Why are there so many people that are suicidal? Is it individual change, societal change, environmental change? Or is there no change at all, but people are more willing to speak of their misery?
I spent the day with several acquaintances and was surprised to discover that both of them had recently considered suicide. Both were serious enough about it to have obtained the means and travelled to the destination of their intended demise. One was stopped by the strangest of coincidences and the other spent the night merely looking at the lethal 'weapon'.
Many psychologists and psychiatrists have a tendency to attribute the state of people's minds to their dark pasts, or their cognitive schemas. In the first instance, I don't believe that previous traumas have a greater influence some 20 years after the event than they do either at the time or the few years following. Secondly, many trauma sufferers have developed their behavioural & belief structures as a matter survival, why would they want to change them? Why would they want to do away with the protection that has enabled them to continue living? Perhaps they aren't the most effective strategies, or maybe they are a hinderance in other aspects of life, but hey, that's what enabled them to be alive at this point in time.
The only reason I can imagine someone should even try to change is if they have reached the point of knowing they can't continue to live the way they are. We can and do change our behaviours, but changing beliefs so we can be 'happy' only amounts to convincing ourselves of some unrealistic falsehoods. Life isn't kind and fair and facing it with optimism is setting yourself up for greater disappointment.
No comments:
Post a Comment