08-13-2014, 07:38 PM
I know you have personal, professional and academic experience with suicide, aussie. I appreciate what you're saying.
I'm not arguing with you, and I agree that depression and suicide deserve more discussion and public focus -- I'm interested in your perspectives.
In that spirit, I do have a different take on a couple of your points.
There's not a scientifically agreed-upon cause of depression like there is for many other conditions or illnesses. The pharmaceutical companies seem to all be in agreement that chemical imbalance is the cause, unsurprisingly. But, there are plenty of top psychiatrists, psychologists and other specialists who disagree and attribute severe depression and suicidal tendencies to many other factors.
I've researched the subject in conjunction with some volunteer work that I used to do. Here's a recent article in Psychology Today about what some consider the myth of brain chemical imbalance as the cause of depression: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/curi...imbalances
And, "committed suicide" is an accurate term -- it's not wrong. "Commit depression" would be wrong, of course. One can't commit a condition, disease or illness. However, practically and technically speaking, suicide is the act one commits to cause one's own death. Just like homicide is the act one commits to cause another's death. One's a crime and one no longer is a crime in most countries, but the word "commit" doesn't by definition relate only to a crime or a negative. Maybe it does by association for some and is not politically correct in some circles?
From the work that I've done, along with the research, I'm not of the opinion that suicide ideation always passes like a mood. For some people, yes. For others, definitely not.
I'm not arguing with you, and I agree that depression and suicide deserve more discussion and public focus -- I'm interested in your perspectives.
In that spirit, I do have a different take on a couple of your points.
There's not a scientifically agreed-upon cause of depression like there is for many other conditions or illnesses. The pharmaceutical companies seem to all be in agreement that chemical imbalance is the cause, unsurprisingly. But, there are plenty of top psychiatrists, psychologists and other specialists who disagree and attribute severe depression and suicidal tendencies to many other factors.
I've researched the subject in conjunction with some volunteer work that I used to do. Here's a recent article in Psychology Today about what some consider the myth of brain chemical imbalance as the cause of depression: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/curi...imbalances
And, "committed suicide" is an accurate term -- it's not wrong. "Commit depression" would be wrong, of course. One can't commit a condition, disease or illness. However, practically and technically speaking, suicide is the act one commits to cause one's own death. Just like homicide is the act one commits to cause another's death. One's a crime and one no longer is a crime in most countries, but the word "commit" doesn't by definition relate only to a crime or a negative. Maybe it does by association for some and is not politically correct in some circles?
From the work that I've done, along with the research, I'm not of the opinion that suicide ideation always passes like a mood. For some people, yes. For others, definitely not.