of the question.