The Real Truth about Suicide

Dear World

There are more deaths from suicide than from war and homicide together. (1)

Are we up to date with what is going on?
Did we know we have a World Suicide Prevention Day?
Are we aware of this?
What is this all about?
Why is suicide a global problem?
Why does anyone take their own life?
What gets inside them to make that choice?
What is going on in their life that they want to end it?
What drives someone to give up on life?
What can we really do to change things?

World Suicide Prevention Day (WSPD) has been going since 2003 on 10 September. It is to bring attention to the public of ‘one of the world’s largest causes of premature and unnecessary death.’ (2)

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that over 800,000 people die by suicide each year and 20,000,000 attempt suicide. (3)

What we should all be asking is how accurate are these figures when we all know that this is a very hush hush subject in our world.

How does each country record a suicide and are there cross cultural differences which make it impossible to get real facts recorded?
We all know that research is not going to tell us why someone is ending their life.
We all know that we are not going to get a suicidal person into a lab for double blind testing.
We all know that we cannot take the mind of someone who has taken their life and study them.
We all know that most of us live in fear of having a mental health issue.
We all know that something is really wrong if suicide is on the increase.

We have 196 countries in this world of ours and only 28 countries have a national strategy for suicide prevention. (4)

Hello – can we just stop for a moment and re-read this.

That means less than 15% of our world is actually doing something. So is it any surprise that suicide is on the increase?

So we have a grand plan but if only a few are taking action, are we going to see any real change?

Suicide Prevention – World Health Organization (MHAP) Mental Health Action Plan from 2013 to 2020. (5)

  1. Increase public, political and media awareness of the magnitude of the problem and the availability of effective prevention strategies.
  1. Restrict access to the means of self-harm and suicide like firearms and pesticides.
  1. Promote responsible media reporting in relation to cases of suicide.
  1. Promote workplace initiatives for suicide prevention.
  1. Improve health system responses to self-harm and suicide.
  1. Assess and manage self-harm/suicide and associated mental, neurological and substance-use disorders.
  1. Optimise psychosocial support from available community resources both for those who have attempted suicide as well as for families of people who have committed suicide.

So this tells us that our World Health Organization has a mental health plan that has been going on since 2013 and they have just over 3 years left and suicide is on the increase.

Could it be possible that increasing public, political and media awareness is not happening?

Could it be possible that prevention strategies are not the answer?

Could it be possible that denying access to a gun is not going to stop someone from finding another way to end their life?

Could it be possible that our media has a long way to go when it comes to consistently promoting RESPONSIBLE media reporting?

Could it be possible that promoting workplace initiatives may miss what is actually needed?

Could it be possible that countries like the UK are cutting budgets so assessment and management is not really happening in the way it needs to?

Could it be possible that there is limited or no funding for ‘community resources’ to support those who have attempted suicide, or families of people who have committed suicide?

So to summarise, would it be fair to say that these words on paper sound like a great big plan but something is not right because suicide is actually on the increase?

WHY?

Why are we not digging deeper and spending resources on this serious global issue?

Check out these statistics so we know it is a worldwide problem.

In high income countries, 3 times as many men die by suicide than women. (6)

Suicide Mortality Rates 2012 (6)

Republic of Korea
36.8 per 100,000 population

Guyana (South America)
34.8 per 100,000 population

Lithuania
33.5 per 100,000 population

Sri Lanka
29.2 per 100,000 population 

Suriname (South America)
28.3 per 100,000 population

Hungary
25.4 per 100,000 population

Japan
23.1 per 100,000 population

India
20.9 per 100,000 population

Nepal
20.3 per 100,000 population

USA
13.7 per 100,000 population

Australia
11.6 per 100,000 population

UK
7.0 per 100,000 population

These are the most up to date figures from the World Health Organization.

USA (7)
38,000 people die by suicide every year
That is 105 Americans each day and one person every 13 minutes
Approximately 250,000 people become suicide survivors each year
Male suicide deaths represent 79% of all USA suicides each year
51% of males who suicided used firearms
Females attempt suicide 3 times as often as males
Poisoning is the most common form of suicide in females

Australia (2)
Suicide is the leading cause of death for men and women aged 15 – 44
The annual number of deaths is around 2,500 per year – approx. 7 people each day
65,000 people plan or attempt to take their life each year
400,000 people think about taking their life each year

UK
Suicide was illegal in the past and we got sent to prison for attempting suicide. (8)

2014 (9)
Suicide rate per 100,000 population increased to 10.8
6,122 suicides recorded in people aged 10 and over
Male suicide rate was more than 3 times higher than the female rate

In the last 45 years’ suicide rates have increased by 60% worldwide.

Suicide attempts are up to 20 times more frequent than actual deaths by suicide.

Rates among young people have been increasing.
Mental disorders (particularly depression and substance abuse) are associated with more than 90% of all cases of suicide.

There is compelling evidence indicating that adequate prevention and treatment of depression, alcohol and substance abuse can reduce suicide rates. (10)

What are these bold facts spelling out to us?
WHY have we seen such a huge increase in suicide rates worldwide?
WHY are young people choosing suicide to end their life?
WHY are our youngsters’ self-harming?
WHY are we unable to figure out the root cause of depression?
WHY is substance abuse a major factor in many cases of suicide?
WHY are people using harmfull substances to cope with life?

Are we aware of the real figures of suicide in prisons?

Prisons in England and Wales

April 2013 – March 2014
69% rise in suicides
Highest level for 9 years (11)

April 2015 – March 2016
100 male self-inflicted deaths
Increase of 27% from 2014/15.
Some of these deaths were linked to the New Psychoactive Substances. (12)

In 2015 there were 25 male self-inflicted deaths within the first month of them being in prison. (12)

How many of our inner mates are suffering from depression?
Why is substance abuse going on in our prisons today?
Why are we blaming the systems and expecting the government to deal with this problem?

‘It is clear that suicide prevention requires intervention also from outside the health sector and calls for an innovative, comprehensive multi-sectoral approach, including both health and non-health sectors, e.g. education, labour, politics, justice, religion, law, politics, the media.’ (10)

We can all agree that suicide prevention requires intervention but all these ‘sectors’ are people who make up the systems.

What if it is for each of us to look at our individual responsibility to our own health and well-being.
In other words, how and what are we choosing to live every single day that is consistently supporting us to CONNECT, COMMUNICATE AND CARE?

Next

Let’s get back to the 2016 World Suicide Prevention Day theme, which is three words at the heart of suicide prevention. (3)

CONNECT
COMMUNICATE
CARE

Connect

This is crucial and we could all agree, but what does this mean to us?

Are we choosing every day to connect with ourselves first?
Are we aware of the value and importance of engaging with another?
Do we know how to develop a self-connecting relationship with our self?
Do we find a way to connect and this could be smoking a cigarette or social media?
Do we bother to chat to the person on the train or stay with our screen?
Is keeping an eye out or checking in on someone enough?
Are we aware enough to know if someone is dis-connected?
Are we consistently taking responsibility to connect with ourselves first?
Are we committed to our own inner-most connection?

Are we living in a way that is deeply self-connecting every day?

Is connection about meeting another with no agenda?
Is connection about listening and giving another the space to say what they feel?
Is connection simply about an openness and willingness to be with another?

Does the International Association for Suicide Prevention have a valid point when they say –

Individuals, organisations and communities ALL have a responsibility here. (3)

Is the word RESPONSIBILITY what we need to focus on?

Communicate 

What is clear is that in many communities’ suicide is still very hush hush and not spoken about.

The International Association for Suicide Prevention are telling us to discuss suicide openly, as we would for any other public health issue and dispel the myths and reduce the stigma that surrounds this but without normalising it.

They talk about a ‘suicide prevention strategy’, but is this going to really get to the root cause of WHY people commit suicide?

Are we equipped to deal with another in a truly compassionate way, which requires listening and a non-judgmental approach?
How judgmental are we really in our daily life and would this rub off in any way when we are with another or can we make it just disappear?
Are we able to conduct ‘sensitively-managed conversations’?
Do we have the natural skills or do we have to learn this?

Do we agree with the International Association of Suicide Prevention when they say –

The media also have an important role to play in suicide prevention.

“Media recommendations have been developed by the International Association for Suicide Prevention and the World Health Organization to assist journalists in getting stories right”. (13)

Care

‘All the connecting and communicating in the world will have no effect without the final ingredient – care. We need to make sure that policy-makers and planners care enough about suicide prevention to make it a priority and to fund it at a level that is commensurate with its significance as a public health problem.’ (3)

We would all agree that this is a great statement because it makes sense.

Could it be possible that the policy-makers and the planners need to self-care first?
Could it be possible that self-care has to be a priority in our own life?
Could it be possible that true self-care requires a way of living every day that is consistent?
Could it be possible that the missing ingredient is our own individual responsibility when it comes to self-care?

‘On September 10th join with others around the world who are working towards the common goal of preventing suicide.  Check in on someone you may be concerned about and start a caring conversation with them, asking them how they’re going’. (3)

WHY do we wait for a date in the calendar to get going?
WHY are we not starting right now?
WHY do we need an annual reminder that suicide is on the increase?
WHY is it that we don’t have real figures about our global suicide problem?

Could it be possible that TRUE RESPONSIBILITY starts with ‘checking in’ with ourselves first and having a ‘caring conversation’ with ourselves?

Imagine if we knocked out all disregarding ways of living.
Imagine if we developed ways to no longer abuse our body.
Imagine if we learned how to breathe correctly.
https://www.universalmedicine.co.uk/services/free-audio-library/gentle-breath-meditation

Imagine if we could support ourselves so we don’t check out.
Imagine knowing what we need so we do not numb ourselves.
Imagine a life of not neglecting our feelings.
Imagine honouring what we feel all the time.
Imagine a life of saying what we feel and not holding back.
Imagine caring for ourselves like a precious baby.
Imagine committing to life so we feel a part of the world.
Imagine living with the knowing that we do make a difference.

As the author of this blog, I can say the above is possible and it comes down to making simple daily choices with Responsibility and that means to not harm self, others, or our environment.

How can we as individuals make a difference?

What is it that we need to say or do that can change the increasing rates of suicide?
Does our World Health Organization have all the answers we need about suicide?

Is wearing a ribbon or cycling around the globe going to change anything in the long term?

Could it be possible to say – We are far away from the real issue of suicide.
How have we ‘reduced’ in some form the seriousness of suicide by ribbons and marathons?

Are we missing something?

Could it be possible that we need to apply common sense?
Could it be possible that we each have a responsibility?
Could it be possible that we need to learn how to connect with ourselves first?
Could it be possible we need to develop listening to our own inner-most feelings?
Could it be possible that we can educate others from our own lived way?
Could it be possible that if we made a choice to live our natural way, it would end the need for harmfull substances?
Could it be possible that if we made a choice to commit to life, our depression would not dominate our life force?

In other words, if we each done our bit by taking responsibility in the way we choose to

CONNECT
COMMUNICATE
CARE

FIRST for ourselves, then it is this quality from our way of being in the world that would inspire others to do the same.

Could it be that simple?

We have statistics of those who actually go through with ending their life.
But what is the real impact and is it ten times greater than these statistics are showing us?

What about ALL those that suicide affects?

What about the families who suffer?
What about the friends and work colleagues?
What about the community?

What about those who self-harm but never make it as a statistic?
Are we aware that we do not have real figures for this serious global issue?

In truth, how many people are truly affected when one person suicides?

Could it be possible that our role is to bring this type of conversation into our everyday down to earth chit chat, so more and more people become aware?

Could it be possible that if we bring this way of communication to others the tides may turn?

Could it be possible that if we start to open up, talk and expand on what we know and are aware of, others can get the opportunity to equally feel how serious suicide is in our world today?

Could it be possible that if we don’t do the chit chat and stop talking then we ‘reduce’ the problem?

Could it be possible that it is this type of ‘reductionism’ why so many of us are simply not aware of what is going on in our world?


If you are feeling suicidal, contact your GP for support or the Suicide Helplines.

In a crisis contact your emergency services.

UK – Samaritans available 24 hours
Tel: 116 123

Childline – for children and young people
Tel: 0800 1111

USA – National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
Tel:  1-800-273-8255

Other Countries
Check International Association for Suicide Prevention Resources on Crisis Centers
https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres


References 

(1) (n.d). Suicide: Facts and Figures. World Health Organization
http://www.who.int/mental_health/suicide-prevention/infographics_2014.pdf 

(2) (2016). World Suicide Prevention Day
http://wspd.org.au/about

(3) World Suicide Prevention Day – 10 September, 2016. International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP)
https://www.iasp.info/wspd

(4) (2016). Mental Health – Suicide Prevention. World Health Organization
http://www.who.int/mental_health/suicide-prevention/en

(5) (2013). Mental Health Action Plan 2013 – 2020. World Health Organization
http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/89966/1/9789241506021_eng.pdf

(6) World Health Statistics 2016: Monitoring Health for SDGs. Annex A – Target 3.4 – Indicator 3.4.2: Suicide Mortality Rate. World Health Organization

(7) (2016). Suicide Facts. Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (SAVE)
http://www.save.org/about-suicide/suicide-facts

(8) Holt, G. (2011, August 3). When Suicide Was Illegal
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14374296

(9) (2016, February 4). Suicides in the United Kingdom: 2014 Registrations. Office for National Statistics
http://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/suicidesintheunitedkingdom/2014registrations

(10) (2016). Mental Health – Background of SUPRE – Prevention of Suicidal Behaviours: A Task for All. World Health Organization
http://www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide/background/en

(11) Travis, A. (2014, July 31). Official Figures Reveal Rising Violence in Prisons in England and Wales
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/jul/31/official-figures-violence-prisons-england-wales

(12) (2016). HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for England and Wales. Annual Report 2015 -16. HM Inspectorate of Prisons (p.8, pp.18 – 19)
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/538854/hmip-annual-report.pdf

(13) (n.d). International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) – Resources: Suicide and the Media
http://www.iasp.info/resources/Suicide_and_the_Media

 

 

 

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Comments 104

  1. A much needed conversation, and one that we dont talk about in our normal daily lives. And, these figures are the tip of the iceberg – how many times do you hear of someone you know who has felt suicidal? or had suicidal thoughts? far more than we care to accept. Why they are we feeling this way in a society full of so called everything – more pharmaceuticals, more technology, more infrastructure, more doctors/nurses than ever and yet the suicide rates are still exponentially increasing. There really is much for us to consider here, and this powerful blog is a brilliant contribution to this conversation.

    1. Correct Jane Keep – this is a much needed conversation because it really is not the stuff we tend to talk about.
      I also agree with you that these figures are the ‘tip of the iceberg’ and it is great what you say here about how we have so much more now with technology and medicine yet suicide rates are increasing.
      Something is clearly not right and we need to start asking questions and joining the dots if we are to address this global escalating problem.

  2. “There are more deaths from suicide than from war and homicide together. ”
    What!?! This is not OK.

    …so are we at war with ourselves? Why? What are we missing here?

    If we are so self loathing, so miserable that this statement can exist then we are ALL doing something that is not working.

    What I feel is that we are so so much more, much greater, bigger, more beautiful, tender, sensitive, creative and loving than how we are individually & collectively living and expressing ourselves to be…. and it is this which hurts so much.

    I know from experiencing the transformation in myself by applying the simple practice of commitment and self care, that what the author describes at the end of this blog is what is missing for all of us.

    How much longer do we push on in our suffering ways before we stop and choose to feel all of who we are in our inner truth and commit to feeling that and working hard to live from that?

    Too hard? We are experiencing the alternative. Can we look at what we have instead of the scary hard work of getting honest and beginning to take responsibility, and then make a conscious choice?

    What if we used a portion of all the devotion, dedication, time, money and attention we pour into all our recreation and other peripheral activities to focus on getting the center of life happening; the connection, responsibility and ability to feel the joy of life and the beauty of who we are?

    What would that be like…?

    1. Top comment Jo Elmer. Love it.
      Correct it is not OK that there are more deaths from suicide than from war and homicide together. The fact that this statement can exist as you say Jo is spelling out to us that something is seriously wrong about the way we are living and interacting with others.
      There is enough evidence or you could just put your common sense hat on to KNOW that when we truly connect with another and allow the space for them to share whatever it is they want to say then things are not going to be buried. That person is not going to feel isolated. What they will feel is that someone does care and that what they feel is being honoured. We don’t need to become counsellors or try and impose our own ideals and beliefs onto them. We just need to give others space and listen, truly listen without any need to fix them or offer solutions. It really is that simple and I am talking from lived experience and so I know it really does work.
      Think about it if there was someone genuine who engaged and met you for who you are with no agenda, surely this would support you to not get into the downward spiral of drugs, alcohol, depression which all lead to things getting buried and not expressed.

      1. Call it ‘change the focus’ and things will shift.
        Why keep going down the alley when you know things just are not feeling quite right and we end up getting ‘more of it’ as you say Jo and JS. We all know in every moment we have a choice and every choice has a consequence. Could it then be possible that if we change the choice, we can re-direct where we want to end up.
        What if we keep making choices that are supporting us and this gives us a platform, a foundation so to speak that holds us, so we don’t wobble when life bring us stuff, no matter what that may be?

  3. I lived many years in levels of mental illness and in fear of it getting to a point where no one could help me… I have spent time in mental hospitals with friends who were in trouble and though there is ‘support’ there I never felt that the cause of such misery has been understood or addressed… until now.
    At the end of this blog the author describes exactly what I have learned, first hand, can pull us out of this hellish global issue of suicide and all the hurt that surround & lead up to it.
    I feel the incredible importance of what is shared with each of us (suicidal or not) in this blog.
    “Could it be possible that TRUE RESPONSIBILITY starts with ‘checking in’ with ourselves first and having a ‘caring conversation’ with ourselves?”
    What would it be like if we could support ourselves and not check out?
    What would it feel like to know what we need so we did not need to neglect or harm ourselves in any way?
    What if we committed to ourselves and to life so that we could feel we are a part of the world? …and that we are important and that we make a difference?

    1. Great confirmation here Jo about what this blog is saying and it is to all of us and not those who are associated with suicide.
      Checking in with ourself first and foremost makes simple sense.
      If we are not plugged in, connected so to speak then how can we be truly aware of another and where they are at.
      Ticking boxes and checking in with others may not be the answer if in truth we are not connected first with ourself.
      This is now something our world needs to consider deeply if we are to see the tides turn.
      Some of us are doing this and whilst it may not be many when you look at 7 billion but even one making consistent choices to take TRUE RESPONSIBILITY means change. None of us can ignore this fact.

    2. This blog has really switched a light on. How many of us truly have a CARING CONVERSATION with ourselves? Why is there so much negative self talk inside our heads and could there be another way? It makes a lot of sense that the 3 Cs as presented here could have a profound impact for those contemplating suicide and in fact for all. It sounds to me like something that should be taught in schools from an early age so that ‘checking in’ and taking care of ourselves and our innermost thoughts becomes a foundational part of life. Now THAT would be a game changer for the national curriculum. Imagine what it would do to the statistics cited above.

      1. Good point here JS about how we could really do with educating our children at a young age to ‘check in’ and take care by honouring their feelings and not dismissing or over-riding them as we adults do over and over again.
        YES that would ‘be a game changer for the national curriculum’ and have a knock on effect where mental health would not be rising at the current scary rate that it is.

  4. I totally agree with what you say here, Simple Living Global, as I know that it has had a direct life changing effect on me that others have taken the time to connect with me with no agenda. When someone connects with us in that way we feel safe – safe to share our true feelings, safe to just be ourselves and let down the guard. Just making the space to connect with another in our day can be life-changing for them.

    1. The word ‘safe’ here is important. Thank you for sharing this Shevon.
      We have all had our down days and yet we know if we have a genuine conversation with another that is real with no hidden agenda we just feel it.
      Yes I agree we can make a life changing difference to another by simply meeting someone for who they are and connecting with them. Allowing them the space and holding them as an equal can all be done with our mouth shut and ears wide open. It works as I have made this a part of how I live and it is my normal.

    2. “Is connection about meeting another with no agenda?
      Is connection about listening and giving another the space to say what they feel?
      Is connection simply about an openness and willingness to be with another?”

      How many of us truly experience this? How many of us actually do this? It has brought me to tears re-reading this blog and reflecting on that. We are 7.125 billion people here on planet Earth. How many of those 7.125 billion people get the chance to feel ‘safe’? To truly trust? To not feel judged?

      13 people dying from suicide EVERY MINUTE. This fact answers the question. And it is brutal to read.

      What would the statistics be if the 7.125 billion people on planet Earth simply had the chance to feel SAFE? To be really heard? To talk to someone who simply cares and doesn’t want anything from them? To not feel judged?

      It is actually devastating to realise we are so far away from this.

      I have a friend who was honest enough to tell me he doesn’t do anything or talk to anyone without a hidden agenda: if there isn’t something in it for him. If we are really honest, how many of us are living this way? And if we are, do we think others can’t feel this when they talk to us?

      There is a lot written these days about being your authentic self. About not wearing a ‘mask’. About speaking your truth. How many of us actually feel able to do that or even know what it means?

      So what if this blog is showing us that our most important work has nothing to do with the job we have or our daily chores or raising ‘good’ kids, and has EVERYTHING to do with CONNECTION. To check in with ourselves and then really BE with the people around us. To choose to talk and really listen. To be open and seek to understand. That’s it. Nothing more.

  5. BBC Radio 2 News on 12 October 2016 stated that there is an “unprecedented rise in violence and suicides in prison”.
    The Prison Governors Association want to set up an Independent Enquiry into the state of UK prisons.

    1. Another BBC radio 2 News this week said that in the UK , the highest form of death in male under aged 49 was suicide.
      This is serious, this is huge and this is not going to go away until we get to the root cause of what is actually going on.
      Why are men taking their lives?
      What on earth is going on for them?
      WHY have we not got the answers>
      We seem to know how to send a solar powered thing around the world and marvel at the glory of advanced science but here on our watch we have not worked out why suicide is increasing and has now become a major global problem.
      Something is not making sense.
      Not talking about this hush hush topic is deeply damaging to all of us.

  6. The numbers of people killing themselves is alarming and the fact that this is happening increasingly in young people is VERY concerning. Why is it that we can have top professionals – doctors, dentists and lawyers killing themselves? How can we have journalists and magazine editors killing themselves?These are professions through which people can support others and bring awareness and education to the world – but how is this possible if the professionals concerned are harbouring suicidal thoughts, are feeling depressed and in some cases making plans on how to end their lives?

    1. This is now exploring who is suiciding. Not only is it our youth but professionals as you mention in your comment Shevon. Again very serious and more questions and conversations about this hidden topic needs to be front page news until we all wake up and do out bit.
      No point blaming anyone as we each have a RESPONSIBILITY.
      What brings another to such a low point that they contemplate suicide?
      Let us not forget that these statistics quoted in this blog do not include those who have not ended their life but nevertheless have had the thoughts and may have even attempted suicide but not made the statistic.
      This would increase the figure big time and this fact alone cannot be dismissed.

  7. We need to look at why we work to bring other topics into the open but we leave this huge and ever growing epidemic of self murder and all the suffering leading up to and then caused by suicide, in the dark… Is there a self responsibility we are avoiding here?

    We must allow intimacy with each other now, like today, at the grocery store, at work on the bus… because we all want to be met, witnessed and appreciated for who we are, for the special light only we can bring to others.

    I feel it is only without this connection that we can have such a devastating loss of purpose that we would annihilate ourselves…

    …and with this understanding it is every persons responsibility to stop hiding and protecting who they are; to open up, be real, get honest and vulnerable every day so others feel permission to come out of painful isolation and do the same; connect.

    I can feel that it is my & our most ultimate responsibility, to be open and fully loving in the world and that all the many years I have hidden myself away have been torturous because I could feel the harm it was doing me and every one else.

    There is so much suffering in this world we have created.
    No more procrastination.
    No more adding to the hell by indulging in all the ways we use to hide our light/love/who we are.
    It is time to contribute to the ‘coming home to who we really are’,
    It is time to know we are working to contribute on the side of Love.

    It is time to remember how to open up and be love with our selves and each other.

  8. The Mental Health Foundation have a very interesting campaign going on at the moment called ‘I’m Fine’.

    You know when we say “I’m fine” when asked how we are. This term “I’m fine” can have so many meanings and undertones like

    “Back off”
    “I don’t feel great but don’t know what to say”
    “I don’t trust you to share what I am really feeling”,
    “I don’t what to bother you by telling you the truth.”

    Honouring what we feel and being able to express that is such an important part of taking care of our health and well-being.

    Well worth taking a look at this 2 minute video that the Mental Health Foundation have produced from speaking with people on the streets.
    https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/podcasts-and-videos/im-fine

  9. Thank you for giving us this video link Shevon which is well worth watching.
    https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/podcasts-and-videos/im-fine

    You get to see and feel a cross section of people and the message from the Mental Health Foundation says only 19% who say they are fine actually mean it.
    Does this then confirm that we find lying quite normal?
    Is this spelling out to us that we somehow don’t feel safe to speak the truth?
    Is this telling us that we like one lady said may feel judged so we hold back?
    WHY has saying “I’m Fine” become an auto-pilot way of communicating for most of us?
    How does our body feel when we say “I am fine” but our thoughts and feelings are saying something quite different?
    How comfortable are we saying the words “I’m Fine”?

  10. And how many under 18s are we hearing about committing suicide too? It feels like there is a tsunami coming and what we are seeing is the first wave. The cyber abuse statistics are through the roof and increasing.

    I read that suicide is one of the biggest killers of teens in the US. What is the bed we are making for ourselves here? It really does make you ask yourself the question: how often am I checking in with myself, never mind anyone else?
    For a subject that can feel quite disempowering, that is a very empowering thought: that we can step away from this blog with an action to take to CONNECT, COMMUNICATE and CARE with and for ourselves at the very least.

    The thing that comes through for me here, too, is consistency. I might be doing these 3 things for myself and others throughout an average week or month, but how much am I doing them consistently EVERY DAY, every MOMENT and how much more could I bring to others if I doubled down on that consistency?

  11. Reading the comments and conversation on this blog, I really appreciate the platform that you are offering here Simple Living Global for hush-hush subjects like suicide to be discussed openly. This website brings so much awareness to our daily lives and it is very clear that it is not about hiding away, closing our eyes and trying to be as comfortable as possible. In fact it is the opposite in that from what you share we are called to wake up, if we decide to, look around and see that things are not good. It may be an uncomfortable read at times for some of us, but change only happens when we feel dis-ease. What I love about this website and the author are that they are presenting another way to live and that we can get out of the life difficulties that we experience if we are willing to make fundamental lifestyle changes. This really is a very valuable website for humanity.

    1. Thank you Shevon for your appreciation of this website and what it is presenting.
      Simple Living Global is not going away. It is here for the long haul and there will be nothing stopping us delivering truth week after week so that humanity do have some questions to ponder on and consider. This website is not trying to drum up business or raise the hits on how many visit the blogs or anything like that. It is simply saying –
      Dear World, things are not working, have a read of this and start by answering some of the questions. If you feel uncomfortable, great something is happening. If it feels like twaddle and makes no sense, just click the x and move on.
      Yes this platform is raising awareness on topics that are hush hush in society like Suicide which is of great benefit and value to humanity.
      Maybe not right now but one day this website for humanity will be studied by scholars who will find enough content to be left in no doubt that there is another way to live and it really is about Simple Living and bringing it Back to Basics.

      1. Well Simple Living Global you are leading the way and there is no other website like this on Earth.

        I really value having this platform so that I can comment and discuss important news topics on the state of our world.

        Here is one that was shared with me recently and it has got me asking a lot of questions –

        BBC News – 16th April 2018

        https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-43753073

        A US study has found that Ketamine has “shown promise” in the treatment of major depression and suicidal thoughts.

        Ketamine has a reputation of being a party drug but it is licensed as an anaesthetic.

        The study looked at 68 people at imminent risk of suicide.

        All of the patients were treated with a stay in hospital and anti-depressants and they were given ketamine through a nasal spray.

        The study found that those given the ketamine nasal spray had a much greater improvement in depression symptoms in the first four weeks.

        However the effects levelled out at 25 days.

        Note four weeks is 28 days.

        The results of this study now means that the drug is “a step closer to being prescribed on the NHS.” (Royal College of Psychiatrists).

        At the same time there are concerns that this drug could now be open to abuse.

        How can we be heralding a drug as the answer but then be concerned about the potential for it to be abused?

        Is drug use itself not abuse to the human body?

        So what is this ‘extra’ abuse that we are concerned about?

        How can a drug that is used as an anaesthetic truly be effective in the treatment of major depression and suicide?

        Anaesthetic is a painkiller and so even though the symptoms may have reduced with this new treatment, does it help us to get to the root cause or is the pain just being numbed?

        If it were the Truth would it not remain effective beyond 25 days and not peak and plateau then?

        I feel that there are many questions that we need to seriously consider, BEFORE getting excited about this or any new drug treatment.

        Anything that does not support us to get to the root cause of our ills, I know is not the Truth.

  12. Dear World

    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/dec/19/junior-doctor-rose-polge-killed-herself-over-worries-about-staying-in-medicine?CMP=oth_b-aplnews_d-2

    This news story is telling us that even our doctors are suiciding and the family of this young doctor are saying “Doctors can feel a dreadful sense of personal failure and inadequacy if they struggle to keep working. Sometimes, the despair can be sudden and overwhelming.”

    What is this spelling out to us?
    WHY is this not on front page news headlines?
    We value our medical professionals and yet we put enormous pressure on them.
    WHY does a young doctor who is perceived in our world as highly intelligent taking their own life?
    WHY are our doctors working super long hours?
    WHY do our doctors have such heavy workloads?

    What is going on for our doctors that it leads them to suicide?
    What about all those that don’t make the statistics who have suicidal thoughts?
    What quality are we receiving if some of our doctors are not coping with life?
    What is it going to take before we stop and address this?

  13. It occurs to me that doctors are required (in the U.S. anyway) to ask women, (in the privacy of the treatment room), “do you feel safe at home?” and that perhaps we have a responsibility to find a way to check in with them; to ask them if they are safe?

    How safe is a person under so much pressure and with a lack of sleep?
    How safe is a person who does not feel free to express their inner struggles?
    Who’s responsibility is it to make sure our doctors are OK?

    We have created a set up where a professional care givers do not feel safe to openly express or seek support for mental emotional challenges.

    There exists a ‘picture’ that doctors are supposed to seem competent and well adjusted at all times despite the grueling set up of med school and the lack of support for them through out a highly demanding career…

    So, we are seeing that a major part of our health system is modeling a serious lack of support for the individual and even requiring study and work hours which are abusive (harm-full) to the mind and body… and we are seeing the very high toll this has, in the large numbers of doctors killing themselves to escape… this is inhumane.

    But just imagine what a ripple effect it would have if we all became outspoken about requiring the current system to be renovated to be more gentle and supportive of our doctors and care givers as human beings; for them to be well and do their jobs well?

    1. A great comment Jo Elmer and much is being presented here. Bringing in that word ‘safe’ opens up so much more. So in the USA doctors have a duty to ask women if they are safe in their own home but what about the doctors is what you are so rightly saying?
      Who checks in with them and WHY is this not something that is universal. In other words, WHY is the whole world not agreeing that ALL doctors and anyone in the caring medical profession, offered the space to openly express what they feel in the utmost confidence?

      It is true what you say that there exists this image of our doctors to be ‘competent and well adjusted at all times’ and at no point is it considered that they are too human and may not be able to cope with the demands of med school and then a healthcare system that is over stretched and over worked and patients presenting multi-symptomatic illnesses. In other words they do not come with one thing but multiple complications which further add to the workloads of our doctors.

      Just losing one doctor to suicide should be alarm bells that something is seriously not right. More questions need to be asked and topics like this blog need to get out there so more become aware of the seriousness of what is actually going on today in our world.

  14. This is a much needed conversation on doctors’ suiciding, as so many of us are not aware that this is going on. We have a Doctor here Dr. Maxine Szramka talking about this also.

    https://drmaxine.com.au/2016/06/01/how-at-risk-of-suicide-is-your-doctor/

    On her website, Dr. Maxine shares that doctors have the highest rates of burnout and that health care professionals are up to 4 times more likely to suicide. Dr. Maxine also speaks of her own experience of going through medical school, well worth a read.

    As Jo says in her comment above – do we have a responsibility to check in with our doctors on how they are? No one person can do it all. For every person to grow and develop and be all that they are true care is needed. Relationships are a two-way street. Doctors are not superhuman and they don’t know everything and so there is a responsibility that we all have in that, as we take care of ourselves we are also taking care of doctors. One example is that we are then less of a drain on our health care systems. We may believe that as one person we cannot make a difference but this is not the truth. We do all make a difference.

    1. Thank you again Shevon for your contribution to expand this blog further. The link you provide is well worth reading as it is coming from a doctor. She states 85% student doctors have the highest rates of burnout.
      So how did these guys enter medical school?
      Could it be possible that they came in exhausted and not taking deep care of themselves?
      Could it be possible that they were simply not equipped to deal with the enormous pressure and workloads of medical training?
      How bad do things get that our most professional medical carers are contemplating suicide?
      How come there seems to be no true support out there for them because of this stigma that they should be able to deal with what comes?
      WHY are we seeing this group of people as different to any other human being?
      In other words they have their problems and they need support too.
      What is the true quality of care being offered to the patient if the doctor is unwell in some way?
      What is going to happen in the long-term if we do not start talking about this on platforms like this website?

  15. Suicide, not combat, is the leading cause of death in soldiers deployed to the Middle East to fight the so-called Islamic State.

    This is the opening paragraph in an article in Unilad on the suicide rates in Operation Inherent Resolve.
    http://www.unilad.co.uk/news/more-troops-commit-suicide-than-die-fighting-isis/

    The article also say that -.

    ‘The army has the highest percentage among the services for suicide. Of the 269 active-duty troops who took their own lives in 2014, 122 were soldiers.’

    Currently experts on military suicide do not know the cause.

    The information in your article Simple Living Global, presents a lot of answers and questions that would certainly support military personnel.

    It is not natural for us to be at war, whether it be within ourselves, with another person, or with another country as our natural state is homeostasis and to live harmoniously with each other.

    We only have to look at the latest information that has come out about World War II to see that the only way that the troops were able to invade France was because the tank commanders were high on drugs.
    https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/sep/25/blitzed-norman-ohler-adolf-hitler-nazi-drug-abuse-interview

    This confirms to me that in order to sustain going through war those fighting have to numb themselves with stimulates otherwise they would feel the intense agony of what they are being called to do. Having this understanding I can see that suicide would be a natural consequence of being at war as the internal agony would be too much for one to bear.

    Sharing this blog and The War Inside Us https://simplelivingglobal.com/the-war-inside-us/ would really support military personnel and all of us, to understand what is going on and the very damaging effects of war and how it starts.

    1. Your comment here Shevon says a lot and is well worth the reader going through the links and asking questions.
      http://www.unilad.co.uk/news/more-troops-commit-suicide-than-die-fighting-isis/

      This first link states – “The reasons why suicide ranks as the highest cause of troop deaths is poorly understood, according to experts on military suicide.”
      We are willing to up the firearms budget and any other weapons needed for combat but we not have the same priority for our troops.
      This is serious stuff when the highest cause of deaths in the military is suicide.
      What this blog is presenting may just have some answers as you say to support military personnel. If we just applied some common sense we may just all agree that it is not a natural innate thing for a human being to fight or be at war with anyone.

      So it makes sense that tank commanders were high on drugs in World War II.
      Is this simply telling us that we need drugs to carry out acts that are not natural because we all know drugs of any kind, alter our natural state?

  16. BBC News – 28 November 2016
    ‘Record number’ of prison suicides in England and Wales

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38126646

    From January 2016 – 28 November 2016, 102 suicides were recorded. The highest number of inmates taking their own lives since records began in 1978 says The Howard League for Penal Reform.

    The number of people dying by suicide in prison has reached epidemic proportions.
    No one should be so desperate while in the care of the state that they take their own life.
    Cutting staff and prison budgets while allowing the number of people behind bars to grow unchecked has created a toxic mix of violence, death and human misery.”
    Frances Crook – Chief Executive, Howard League for Penal Reform

    What is going on inside, behind bars that gives rise to this?
    Are we missing something?
    Are we able to join the dots and see something is clearly not right?

    Could it be possible that living in confined conditions with very little movement, at times, is one reason for these statistics?
    Could it be possible that sharing a tiny cell has something to do with why our inner-mates want to end their life?
    Could it be possible that the resources are simply not there to deal with our offenders?
    Could it be possible that true rehabilitation requires the word RESPONSIBILITY?
    Could it be possible that a flat screen TV and kettle is not enough for many of our prisoners?
    Could it be possible that true care for another can only come if those giving are deeply caring in their everyday choices?
    Could it be possible that lack of true connection has something to do with this ‘record number’ of prison suicides?

    As the author of this blog and comment, I have lived experience having worked inside a UK prison.

    As a support worker I was able to alert the offender management team who commended me for bringing to their attention a prisoner wanting to end his life.

    I was new to the ‘job’ so to speak with no previous experience. So how did I know?

    Simple – I connected with this man and he told me everything. He said he knew I was not judging him and I was out to support him.

    How I done it was because I choose to live a deeply self-connecting life. That means it is easy then to observe what is going on with others with great accuracy.

    Spending money on mental health training may not be the simple solution.
    This blog is presenting more and well worth a re-read.

  17. Mental Health on College Campuses.

    Please note that these statistics are for 2015.
    This link was posted in January 2016.
    So what are the real figures today in January 2017

    http://college.usatoday.com/2016/01/30/mental-health-by-the-numbers/

    Approximately 42,773 Americans commit suicide every year, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, many of who are college students.

    1 in 12 U.S. college student makes a suicide plan according to National Data on Campus Suicide and Depression.

    49.5% students reported feeling hopeless in 2015.

    60.5% students reported feeling lonely in 2015 – a common indicator of depression.

    More teenagers and young adults die from suicide than from all other medical illnesses combined.

    Two-thirds of students who are struggling do not seek treatment.

    Suicide is the number 2 leading cause of death among those aged 14-34, according to the Center for Disease Control.

    This is confirming that something is seriously going on with our college students.

    Depression and suicide has always been a correlation and if so if a common indicator of depression is feeling lonely, could it be possible that when we are not connected to who we truly are, we feel alone, isolated and lonely?

    As this blog is saying could this be the simple answer?

    Could it be possible that campus life is not all it is cut out to be and the reality hits hard when home comforts are simply not there in college life?
    Could it be possible that our students cannot hide in the comfort of home life at the campus so the lack of connection to self is felt even more?
    Could it be possible that most are choosing to live a life that is dis-connected from who they truly are in essence, so there is no one really to go to or seek connection with?
    Could it be possible that our education system is bringing theory but there is a missing ingredient?
    Could it be possible that all of our education needs to be about responsibility to connect and self-care as the basic requirement before any teaching begins?

    Is it time to at least explore if there is another way as nothing is working and the statistics are increasing as this blog and comment confirms.

  18. ‘ There are more deaths from suicide than from war and homicide together. ‘ I had no idea that this was the case I have had to sit with this today as this is huge, so many people who have gone beyond despair feeling there is no way back, we are certainly keeping this matter behind closed doors. From reading this blog and it’s comments it shows there are vulnerable people in all walks of life from the disadvantaged to the rich and famous, to the person we are passing in the street.

    The statistics seem to keep growing…

    Today The Guardian reports from The Samaritans.. there is strong link between disadvantage and suicide https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/mar/06/strong-link-between-disadvantage-and-suicide-says-samaritans

    ‘ Suicide rates are two to three times higher in the most deprived neighbourhoods compared to the most affluent, and admissions to hospital after self-harm are two times higher. ‘

    Thank you for writing this article Simple Living Global and bringing the facts about this rarely spoken of topic to the world, suggesting ways we can start to bring a change to this shocking global situation by genuinely caring, asking how are you? and truly listening. I find it empowering that I can be a part in bringing about change by caring for myself and then taking this care out to others.

    Reading this blog has certainly inspired me to open conversations with people about suicide. I love that this website asks the Why Questions, the Is It Possible’s, and offers Simple Ways to start to bring the change our world so desperately needs.

    1. Great Ruth that you find this blog inspiring and love the website, which is asking plenty of Questions.

      “The important thing is to NOT stop questioning”
      Albert Einstein

      Our Questions Questions blog is well worth reading as it literally spells out the value and importance of asking questions.
      https://simplelivingglobal.com/questions-questions/

      Back to your comment about suicide and the link you provide states –
      A government spokesman said: “Every death by suicide is a tragedy but we are taking action to make sure we reduce rates by 10 per cent by 2020.”
      Well that is in three years time so we all better take note and get these statistics down.

      But is it that simple?
      Are we able to see and feel that most of us live very protected and guarded for whatever reason and find it difficult to open up to a stranger or talk deeply about stuff?

      Having attended a alcohol free dinner evening last month with 60 other people, what was interesting to observe was how many struggle to open up and how we avoid certain people. This then plays out in every area of our life, so we find it hard to engage with others on the street.

      We can all feel and we are all human. That we would agree.
      We are on some level interconnected and we can also feel that even if we may not be aware of this fact on a particle level.
      It is not about feeling sorry, giving hand outs to those who have less but it is about taking Responsibility, opening up and not judging where another is at on the social scale. If we can begin to deeply connect to our inner most self then it becomes easy to relate to anyone from any background. This claim is coming from the author of this blog who most certainly touches lives and it comes from staying open and meeting people for who they are. In other words they get met and the outer stuff – what religion, gender, culture, where they live or what job they do or don’t do is not in the equation.

      Having travelled overseas to be with a homeless man, who requested I was there when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer speaks volumes. WHY?
      I was his only true friend and never judged him for the choices he made in his life.
      We can all make a difference just by simply connecting with others without the guard of protection across our chest with an invisible message saying “don’t come too close – I do not want to get hurt again.”

      1. What an amazing story – to travel across the Atlantic to support someone who had noone else and to do so for no personal gain or investment, out of pure care, simply because he needed help.

        Who does that?

        Is the fact that such true care is so rare part of why we are walking around so closed and protected?

  19. What is going on in a person’s life that the only recourse is to take your own life?

    How does someone get to that point?

    Could it be, to commit suicide, that person doesn’t have an ounce of love for themselves?

    If so, why dosen’t that person love themselves enough to not end their life?

    We live in a world that has no time for anyone. With the introduction of the internet, smartphones, iPads and the vast array of technological gadgets, human contact is dwindling.

    With more and more emphasis being put on the outer, its no wonder the inner is being neglected and feeling alone and isolated.

    Could it really be as simple as this blog asks, which is to :

    CONNECT
    COMMUNICATE
    CARE

    I feel it is. A simple example of how the three C’s above do make a difference.

    I was in a supermarket, in a queue, at the till. I was observing the cashier who was just going through the motions with no one engaging with her. When it came to my turn, I saw she had a name tag on and I greeted her with ‘good morning Melania’.

    A broad smile took over her face and she became a lot more animated. We had a little chat and at the end I simply said ‘Thank you Melania’ and left her still smiling.

    I myself have been inspired to be this way with people by my wife who does this wherever she goes and with anyone she meets.

    If everyone in the world were to connect, communicate and care, then maybe they may meet that one person that needs that ever so slight nudge to bring them back to thinking that life is still worth living.

    Thank you Simple Living Global for this much needed blog. Considering that suicide is preventable in a lot of cases, for someone to suicide is a tragedy. Not just for themselves but for the family, friends, work colleagues and even the emergency services.

    If even one life were saved through just connecting with that person, its not really one person that is being saved, it is potentially hundreds.

  20. 1http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4325988/Nurses-risk-suicide-profession.htm

    l8,998 suicides in England and Wales between 2011 and 2014 in people aged 20-64.
    In 7 out of 10 cases the job of the individual was recorded.

    That’s a huge amount of people taking their lives, with the highest percentage being women. Are these people being cared about, listened to, understood and supported, to help stop the isolation with the pressures they feel, why is our work a factor in this devastating decision?

    If this many people took their lives, how many people did this number of suicides actually affect?
    Consider the emergency services, family, friends, work colleges and more… the numbers must be vast.

  21. I feel the suicide rate for young people is an indication that they have no role models in their life that they feel are ok.
    Children are born with a natural sense of what feels right. As they grow they need confirmation that what they are feeling is right.

    When I was parenting my children, I found that they really wanted boundaries in their lives even though they resisted. I now feel that what they wanted was to get a confirmation from me that what they were feeling was true. I thought I was teaching them things about life, but no, I was telling them things they already knew. I have always felt that my children taught me as much as I taught them, but now I understand that if I was more open to it, they could have helped me remember all the things I choose to forget as a child – the things that I am starting to remember now, with support from Simple Living Global.

    I feel it is critical that we get our own lives back on track, so we can truly parent our children by confirming to them that they are amazing beings and all they need to do is be themselves.

  22. I have recently become aware that many people are turning to social media for support when feeling suicidal.

    What is it about our society that people feel they can’t turn to each other for help… to be heard?

    Could it be we are so taken up with so many distractions that we are simply not there for each other?

    The feelings of aloneness that must be felt by these people, surely what they need is warm caring communication and understanding from a lived way… Could this be the answer?

    We can all feel what each other is feeling, would us taking responsibility for our lives in how we are living and therefore able to connect with people on a deeper level, one they feel they can respond to, be the way to turn this round?

    We are 7 billion people on this planet, can we be the prevention of suicide by our choices in how we live?

  23. A recent news story here about a young mum who hanged herself in a mental health ward.
    http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/young-mum-found-hanged-mental-12536197

    First child aged 17.
    It was after the birth of her second baby in 2015 that she ‘became anxious and detached’.
    This young woman was described as a “brilliant and resilient person who coped well with motherhood”

    The fact she told her mother about her disturbing visions is a clear sign that something was not right and she did ask her GP if she could be suffering from postpartum psychosis, which is a severe episode of mental illness following the birth.
    So this is a confirmation that she was questioning her mental health.

    Could it be possible that our GPs are under so much pressure to get it right, they did not take this young woman seriously?

    So do we blame the GP, social workers and those in the medical profession who promised a medication review and did not follow it through?

    Are we willing to see that maybe it is not a clear cut case of blame but that there are more things to consider as to WHY she was spending time on suicide forums and researching methods to take her own life?

    WHY is the Internet allowed to publish this stuff and no alert button to those who need to know that someone is clearly contemplating suicide?

    How do we stop this and where can we learn lessons?
    When are we going to ask the WHY questions so we can get answers?
    Does this blog give us some insight about this tragic loss of life?

  24. http://indianexpress.com/article/india/in-80-farmer-suicides-due-to-debt-loans-from-banks-not-moneylenders-4462930/

    When we think of suicide I wonder how many of us think of farmers taking their own lives because of crop failure, family problems and illness.

    This news story states that 80% of farmers killed themselves in 2015 because of bankruptcy or debts after taking loans from banks and registered microfinance institutions.

    How serious is this and what about all those that are left behind because of one suicide?
    How tragic that these people see themselves as failures?

    Having grown up in the Indian culture where my ancestors were all farmers, I know there is enormous pressure to ‘make it’. There is a huge emphasis on making money and then going for more and never stopping. Our health and well being are no where on the radar and it has become an obsessive drive to just keep going, accumulating wealth for our future generations.

    I know my great grandfather sent his son on a ship to Africa to make more money and he was told never to return unless he came back with two gold bricks. He left a wife and family behind of which my grandfather was one son. It was simply because the farmers’ land and income was not seen as enough and they wanted more. That more has never stopped and it runs through the veins of the majority of Indian people.

  25. Steve Ford wrote in Nursing Times on 17th March 2017 –

    ‘The risk of suicide among female nurses is 23% above the national average, whilst care workers in general are at higher risk.’

    Considering that nursing and care working are caring professions this is crazy.

    What kind of pressure are they under that they feel the only resort is to end their lives?

    Just as Dr’s suicide is higher than the average population suicide, as detailed in this blog by Simple Living Global on What is Intelligence? – https://simplelivingglobal.com/what-is-intelligence-part-2/
    there must be something about the way that we train and care for or not care for – in this case our medical and care work staff that are leading to these deadly figures.

    If we don’t start taking care of our medical staff and regarding Drs and nurses and care workers as important members of society, who are to take care of themselves first, then we will continue to lose out on the true quality of care that we could be receiving from our medical systems.

  26. ‘Horror at the Stock Exchange’, that was today’s front page headlines in Metro newspaper – 16th August 2017

    They are referring to a man who is said to have climbed over a glass barrier on the 7th floor of the London Stock Exchange onto the marble floor in the lobby.

    Colleagues were sent home.

    What could have lead this man to such extreme action?

    What was he going through and what pressure was he under to take his own life?

    How will this affect his colleagues and all those that knew him including his wife?

    Were there signs?

    Could anyone have intervened?

    So many questions arise when someone commits suicide, with often people wracked with guilt trying to understand what has happened.

    No doubt in the ensuing weeks and months we will find out more, but yet again we have lost another human life due to suicide.

    How many more workplaces is this happening in and WHY?

  27. http://thegardenisland.com/news/local/suicide-death-toll-rising-sharply/article_89f1f826-c689-5e9c-9249-8433aa25c825.html

    10 September 2017
    Kauai Island Daily newspaper is telling us that the death toll on Kauai is rising sharply, alarming officials and devastating families.

    WHY on earth do we have a paradise island where we all dream of living, telling us that drugs are going on and people are committing suicide?
    What is going on?

    ‘Epidemic’ can be a charged and risky word, but in the case of suicide on Kauai this year, it is simply accurate according to KPD Assistant Chief Bryson Ponce and Kaulukukui. Clearly many residents suffer from severe depression and there are not enough treatment resources to reach them all.

    Ponce also says that after many years of battling methamphetamine and other stimulants as Kauai’s top drug abuse problem, police have recently begun seeing a spike in heroin overdoses.

    Figures for 2017 for people who survived suicide are not yet available, so the reported death toll only represents part of the picture.

    Suicide experts are not surprised that this is happening in an isolated rural country as they have noted historically very high suicide rates in Wyoming, Montana and Alaska.

    Many of us like the thought of being in Alaska away from the busy-ness of daily life as it seems so full of nature and ideal, but is it really if this is what our suicide experts are telling us?

    “As well-intentioned as such events are – walks, marches and other kinds of demonstrations – there is scant proof they actually reduce suicide.
    The important thing is to make sure that people are talking about suicide, how best to help people left behind and how to prevent future deaths.”
    Julie Cerel
    Psychology Professor – University of Kentucky
    President – The American Association of Suicidology

    On that note is this top professor talking some common sense to us all?
    Let’s at least start talking if we are ever going to see change in the future.
    Is she bang on about our well intentioned rallies and demonstrations, which simply have no bearing on what the root cause is of WHY someone chooses to take their own life?

    Are we ready to pay attention to this woman because she is a bigwig academic and our world tends to place them in society as those who know what they are talking about?

    Are we ready to get talking by reading blogs like this, Depression and Methamphetamine, on this website, which are mentioned in this news story, so we have more awareness and are better informed?

    Could this be a start then to share with others and get a deeper understanding so one day we can get to the root cause of WHY anyone would want to end their life?

    Do we each have a Responsibility to act and do something and not just leave it to governments and others in our community to take the lead?

  28. Sitting on the tube this morning I glance over at my neighbour’s paper and read the following 2 headlines on the same page-

    Hairdresser killed herself in Ibiza after drunken row

    Student took cab to bridge with friend and leapt off

    I am in my late 30’s and I remember when suicide was a very rare thing to hear of. Now it is common place with more and more cases from the young to the old including students, doctors and other professionals being reported daily.

    The statistics in this blog already affirm that the situation is getting worse.

    Are we really asking the right questions with our research to get to the root cause?

    What if there was something we could all do in the way that we live that would stop the numbers escalating?

    What if we were more interactive with each other in our homes, in our workplaces and in our communities and communicated without argument but with genuine respect, care and understanding?

    Would this have an impact on the wider society and stop the escalation of harmfull behaviours like suicide?

  29. I recall reading a few months ago about a man committing suicide at the London Stock Exchange. In today’s Metro News they say he worked there 31 years.

    What on earth was going on for him?

    We all have this thing that those who work in the stock exchange are highly paid, so what happened and how come no one around even noticed?

    Are we so busy in our life that we don’t engage, meet or talk to anyone with a genuine expression?

    Are we so busy with our work and other life that we find no time in our day to give to another?

    Is there anything we could learn from what has happened in this tragic case?

    I have come to learn that ‘doing my bit’ in the world means engaging with others but not imposing or trying to get info out of them or any nonsense like that.

    I notice that the more open I am and remain steady, people do open up too and it does make a difference.

    I could write a book with the amount of people I stop and talk to daily wherever I go and it’s been like that for a long time.

    Is it time we all felt ok with being open and genuine and honest when we talk to another person and it may just be the answer as it has been known that people do find it easier talking to a stranger?

    I am living proof of the stories and secrets people share with me and I have never met them before.

  30. Metro news story – 25 October 2017

    A family man with a partner who is pregnant and a former professional footballer told the Metro how a stranger stopped him from taking his own life. So to most of us, the general public, we could say ‘what more could anyone want or need’ as we generalise and think professional footballers have got it all and have the perfect life.

    But the question is – what is going on that this man went missing and was about to kill himself?
    How serious is this and do we ever get to question WHY this goes on for someone who most of us would envy and think they have the ‘perfect life’.

    Is being famous, a celebrity or any other enhanced status that society gives us not really what we want or need? Is this why those in elite positions suffering even if it looks like they have it all including the fame, family and all that comes with that?

    What this story and many others about suicide that are coming to us more and more in the news is something is clearly wrong and we cannot ignore the simple fact that our mind is not right if we even contemplate giving up on life.
    In this case it makes no sense to leave three children and a wife so there has to be something else going on…without digging deep and asking more questions like this blog is doing, we will keep going around and around and this will mean more news like this is coming.

  31. Metro News – 25 October 2017

    A retired police inspector suicided the day after his daughter got married.

    My first thought was – how devastating for all those related to this man.

    How do those left behind comprehend or contemplate what has happened?

    Most of us would think a job like that would be rewarding for a family man – so how come he suffered with anxiety?

    What did he have in his mind that he could not deal with that led him down the road of giving up on life?

    How many more stories are we going to read about in the coming days and months?

    What was going on for this man who made a difference to so many but chose to end it all for some reason?

    WHY are we all so stunned when it comes to suicide and talking about it openly?

    Is this blog presenting some simple stuff that could support and help us right now?

    Is it high time we all started talking and make it our business to talk to our neighbours and those in our community, just to engage and meet them for who they are and not what job they do or don’t do?

    Could that simple act make a difference as nothing else is working?

  32. Evening Standard – 10 November 2017

    News story about a 21 year old man, with two children, who shot himself and his face was donated and given to another man who underwent the transplant of 56 hours surgery.
    There is more, the man who received the transplant surgery of the new face, was after failing in a suicide bid when he put a rifle to his chin.

    So here we have both men attempting suicide and one died and the other received the face of the dead man.

    Have we stopped to imagine the pain these guys were in at the time or the state of their mental health?

    What would make any young father of two young children want to end their life?

    What has society got to if this is going on in our world today?

    Can we afford to sit around and allow and accept everything that happens or are we prepared to at least do something?

    Not talking about news stories like this ensures things will stay the same, but expressing what we feel means change is going to happen.

    Is it high time we brought these types of topics and blogs like this into education, so our youth are wisely informed and thereafter have a choice in what is needed, should they feel any suicidal thoughts entering their minds?

    If we just sit back and do nothing, then we can be assured this type of stuff is going to be our new normal.

  33. The Times – 19 October 2017
    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/self-harming-up-by-70-among-young-teenage-girls-k73k2khvv

    Self-harming up by 70% among young teenage girls, aged between 13 and 16.

    50% of adolescents who committed suicide had a history of self-harm.

    Children who harm themselves are 9 times more like to die from causes such as drugs or violence and 17 times more likely to suicide.

    The report by Manchester University was published in the British Medical Journal.

    These highlights are enough to give us a real insight into what is going on in our world today.
    How serious is this and what is behind the huge rise?

    This same story is in The Week dated 4 November 2017 saying researchers did not look into what could be driving the increase.

    Hello – would it sensible and wise to make this a priority?
    If we have not considered this important factor in a major study, where does it leave us?

    What if we interviewed the parents or guardians of these young girls, would we learn more?

    What if we had first hand information about the cyber-bullying, sexting and other pressures that are placed on them?

    What if fitting in and seeing self-harm as cool and ok allows it to rise and go unseen?

    What if there are heaps of reasons why a young teenage girl self harms?

    What if there are no real role models around for these girls?

    Are there people in the community that these girls can confide in?

    Do any of us on the street know more and could say more?

    Are we keeping away because we think it is not our business?

    When are we going to make everything our business, if it is harming?

    I was able to support a teenager who was self-harming by building trust in our relationship.

    This was simple as all I had to do was meet them for who they truly are, without judgement or trying to fix the problem. Not freaking out with what was shared, allowed this young girl to see and feel that I was a steady person in her life and anything she said was safe.

    Of course, I knew her mother and after some time, I suggested we have a meeting with her mother and it was a game changer. Taking no sides and not wanting an outcome, things shifted. What I did do was open my mouth and say what I felt and how being honest with our communication was super important for all of us.

    What if us elders in the community can make a difference with our wisdom and experience?
    What if we need to stay open and allow others to feel they can approach us because we are steady and consistent with Living life?

    I know we can all make a difference, but hoping things like self-harm is going to go away is not going to happen. We each have a responsibility, a duty to humanity to do our bit and that way we know when we read news stories, we are not simply sitting on the fence, doing nothing.

  34. Between 2013 – 2016, 71 students in Hong Kong took their own lives.

    http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/2060242/education-chief-meets-hong-kong-pupils-discuss

    At a specially convened legislative council meeting, both school children and parents gave accounts of long school days, over-stretched teaching staff and hours of homework.

    The meeting was called in response to a Government commissioned report that stated there was no direct link between the education system and the fact so many students had taken their lives.

    One primary three student shared at the meeting that he could barely rest and spent 2 hours a day on homework.

    He said “I feel tired every day and cannot sleep. Almost every subject needs assessment, including dictations, I have assessments almost every other day. Do you know we are having a hard time? Could the education system be changed?”

    This is a primary 3 student talking like this. A student who is in their 3rd year of primary school so they are below 11 years of age!

    One can tell from the tone of what was said this child is clearly struggling and is crying out for help.

    What happens if this anguish goes on?
    Who can contain that misery?
    Are we then surprised when pupils then suicide?

    We ought to take more notice of what our children are saying to us. The articulateness of this one student says it all so very clearly – things are not working as they are.

    Does the change start with us all prioritising who we are and what we feel is true for us over demands, expectations and ideals and beliefs about how we need to be and then supporting our children to know that it is acceptable for them to honour and respect what they feel is true, rather than go with the status quo?

    I am 39 years old and am still dealing with the effects of buckling to societal pressures rather than following what I know is true. To make changes this is taking very small steps everyday, however I know that it is possible to live the real me in the world and not be crushed by it as I know others that do live this way and so those daily choices to make changes are worth it.

    1. South China Morning Post – 7th April 2018

      Early Intervention for Psychosis Patients Cuts Suicide by Half – 12 year study in Hong Kong Finds.

      This 12 year study included more than 1,000 patients. Out of the 77 people that died, 73 were by suicide.

      What was the early intervention?

      People with symptoms like delusions and hallucinations were fast tracked to see a psychiatrist within 2 weeks.

      The treatment plan also included follow-ups with a dedicated case manager to help people deal with the challenges of daily life.

      Even though this early intervention dramatically reduced the suicide rate in Hong Kong, it was still more than double the international average.

      The country has a severe shortage of psychiatrists and mental health professionals.

      When measured against the World Health Organization’s recommended standards, Hong Kong is short of 400 psychiatrists with each case manager caring for up to 80 patients compared to 10 – 20 in other countries.

      Is it possible for case managers to truly care and offer the quality of service that their patients deserve when they have so many on their books?

      Is this how serious case reviews happen, where people with mental health problems end their lives by suicide and then an investigation occurs to ascertain how key professionals missed obvious warning signs?

      With large case loads how can the case managers offer the true support that they know their clients need?

      Why did we need such a large scale study or any study at all to confirm that early intervention works?

      We all know that with anything in life, if we intervene early and take correctional action the ill that is at risk of developing is unlikely to happen.

      How much time, money and resources were spent on something that is common sense?

      We need only use our eyes to study the world around us to see that early intervention is the key.

      Could the money spent have been used to fund posts for more case managers, so that there are more people on the ground able to carry out the early intervention work that is so needed?

      The article goes on to say that psychosis patients are more likely to commit suicide in the first three years after diagnosis and that most deaths occurred as patients did not have the skills to cope with their illness.

      The lifetime risk of suicide for people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or other psychotic symptoms was 12 times higher than that of the general population.

      This study highlighted that risk factors for suicide were:

      Poor drug regime adherence

      Depression

      Early relapse

      Hospital admission

      Hong Kong now have an increasing demand for psychiatric services, especially for children. There is also a rising need to treat cases of dementia as the population ages.

      In the financial year of 2015 – 2016 there were 226,000 mental health patients in Hong Kong. The increase among children was as high as 5% per year.

      This is one country.

      What if we considered the rest of the world as Hong Kong are not alone with this epidemic, what would be the figures?

      Have we considered that it is not just the person with the diagnosis that is affected but also everyone that know them including their family members?

      What has caused us to get to this place where mental health problems are common place and the risk of suicide keeps increasing?

      Is it because we stopped truly connecting, caring and communicating as this article by Simple Living Global is presenting?

      This study just looked at one type of mental illness – schizophrenia and psychotic symptoms.

      What if we considered other diagnoses – what would the figures be then?

  35. Talking to someone today they shared how their father was diagnosed with something when they were young that left him almost blind. There was no medical solution and he had to live with 10% vision. So he gave up on life and considered suicide as a way out.

    This young man was told by the school teacher that his daughter was crying in the playground consistently for two days and was he aware of this.
    He instantly changed his priority and got his life back on track. His wife learned to drive so she could take him to work, he found car pool and got back home and then continued working for another 25 years, until a back injury which stopped him ever working again.

    What makes me write this comment is how many young fathers and mothers have these suicidal thoughts and how may go through with it and how many are saved by their own children who feel what they are going through even if they think they do not understand or communicate it.

    Our world is hearing more now than ever about people of all ages, including children taking their own lives and it is high time we woke up as we are in serious trouble if this is going on under our nose or in our family or neighbourhood.

    This story confirms that this man changed his thoughts and his movements were about taking action and doing something, instead of giving up on life, which is what he initially did after hearing he was almost blind.

  36. PsychCentral
    https://psychcentral.com/news/2017/08/18/young-people-with-chronic-illness-three-times-more-likely-to-attempt-suicide/124813.html

    According to a new study from the University of Waterloo, in Ontario, Canada –
    Teenagers and young adults living with a chronic illness, such as Asthma, Diabetes may be at greater risk for mental illness and are about three times more likely to attempt suicide compared to their healthy peers.

    The researchers also found that the risk for suicide attempt is highest just after diagnosis of a chronic illness and emphasise the need for prevention and intervention measures during this vital time.

    WHY is having a chronic illness increasing the risk for the development of a psychiatric disorder which in turn, increases the risk for suicidal thoughts, plans and attempts?

    Are we going to find solutions or are we going to keep asking questions and get to the root cause of WHY this is happening?

    Can we as general on the street members of humanity, jo public start talking and keep talking and expressing what we feel so we can get to the bottom of this?

    Can blogs on this website on Asthma and Diabetes help us – see links

    https://simplelivingglobal.com/world-asthma-day/

    https://simplelivingglobal.com/world-diabetes-day/

    How are our Youth choosing to live and what are they getting up to?
    https://simplelivingglobal.com/international-youth-day-2017/

    Is there a contributory factor here for us all to examine and consider?

    Have our teens lost real connection to their inner most self?

    Have our youngsters given up on life in some way and this is the onset of ill mental health?

    Have they seen no real role models that offer them another true way of living?

    All the above and more needs to be questioned at every dinner table and every conversation in our community if we are going to turn the tides.

    Our Youth of today will be our adult generation of the future and that in itself makes it worth our time and effort to say something and do something.

  37. Today I was on a training course and the trainer shared that the biggest cause of death for young people is suicide.
    I know from reading the Youth blog on this website https://simplelivingglobal.com/international-youth-day/

    He also shared that the biggest cause of youth suicide is down to exam results and young people not achieving their expected grades.

    I had already listened to a presentation this morning that had me questioning the current accepted models that we have in society for raising children and yes whilst everything may look perfect on the outside and children and youth may get the grades that we want and be skilled in all sorts of things like music and sport are we considering how they are feeling inside?

    In most cases, inside they are experiencing crippling amounts of pain and have all sorts of vices as a way to cope with life.

    Suicide rates are increasing rapidly and we have no part of the world, no social class, no gender, age generation or race unaffected by suicide.

    Taking the opportunity to connect with others in our day and having a true way to connect to ourselves, I feel is the only way forward.

    I know that the only thing that has brought me back from regular suicidal thoughts was being met by people who truly cared about me and cared about themselves and then me taking the responsibility to make lifestyle changes that meant that I was caring for myself and putting myself first in a way that I had never done before.

    Whilst the putting myself first I have not mastered, it has been many many years now since I had a suicidal thought as there is nothing in me now that would want to give up on myself and give up on life.

  38. We live in a digital age and these statistics below from The Week – 11th November 2017 p. 6, confirm how reliant we have become on technology.

    49% of teenagers say they have contacted someone by email or text messages while in the same room as them.

    26% of adults have done the same thing. Just 15% of 16 to 24 year olds think that phone calls are the most important method of electronic communication.
    Ofcom/The Sunday Times

    Are the poignant questions posed by Simple Living Global worth considering – especially those on care, connect, communicate?

    Are we missing out on the basic human interaction of connecting with another or have we given up on this being possible, which is why more and more of our youth are turning to their screens?

  39. The Times – 11 April 2018

    Two brothers commit suicide months apart.

    Studying medicine at university to be a doctor – this young man aged 20 took his life after the Christmas break.

    He had complained to friends he was struggling with his course.

    WHY did he continue to achieve in his first year?

    Was it the momentum of his ‘exemplary career at school’?

    Was it because he had not yet got into alcohol like his contemporaries?

    Was it because he started dabbling in drugs to fit in with his mates?

    Was his self-harming and diagnosis of depression, in some way linked to drug taking and alcohol consumption?

    Was this young student sensitive and not able to speak up and share what he was feeling?

    If it was known that this medical student had issues with boredom and anger, WHY was nothing more done about it?

    Was it a sign when he told his family he had “mental health problems”?

    Are we all able to consider that drugs and alcohol may have had a hand in this man’s life?

    Next – his brother was 15 and found dead 9 months later at home.

    The family had no idea of course, but were aware he was spending a lot of time playing computer games and using social media.

    If we stop here and read the blogs on this website, which extensively discuss and present volumes on gaming and social media, we would be left in no doubt that it is not a natural way to spend ‘a lot of time’.

    The family also referred to this son as a ‘typical teenager’ so they dismissed the ‘outbursts of rage and damage to bedroom furniture’ and put it down to ‘teenage angst’.

    Was this a big sign at the time to take note of and not dismiss this as a teenager just ‘worrying about something trivial’?

    Were the outburst behaviours playing out because of unexpressed conversations about his feelings?

    Are we so busy living our own lives that we choose to ignore or override a hunch, a feeling, a moment where we have read something between the lines but say nothing?

    Are we choosing to remain unaware to all the messages that our children give us – be it excess time on social media or a diagnosis of depression?

    The brothers have a sister and she said “Mental Health is a serious problem among young men with so many of these people not fully understanding their issues, which leave them feeling like suicide is the only option”.

    On that note, can we listen to a young sister who has lost both her brothers to suicide and start with education, so that every child on the school agenda knows more about mental health?

    Can we also bring this form of education to parents, teachers and every single person in our street, in the community, in our town, city, county, country and beyond?

    Can we start with presentations that are interactive, easy to learn and simple to understand?

    Can we inspire them with presenters, like the author of this website who really does walk the walk and talk the talk?

    Could this be the education of the future and could this be the game changer that turns the tides for humanity?

  40. Listening to Radio 2 today where the conversation was about a famous TV celebrity who has died and the topic would lead us to believe that it was caused by mental health problems as this person was suffering with depression and one of their parents had committed suicide.

    The phone in chats were all about suicide and different people’s views about this.

    It got me pondering on WHY?

    WHY are we not addressing this ‘invisible’ illness because it is not cancer or a broken leg?

    WHY are we not looking into why anyone would want to even contemplate or consider suicide?

    The other thing I got is that no one can escape this so there is not a certain type of human being that commits suicide.

    More and more we hear of those who most of us think have ‘everything’ because they have the fame, money and all that life brings, but is it the answer if depression is the plague in their daily life?

    Where do we start talking about this stuff?

    Is it time to read this blog and take note of all the questions and then move on to other blogs on this website like depression and mental health so we get even more questions?

    https://simplelivingglobal.com/world-health-day-depression/

    https://simplelivingglobal.com/world-mental-health-day/

    Without questions, without meaningful conversations we are going nowhere.

    There has to be another way and we cannot just sit on the fence and accept all that is currently going on in our world.

    My take is we created all this so we must have the answers so let’s start digging and not stop until we get to the root cause of WHY we have every single illness and disease.

    Once we got that sorted, let’s look at WHY we harm our planet and how we are living that is adding more ill on Earth.

  41. I know that we can feel alot of shame about having mental health issues or even feeling like we cannot cope with day to day life.

    How often do we allow feelings of shame to get in the way of us being honest with ourselves or seeking support?

    How many lives could have been prevented from suicide if we had sought help and chosen to communicate what we are feeling?

    I know that the images that we hold of ourselves and the pictures that we want to present to the world can get in the way of us dealing with the difficulties that we experience.

    From personal experience I know that this only makes matters worse and even though we may be trying to hide the pain, people can feel it even though they might not say anything.

    Committing to life and meeting other people who are committed to life has been the game changer for me. A commitment to being here and not wanting to escape life and the world because things are not as I would like them to be. Since that change has happened, I no longer have suicidal thoughts and this has been the case for many years now.

  42. Guardian News – 8 June 2018

    https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jun/08/london-teenage-suicide-rate-england-wales-figures

    Young people’s mental health has never been worse in the 152 year history of a childrens’ charity.

    The rate of teenage suicides in London is increasing faster than across the rest of England and Wales, leading to warnings of a “pressure cooker of conditions” facing young people in the capital.

    107% increase in one year and this statistic is not current or up to date.
    They are saying in 2015-16 compared to 2013-14.

    Hello – we are in 2018 so what is the real figure today, if we are going to be honest?

    We would all agree that more investment in mental health services and education to prevent a “needless waste of young lives” would be very supportive but is there more?

    Do we each have a responsibility?

    Are parents on the front foot when their kid’s behaviour changes?

    Are we asking enough questions and not just accepting that our kids will grow out of it?

    Are we clocking the signs but we are way too busy to get involved and do something?

    Have we switched off as life is pretty stressed already with bills to pay?

    Have we noticed subtle changes where our teenagers are not being themselves and we simply don’t know what to do or where to start?

    Are we afraid to address it and talk to others because we feel so much shame that it is somehow our fault?

    Are we aware that ignoring our kids and hoping they will find their way has not worked?

    Are we aware that good old fashion discipline was not instilled since day dot and now we have trouble on our hands and no clue how to deal with it?

    Are we so stressed and feeling the pressure from life itself that our teenagers are not a priority?

    So what is the radical action needed?

    Can we start with education with blogs like this so that our younger generations are better informed and can then make more sensible choices?

    What if we brought in true health and well-being education throughout all schools and discussions on blogs like social media, fast food/junk foods, mental health and other topics from this website?

    https://simplelivingglobal.com/social-media-day/
    https://simplelivingglobal.com/fast-food-junk-food/
    https://simplelivingglobal.com/world-mental-health-day/

    What if we then tracked these people who did make the changes presented by Simple Living Global?

    What would our world be like if we applied the basic stuff presented on this website full of wisdom for anyone and everyone, as it relates to all of us?

  43. The Center for Disease Control in the USA released a study that showed that suicides have increased 30% since 1999 in the USA.

    What is going on? Are we creating a way of life that is working?

    Is it time to do something truly different?

    This website is presenting another way to live that supports people to re- connect to an inner place that we all have, that allows us to deal with all the things in our life.

  44. With two celebrities dying by suicide within one week, I have seen the statistic that Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the USA a number of times recently and this news article gives us more –

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/suicide-us-cause-death-kate-spade-anthony-bourdain-mental-health-crisis-a8395506.html

    It says that in 2016, 45,000 Americans killed themselves.

    ‘After decades of research, effective prevention strategies are lacking. It remains difficult, perhaps impossible to predict who will commit suicide and the phenomenon is extremely difficult for researchers to study.’

    So what if researchers began to study what the author of this blog from Simple Living Global has to say here?

    What if the wisdom lived by the author is the missing piece that is required to understand this seeming ‘phenomenon’?

    What if Suicide is not a ‘phenomenon’ but the way that we have set up society and the current intelligence that we have subscribed to, does not allow us to understand what causes suicide?

    What if this intelligence is actually the cause?

    What if studying this article on Suicide and this one on What is Intelligence – Part 2 https://simplelivingglobal.com/what-is-intelligence-part-2/ are the starters for our researchers of today?

    What if there is another way to live and what if the answers can be found in what is presented on this website by Simple Living Global?

  45. The Times – 4 July 2018

    An Olympic hopeful who had to end their career due to injuries was found hanged in their room in a mental health unit.

    This teenager had repeated behaviour of self harming.

    On further research there is news that she suffered with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder in 2012 and this later developed into a more complex mental health illness.

    So here we have a bit of a story about a tragic death.

    When we read stories in the newspapers or online, it can lead to us not feeling clear, as we do not always get the whole picture.

    For example, this newspaper story has the focus on a future Olympic teenager suicide and another news story online has the focus on her past mental health and the injuries which came from the sport.

    Suffice to say what we have got could be a starting point of asking more questions –

    WHY are we not asking every single question possible to find out what exactly was going on that led someone to take their life?

    Is there a direct link with the fact she had to end a career because of injuries?

    Could that be the end for someone so young who was recognised and rewarded for excelling in a sport that would entertain others?

    Have we ever considered the impact on the human frame of going through excessive amounts of training to get to ‘Olympic’ level?

    Was this teenager suffering underlying problems that were not picked up, as the focus was just on the Olympic career?

    How does someone so young have OCD and what’s behind it?
    In other words, why does anyone behave in this way that leads to an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder that is classified and recognised as a mental health condition?

    Suicide seems to be an option for our younger generations as we are hearing more about it, which confirms something is seriously wrong in the way we are raising and meeting our youth of today.

    What is missing and could this be the starting point of every conversation, if we are to ever turn the tides and get to the root cause of WHY this is happening to our children today?

  46. I was just talking to a lady in the community who I met at the launderette.
    We talk about anything and everything and I take a genuine interest and I am certain she feels that.

    When a relative committed suicide things were so emotional and the shock was felt way beyond just the close relatives.
    Time has now passed and we were talking and I asked what her take was about the young boy who was found in the garage aged 16. His girlfriend left him for his best friend and he went downhill from there on.

    What is it about the way we are raising our children that something like this can crush a teenager so much, that we not only give up on life but want to end it?

    How bad do our hurts get and what can we do to deal with our hurts?

    Why are emotions so strong that many of us simply do not know how to cope?

    What is missing that would support any child so it never comes to them having the thoughts to end their life?

    Is this blog presenting something to us to bring more awareness?

    Is this blog presenting another way because in truth, nothing thus far is working?

  47. The Conversation – 2 August 2018

    https://theconversation.com/rising-suicides-in-mexico-expose-the-mental-health-toll-of-living-with-extreme-chronic-violence-99131

    Rising suicides in Mexico expose the mental health toll of living with extreme chronic violence.

    Mexico has been known to have had one of the world’s highest murder rates for over 10 years which has come from a 12 year long battle against drug trafficking organisations and other criminal groups. This has led lethal violence to escalate across the country.

    30,000 Mexicans murdered in 2017
    May 2018 was the most violent month with 90 killings a day

    New data reveals the dangerous mental health toll of living with extreme chronic violence – suicides.

    Local researchers believe chronic exposure to traumatic events causes the kind of severe mental distress that can lead to suicidal behaviour.

    Mental Health surveys have confirmed that suicide is a risk factor in conflict zones.

    Research on the mental health impacts of Mexico’s drug war is in very early stages.

    While we wait for more research, can we join the dots and get super honest?
    Add to that some common sense and we can all work it out very simply.

    This news story mentions youth notably are affected.

    Imagine growing up from day dot living in fear and feeling the fear through those we supposedly see as role models – parents, relatives, older siblings and elders within our family and community.

    If we have most people living in this way, is it any surprise the younger generations are not able to express how they feel and lose the most thing they need which is connection?

    If they see no future ahead or are unable to engage with the horror they witness day in and day out, is it obvious their mental health will be affected?

    With such horrific violence many will be left with PTSD and this may not be diagnosed, let alone treated due to the circumstances.

    If we have our take like the above and just share this by talking about it and having conversations even if it is on the other side of the world, surely we can bring light to this and through that bring about change – real change.

    It is easy and comfortable to know about the drug wars in Mexico as that has been going on for a long time but talking about it could simply bring it closer to our hearts and make us all wake up that this is happening on our watch.

    We each have a responsibility on this planet we enhouse and doing nothing, saying nothing and getting on with I, me and myself business as usual ensures there will be no change.

    Can blogs like this and a website like this that Simple Living Global is presenting be the start of real education for everyone, regardless of background?

    Is this what is missing – Awareness?

    Simple Living Global has been consistent and dedicated in bringing out blogs on much needed topics and presenting another way on how to live human life. They also expand and evolve by adding much needed content by way of comment – such as this comment – so the reader has even more to consider when reading this blog on Suicide.

  48. Citizen Journalism – reporting from the street today 20 August 2018

    I was at the bus stop in a local area. Clocked lots of people dressed in black going into the church service. I just had a strong feeling this person who died was not someone’s grand-dad, because there were some young people attending.

    In my usual way, I got talking to someone parking their car next to the bus stop and she told me the man was 32 years of age and had committed suicide. She was a friend and said it was very sad.

    What I have come to realise is this is now on our doorstep and it is everywhere.

    No longer is this the one off news of the year – it is happening everyday and those ending their life are young in many cases.

    What is it that gets inside someone that pushes them enough to end a life?

    I recall talking to a psychiatrist and psychotherapist many years ago about this subject and they both said ‘only a part of the person wants to die’ never all.

    Whether this is true or not and whether one chooses to take note of this – what I know is something is going on simply because the person is not connected – plugged in.

    By that I mean when we plug in and can feel our precious body, there is zero chance of harming it, let alone taking the ultimate harmfull route of death. https://simplelivingglobal.com/plug-in-and-connect/

    What about those who were supposedly close – how are they all feeling?

    How do they bring understanding to something like this?

    Does anyone get over it and why is this such a super ‘do not talk about it’ topic?

    What would happen if each and every person related to the deceased read this blog and made this part of everyday conversation?

    Could we learn something here that could support us all?

    Could it be possible that if we were truly connected to our inner most self – in other words the essence of who we truly are, then we could feel others and have an equal connection with them too?

    Is this what is needed for humanity, to ensure we do not lose any precious person to suicide, because they had someone who was plugged in and could feel and reach out?

  49. Metro – 3 September 2018
    p.4

    Suicides among doctors are rising due to mental health issues.

    From 2011 – 2015 430 doctors in England took their lives in this way according to Dr. Clare Gerada, medical director of the NHS Practitioner Health Programme.

    Repeatedly over the last few years we keep hearing of doctor deaths by suicide and so it begs the question – how can those of us who are trained to treat the ill be ill ourselves, to the point of ending our own lives?

    Something clearly is not right for this to be occurring and so have we at any point stopped to ask WHY?

    What kind of unbearable tension are we living with on a day to day basis that can lead us to end our own lives?

    It may take hundreds of years before we see the masses seriously questioning why we have this suicide epidemic in doctors, let alone across humanity but what if one by one as we each start questioning this and why it is happening, even if it is just a handful of us it goes some way to breaking the current collective silence of accepting things the way that they are?

    We often give up or think that it is not worth doing or saying anything as others around us are not questioning things or are not taking any action, but what if we do not have to go with the masses?

    What if as mentioned above even if it is only a handful of people questioning WHY things are the way that they are, it can start to make a difference?

    What if by choosing to not be aware of what is going or or turning a blind eye we add to more people taking their lives as we are doing nothing to stop it?

    What if we are all contributing to the rising numbers dying by way of suicide?

    What if the power is in all of our hands to make a difference?

  50. Express – 14 September 2018

    India Suicide Crisis: Shock report reveals staggering level of female suicide in India.

    https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1017642/india-suicide-rate-domestic-abuse-lancet

    Domestic violence and arranged marriages are the main reasons pushing women around the globe to take their own lives – a new survey suggests.

    2016
    230,000 people ended their lives in India –
    135,000 men and 95,000 women

    Although more men than women die by suicide in India, Indian women are 3 times more likely to attempt suicide.

    The report which studied data between 1990 – 2016 showed married women represent the highest proportion of suicide deaths in India.

    “Marriage is known to be less protective against suicide for women because of arranged and early marriage, young motherhood, low social status, domestic violence and economic dependence” – the study says.

    A lack of mental health facilities plays a big role in worsening the condition of people deemed at risk.

    The study also said that young adults are said to be “taking their own lives in alarming numbers, constituting a public health crisis.”

    Almost 37% of women and 24% of men who kill themselves in the world, come from India.

    71% of the suicide deaths among women in India were found to be in the 15 – 39 age group.

    Factors said to put women in India at risk include:

    A dangerous level of ignorance and stigmatisation

    Family pressures

    Career

    Cash worries

    Online communities

    The need to fit in

    Social media is said to amplify feelings of social isolation, when they have no place to turn.

    This is really serious and living in the West I had no idea that this was going on.

    To live unable to express what we are really feeling or to be living in situations that we don’t want to be in, is a slow lead up to suicide.

    What if with each untruth that we are living, it is like we are slowly killing ourselves?

    Are the questions raised in this article by Simple Living Global around care, connection and communication what is needed to prevent suicide?

    Is this what is missing in the lives of the women in India and is this what they crave?

    In our daily interactions with each other, would we go a long way in reducing the suicide rate and statistics, if we took the time and space to care, connect and communicate?

    Would being honest with ourselves and sharing the same honesty openly with others, make a difference to the rising suicide trend?

  51. The Telegraph – 20th October 2018

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/10/20/bollywood-megastar-pays-loans-850-india-farmers/

    More on Suicide in India. This time farmers.

    Indian farmers have faced a turbulent year with rapidly rising fuel costs, monsoon damaged crops and empty promises of government minimum-price support, causing tens of thousands to take out exorbitant loans from money lenders or microfinance banks to make up shortfalls.

    The agricultural crisis has seen tens of thousands of farmers despairing – accounting for 11% of suicides in India. The latest available data for 2016 showed 11,370 took their lives that year.

    Estimates suggest 300,000 have killed themselves in the last 10 years.

    Could it be possible that our current lifestyle contributes to this?

    Farming is seen to be something outdated, with it not being popular with youngsters. We have already been given countless stories in the press about children not knowing their fruit and vegetables, as they are not exposed to them – so who will be our next generation of farmers and what will happen with farming?
    https://www.nutrition.org.uk/nutritioninthenews/pressreleases/1059-bnfhew2017.html

    With our focus on fast food, junk food eating https://simplelivingglobal.com/fast-food-junk-food/, there is no longer any care about what we eat and is this why traditional farming and thus the environments needed to grow crops are not there?

    Do we have ‘infertile ground’ so to speak because we are not interested in rich, quality natural food and so as there is no demand, farming cannot blossom and grow and consequently farmers are ill affected?

    We might choose to see this as an isolated statistic in one country – but what if the choices we all make every day around food and the care of our bodies plays a huge part?

  52. Daily Mail – 21 November 2018

    A girl aged 12 had posted messages on social media before hanging herself.
    Her friends alerted the police in the middle of the night after she posted a picture.

    The inquest heard that she had been bullied.

    The news story tells us that she was worried about her fathers emotional health and a teacher revealed that her father would sometimes come home, go to his room and cry.

    Police found nasty messages between the victim and her friends in the days before on her iPad.
    Her friends told police that previously she had self harmed.

    There is no mention of a mother directly but a teacher did say that many of the domestic chores including cooking and cleaning were done by this young girl.

    This is clearly a story telling us SOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT.

    What we know is there is no mother present and a lot of responsibility on a young child.

    The question is – what support was available to this young girl?
    Were all those involved who observed something just too busy to take action or get the help needed?

    Next – how are we living in this modern day era where bullying has become ‘normal’ (because the majority do it) and how have we, the older generations, accepted this?

    Where are our standards of living and how low have we dropped where a 12 year old child takes their own life in the middle of the night?

    How many more wake up calls do we need to realise its time to pay attention to what is going on not only in our lives, but those we are directly in contact with?

  53. https://inews.co.uk/news/health/problem-debt-100000-people-attempt-suicide-mmhpi/

    420,000 people in problem debt considered taking their own life in England – 2017

    More than 100,000 people in problem debit attempt suicide each year, according to new MMHPI analysis of data from the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey – a major survey carried out every 7 years by NHS digital.

    People in problem debit are defined in this instance as falling seriously behind on payments for bills or credit agreements, or having been disconnected by a utilities provider in the past year – are 3 times more likely to have considered suicide than people who are not in problem debt, the report states.

    Individuals with multiple debt problems are at a ‘significantly higher risk’ of suicide than those with just one problem debt.

    The news story adds that rarely is it one single factor that drives people to take their own life but rather a combination of social issues, life events and cognitive factors.

    So what is missing and what is needed for us to get on the front foot?

    What gets inside the mind of someone who thinks taking their own life is an option, a way out of the ill they are facing, in this case through debt?

    How are we wired that we can allow these thoughts to take over and end our very existence?

    We have heard over and over again how talking helps others to express what they maybe feeling or open up and develop trust to confide what is actually going on for them.

    We have become a nation and a world that seems to ignore that good old fashion talking actually works and can help many of us to get a real perspective, if we feel we are losing it for whatever reason.

    Money worries and debt could be the end thing that pushes over the overwhelm we may already be feeling in other areas of life.

    Blaming the systems and how they work will never change anything.
    There will always be those who champion it and align to it to suit their own agenda.

    Do we need more than just sympathy and empathy for a fellow brother?

    Can we share our own lived wisdom in any given moment and could that help another?

    Do we need to make ‘talking to strangers’ a normal thing in life like they did in the old days?

    In other words, see everyone as our equal brothers and not cast judgement about what they may be discussing?

    Most of us in our modern world have zero time for others and minding our own business seems to be a favourite option, but is it helping or keeping those in need further away?

    What would happen if the tides turned and we met people, engaged in real life conversations and genuinely cared for others, like they were our own family?

    How different would our world be and where would the suicide rates be?

  54. The Times – 3 December 2018

    Suicide Student Kept Depression from GP

    An engineering student who killed himself had feared that seeking help for depression would bar him from becoming an RAF pilot.

    The suicide note that the young man left, described years of suffering from depressive episodes.

    The family wrote to the university where he was studying after his death, due to the negative feedback that his tutor was alleged to have given him.

    University life is very challenging and increasingly we are hearing of young people developing mental health problems and committing suicide as a result of the pressure.

    Have we stopped to consider what is truly needed to curb the rapid rate that this is happening?

    Is it possible the wise questions posed in this article on suicide by Simple Living Global are worth contemplating?

    Are we ready to admit that the established ways that we are dealing with this epidemic are not working?

    What if there are already signs that our young are not doing well and are in ill health, way before university, but these signs are not picked up on?

    Is it possible that we all would benefit from being open to another way?

    What if there is much more to learn and understand about suicide and why it happens than we currently have accepted?

  55. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/veterinarians-far-more-likely-die-suicide-other-americans-research-confirms-n950671

    Veterinarians are far more likely to die by suicide than other Americans, according to CDC researchers.

    As more women have become vets, their suicide risk has risen sharply.

    Why are female vets showing us suicide rates above the national average?

    The records of 11,620 veterinarians who died from 1979 to 2015 were reviewed.
    It found that female vets were 3.5 times more likely to die by suicide than was the general population.

    Research has consistently shown for more than 30 years that veterinarians are at a significantly higher risk of suicide than is the general population, owing to a combination of factors that include occupational stress, depression and burnout.

    “The veterinary school application process commonly selects for perfectionism to meet the rigorous veterinary school academic requirements. However, perfectionism has been associated with higher risk for developing mental illnesses including anxiety and depression.”
    CDC researchers said.

    Almost two-thirds of female vets used pharmaceutical poison.

    One theory to explain this is demographics. The percentage of women entering veterinary school and graduating to full practice has risen sharply in last few decades, more women are likely to have been exposed to recent vet school training that teaches euthanasia as an acceptable method to relieve suffering in animals, which researchers say can be accompanied by a reduced fear of death.

    A 36 year period was studied and what we can all conclude is SOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT

    If we go back to earlier in this comment about perfectionism – is there something there to explore so we can ask more questions?

    A profession where one seeks to be perfect is a tall order regardless of who or what a student is able to do or not do. In truth we know that this is something we hold in our mind and the goal post moves and so we are on an endless chase of trying to be perfect. If we get there we then have more to achieve and do.

    Our blog on this website about the Perfect Life is well worth reading.
    https://simplelivingglobal.com/perfect-life/

    Next – we could ask why is it women?
    How are women living and is there a link between what women want and perfectionism?

    Does depression set in when we have an image of where we want to be and what we want? Then real life gives us a completely different deal and that incongruence causes us to give up on life and that becomes the start of depression. Possible?

    In other words, the gap of real life and what’s going on for us as opposed to what we had in our head of where we wanted life to be for us in a certain time frame.

    If we re-read this blog on suicide and all the comments thus far, it is clear that one does not have to take their life, but those that attempt and those that do succeed are deeply suffering and we all need to wake up and ask some serious questions.

    How can we help and what part do we play in society as real role models?

    Yes we need the professionals and all the academics to tell us everything but what about some common sense and real life talking to others.

    What if we don’t turn the other way when we sense someone is not looking or feeling right?

    What if we made it our business to check in on those – even the ones with professional jobs like a vet who may just be suffering in silence?

    We seem to put a lot on ones image and profession without realising that they too could be suffering the same ills as someone who society deems as having a lot less.

    It is high time to get talking and striking up conversations about topics like suicide because it is in our face and this comment is just one profession.

  56. Daily Mail – 9 February 2019
    p.9

    A female cadet aged 21 at Britain’s elite military academy was found dead in an apparent suicide.

    Whilst in this case the cause of death has not yet been confirmed, reading this news article prompted a number of questions –

    Why is it that on a daily basis we are receiving increased reports of people ending their lives by suicide?

    Have we stopped to truly ask – what is going on?

    Suicide touches all walks of life – regardless of race, culture, age, gender, rich or poor.

    Why is it that no profession, country or social status is exempt from suicide?

    What is the common denominator in all cases?

    Have we looked at the family lives, the way that the person felt about themselves and others and how they felt in their jobs?

    Have we bothered to look at their support network and whether they had any or whether they were unable to express their true feelings to anyone?

    The same article states that in early February 2019, a Daily Mail investigation found that soldiers who survived the bloodiest summer in Afghanistan’s most dangerous battleground 10 years ago, were taking their lives at an alarming rate?

    Is there some kind of war within that leads someone to take their own life?

    Have we taken the time to study in-depth what is behind this global epidemic?

  57. Mail – 28 April 2019

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6969149/More-300-overworked-NHS-nurses-taken-lives-seven-years.html

    300 ‘overworked NHS nurses have taken their own lives in the past 7 years.
    This has now sparked calls for a government inquiry.

    In 2014 there was at least one nurse committing suicide every week.

    These figures are 23% higher than the national average regardless of profession.

    Hello

    Can we just stop at this – we would have known about this back then.

    Some people close to the victims would have been directly involved at the loss of a loved one.

    5 years ago – many working in the NHS on the inside would have been informed that they have over one suicide going on every week.

    Was the wake up call for us to take note and respond in 2014?

    In other words, did we need to address WHY this was happening and get on the front foot?

    Will our solutions work or are we going to ask some serious questions like this blog is presenting, that SOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT and we must make this a national and global priority when it comes to the mental health of all of us on this planet right now.

    Victims’ families are calling for vital mental health training and support and an end to the ‘toxic culture’ in the health service that has left many feeling alone.
    On this note, it would be a wise move for the reader to ponder on our blog about Loneliness.
    https://simplelivingglobal.com/loneliness/

    There seems to be a strong stigmatism about seeking mental health support as it may affect the work record in some way. This goes across the board and not just in the NHS.

    So how are we going to change this and see mental illness as not different to physical illness?

    How do we shift our beliefs when it comes to seeing something like a broken leg as debilitating but not depression as it may not be visible to many of us?

    Royal College of Nursing chief Dame Donna Kinnair said that nursing staff experience high levels of stress, a shortage of colleagues and long working hours.

    What this news story highlights is what is going on for those who are in the caring profession.

    Would it be a wise move to put personal self care, health and well being on the agenda when it comes to training anyone in the medical profession?

    Would it be worth taking note of those who actually walk the talk and get them presenting on health and well-being topics?

    In other words those that are living the vitality levels daily and consistently so they can be the true reflection of another way where burnout, stress, anxiety and exhaustion are not on their radar.

    Our world lacks real role models who walk the talk consistently.

    It is high time we paid attention to what this website is presenting as it is for the people and it is about the people.

  58. CBS News – 1 May 2019

    Suicides by Self-Poisoning Soars Among Teenage Girls, Study Shows

    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/suicides-by-self-poisoning-soars-among-teenage-girls-study-shows/?ftag=CNM-00-10aac3a

    The number of suicides by self poisoning between 2000 and 2018 has soared especially among teenage girls, according to a new study published in the Journal of Paediatrics.

    The study examined those between the age of 10 and 24 and showed that suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death in that age group.

    Suicide among 10 – 19 year olds increased 56% from 2007 – 2016 but among 10 – 14 year olds the suicide rate nearly tripled.

    How have we got to this place where we are losing 10 year olds to suicide?

    When I was 10 I did not even know what suicide was and that was only 4 decades ago.

    Things are changing rapidly.

    Why have we allowed it to get to this point?

    Teenage girls are more likely to attempt suicide whereas teenage boys are more likely to complete it.

    With depression closely linked with suicide The American Psychiatric Association says 1 out of every 6 people will suffer with depression at some point in their lives.

    What do we propose is needed right now or do we not care as we have not yet been directly affected?

    What is the call for humanity right now with regards to suicide?

    Is it asking something of us as a society?

    Is there collective action needed to bring about change?

    Are we prepared to sit back and just watch the number of deaths increase at younger and younger ages or are we willing and ready to truly ask why this is all happening?

  59. Men’s Health – 4 September 2019

    https://www.menshealth.com/uk/mental-strength/a28900780/suicide-rates-in-the-uk-have-surged-to-a-16-year-high/

    Suicide rates have risen sharply in the UK and is the highest level seen since 2002 according to the Office of National Statistics.

    Men account for 75% of the suicides registered by coroners in 2018.

    As this news article says – they may be just numbers to some of us but four thousand, nine hundred and three men affects many as they were sons, friends and colleagues.

    Note – the ONS figures record only registered suicides, which means the real number is likely to be higher as coroners often prefer to record narrative or open verdicts, which can be less distressing for family members.

    The chief executive of Samaritans says that we need to look at suicide as a serious public health issue.

    How bad will it have to get before we take note and address it as a serious public health issue?

    While we blame funding and wait for our governments to action –

    Do we need to be asking some questions and keep asking questions until we get to the root cause of WHY anyone even contemplates taking their own life?

    What on earth is going on inside their head and what has got into their minds where these self- harming thoughts take over?

    Are we all talking openly about this in our homes and in our communities?

    Are we making movements to dis-engage and not talk to others in a real way?

    In other words connect and genuinely check in with another or listen to someone and observe them and support without any hidden agenda.

    Are the questions that this blog by Simple Living Global is presenting directing us on this much needed topic?

    Have we considered something is not right and our men are not coping in society?

    Something is happening and it is leading them to completely end their existence.

    What if there was another way to live that would get us back on track?
    What if we want this but we don’t want to make the necessary changes?

    What if we started with a real dose of honesty and reviewed how much we genuinely connect with others and how open are we towards another when they are having mental health issues?

  60. The Oklahoman – 1 February 2020

    https://oklahoman.com/article/5653842/more-and-more-americans-are-dying-by-suicide.-what-are-we-missing

    This is a very short news story but it brings home the fact that what is published is out of date before we get to hear about it.

    CDC – The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the following numbers at the end of January 2020.

    48,344 people died by suicide in 2018.

    47,173 people died by suicide in 2017.

    10.6 million seriously thought about suicide in 2017.

    3.2 million made a plan.

    1.4 million attempted it.

    This is about one nation and the adult population.

    What would be a more true and accurate figure today?

    The first sentence on this news story says “America’s suicide rate won’t stop rising”.

    Do we ever truly stop to ask WHY and keep asking WHY until we get the answers?

    We seem so certain about how we are advancing as an intelligent species on this earth and yet we are no where near sorting out this huge serious public health crisis.

    How are we reacting or responding when we see these figures?

    Are they just numbers or do we hate knowing about this as it spoils our day?

    Do we wish and hope this kind of stuff would just go away and not bother us?

    The fact is millions are seriously thinking about ending their life and this is something we all need to bring up in conversations.

    These thoughts are passing through us all of the time and some of us are going to act on it and our job, our responsibility and our duty to our fellow brothers is not to be fake and upbeat but to be honest and get real about how we are feeling.

    So many of us are isolated inside our minds and think things are bad when just simply expressing, sharing or talking to someone could ease the tension or even bring a clarity where it may be needed in that moment.

    It has been said over and over again that talking to others or just connecting with another and meeting them could support someone from continuing down the ill road of suicide.

    Yet with our busy lifestyles and trying to be non imposing by doing the right thing or by minding our own business, we could just be behaving the opposite to what is truly needed in that moment for another.

    We have billions of us living on this earth, so why are we having people consumed in ill thoughts that lead to them physically ending their life?

    It is evident now that mental health workers and professionals like psychiatrists are in demand and with funding cuts and long waiting lists not everyone is going to get the services they want.

    However, have we considered that each of us has a Responsibility and we could do something by checking in on someone if we get the feeling they are withdrawn or not quite behaving the same as they usually do or not going out much. All of this matters and all of this could be a life changer for someone who may just be thinking that everything is now overwhelming and the only way out is suicide.

    Whatever our own personal thoughts are, can we put them to one side and make sure we continue to be a genuine citizen who cares about the state of others and not just ourselves and those close to us?

    Could this be the game changer and could this be supportive for the person in need of professional help on the waiting list?

    Doing nothing and saying nothing will confirm the rise in the numbers above.

  61. The Guardian – 7 April 2020

    Suicides in Britain were at a high before the pandemic.

    Police have recorded early signs of an increase in suicides and attempted suicides during lockdown.

    Due to self isolation, sickness or caring responsibilities, the police, social services and mental health services are losing staff and it will be easy for people in crisis to fall through the gaps.

    What have we created here and what can we do before things get even worse?

    What does social isolation do to the mind of someone who has lost connection first and foremost with themselves, which then leads to a dis-connection with others?

    Does the mind get bombarded with even more fear and thoughts that may not even be rational, reasonable or making any sense?

    What if those living inside their heads get locked into their ill thoughts and their body does not make the movements to even function – like daily routine tasks for example making their bed or brushing their teeth?

    What if those around them are feeling anxious and fearful at this time and this gives rise to even more dis-engaging and this adds to their ill state of mind?

    What if those of us who are able to step up our standards and keep going with a new found commitment and purpose during these unusual times are the ones who can support those who are spiralling down and contemplating ending their lives?

    What if we all need to UP our responsibility and get moving with a daily routine that has focus and purpose at the core of it?

    That means we are not flicking movie channels, staying in our bed clothes all day or overeating because we can, as there ain’t much else going on that we want to do.

    What if we swapped our ‘can’t be bothered’ hat for ‘every moment matters’ hat and see what happens?

    Our world has gone into a very different state and most of us have not known how to adjust.

    Those who cannot cope and have given up are heading down a rocky road and it is up to the rest of us to get them back on track.

    How are we going to make a difference and where do we start?

    Enter Simple Living Global – a website full of practical and simple wisdom for living daily life as a human being on earth.

    Once we consider the questions and apply what is being presented, we can feel the new choices and see what happens in our life.

    Until then, we will keep presenting more and more as we are not short of content for this monumental website which could now be called a Library for those who are ready.

  62. Independent News – 8 April 2020

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/suicide-rate-england-record-high-figures-latest-a9454446.html

    Suicides in England hit a record high in England in 2019 according to the data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

    74% of deaths were among males, with the most common age group affected being those aged between 50 and 54.

    Regionally, the northeast of England was recorded as having the most suicides.

    In July 2018, the standard of proof used by coroners in England and Wales to determine whether a death was caused by suicide was lowered, which the ONS cautioned would result in an increased number of deaths recorded as suicide.

    What if the standard of proof may not be a one unified Truth?

    In other words, not ALL of us may agree with the ‘standard’ set because we know from lived experience or we know of someone who deliberately took their own life but the ‘proof’ was not there for it to be recorded as a statistic?

    Back to the headlines – what on earth is going on in England with our men and in particular in a certain region when they turn 50 and a few years thereafter?

    What if we did an observational study and instead of relying on data, we go on the streets and get talking and clocking exactly what is going on for these men at this time in their life?

    Is it that they have had decent paid jobs and with the type of industry they worked in, this has all closed down and it leaves them unemployed and not feeling committed to continue carrying on with life because all they lived for was hard work and getting on with it?

    Could it be possible that they turned 50, woke up and realised life was not what they had in mind at this age and it’s totally not what they wanted and they are fed negative thoughts in their mind that keep them going downhill?

    Could it be possible that these men get to a point in their life where they lose commitment and want to check out and escape the responsibilities that face them, as they could only see life one way and have not been educated or inspired by any real role models that there is another way to live and be in this world we have created?

    Could it be possible that with so much time on their hands with no work, they found a solution and it was drinking alcohol and taking drugs and even that was not what they wanted for themselves and so suicide is a thinking that it’s a way out of this mess?

    Could it be possible that their relationships are not what and how they want them to be for a variety of reasons and this leads to ill mental health that goes unchecked as there is so much stigma around a man from up north asking for help?

    Could it be possible as this news story says that ‘suicide is complex and rarely caused by one thing’?

    Does this mean we need to find out more about how our men are living in daily life that gives rise to these thoughts that lead them to take their own life before the end of its natural cycle?

    We could give all the ‘could it be possible’ OR we could get on the streets and in our neighbourhood and communities and get talking.

    Good old fashion communication and expression did work and it maybe time to go back to this and apply them to our life. WHY?

    Because back in the old days suicide was very rare and not like it has become today.
    This means that modern day living has a hand to play in WHY this is happening.

  63. We as a world seem think that those with enormous wealth have it all and they have no worries.

    On some level we could say this is true as they can afford to have the life they want as they can buy anything.

    But at what cost is the question?

    Yet another famous face commits suicide at the age of 55.

    There is of course speculation that his suicide followed the tragic loss of his girlfriend who died from a drug overdose. We get told he lived a life of glamour and privilege and those who knew him said he was deeper and a more complicated figure than his portrayal in sensational headlines.

    Whilst this man shunned fame, he was surrounded by celebrities.

    Next –
    Have we thought what it must be like to inherit $600 million at the age of 18?

    Many of us would think how cool that is and the fact we would never need to work and all that money would mean a happy life until the end of time.

    So how come this guy with all this wealth was consumed with ill thoughts coming through his mind that led him to fall 27 stories from his luxury high rise home?

    Did he battle depression and drugs, did he have bipolar disorder and did he talk about suicide as the media say? Had he been to drug rehab a few times?

    He met with homeless people and helped them connect to food and other resources. His best friend said he was the most giving guy but at the same time, he was the loneliest.

    During his final year, friends say this man was searching for the meaning of life and he talked about God. He wanted to find out what was on the other side and he wanted to know if there was more to this whole thing.

    Whatever is the real truth behind media reporting – one thing we do know is that having wealth is no passport to a great life, if it ends by suicide.

    Something that is worth highlighting is the word Loneliness.

    When we are dis-connected from our true essence, our natural state of being – could that lead to feelings of isolation and loneliness and in these moments, our minds are consumed and bombarded with ill dark thoughts that eventually dictate our every move? Possible?

    Are these dark thoughts eventually overriding logical and rational thinking and behaviour?

    Is this something research could explore as we seem to not have the answers as to WHY anyone suicides and we all find it strange when a famous figure with wealth does as it makes no sense?

  64. Military Times – 16 October 2020

    https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2020/10/16/military-suicides-were-up-slightly-in-the-first-half-of-this-year/

    There has been a rise in military suicides this year during the early months of the pandemic according to Defense Department (DoD) data released.

    14% higher than the same period last year may sound like a small amount but even one life to suicide should get us all asking WHY and HOW is this happening?

    Army officials told the Associated Press that they had experienced a summertime spike in suicides, setting off alarm bells how the pandemic and the relentless stress of 2020 in general is affecting troops.

    Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said “I cannot say scientifically but what I can say is I can read a chart and a graph and the numbers have gone up in behavioral health-related issues.”

    260 suicides in the first and second quarters of this year, the DoD will not release third quarter numbers until early 2021. However, we do know that 35 active duty soldiers died by suicide in July alone, compared to 43 in the previous 3 months.

    Enough said, we could speculate or just stop right now and ponder on what has thus far been presented. These are not just statistics for a nation’s military – soldiers and armed forces. These are individuals that were no longer able to withstand human life on earth and their altered state of mind would mean they could not reason or rationally have the thought process of what the consequences would be once they took their own life.

    How many of us have considered the knock on effect and in this case those left behind who may struggle throughout their own lifetime trying to work out how on earth someone commits suicide and brings an end so suddenly?

    We are left not only with the devastation and grief but the circumstances that led to the point of death. Add to that the investigations that happen as a result of a suicide and perhaps a coroners inquest for close family to deal with, at a time when nothing is probably making any sense to them.

    As a world we get alarmed by numbers and then do nothing or do our best to not get emotional or sucked in, or we do not worry as it was not someone we knew personally.

    But what if as humans we are all inter-related and it does matter if even one person on this earth attempts of ends their own life by suicide?

    Have we thought about the impact of what it entails and involves for a military personnel?

    What if part of our education was to share real life true stories like Hacksaw Ridge where we get to actually see what our soldiers sign up and subscribe to? It is beyond horrific to see what humans do to other military human beings in the name of country and war.

    Hundreds of thousands of lives and for what ?

    A digression but nevertheless poignant to mention the impact of what our armed forces are expected to do in battle.

    What if we studied the human heart and the forces coming at it, even whilst training in the military?

    Would we discover that all our soldiers did not harden up on day dot but they certainly did once they became a solider and armed themselves with force (pun intended) to carry out the duties expected of them?

    What if war is not designed for us humans and those who do not make it are not failures but simply reflecting that our way of fighting is not the answer?

    What if our men and women are highly sensitive beings and combat was never going to support the human heart in any way?

    What if suicide is not just suddenly on the radar but a series of moments where one feels overwhelmed, dis-connected and lost from real life reality?

    In other words, their thoughts are no longer what they know to be true and they are consumed in fear and all the ugly stuff that goes with that way of thinking. Possible?

    And finally, history has been telling us and we still don’t get it – something is not right with war, soldiers and fighting.

    If it was, then we would not see high stress and suicide among the dis-eases in our military today.

  65. Medical Daily – 2 March 2021

    https://www.medicaldaily.com/metal-health-struggle-doctors-suicide-risk-458531

    Title: When a Doctor Breaks his Hippocratic Oath

    In the past 20 years, 40% rise in the Suicide rate United States – age 16 to 64.

    In that statistic are physician suicides – the completed ones.

    Currently, one physician every day suicides in the US.

    Medical students and doctors suffer with depression, anxiety, loneliness, alcohol and drug abuse. The pressures of long hours, medical school and the current pandemic has added to their struggles. It is known that doctors tend not to seek help for psychological struggles for fear of the stigma associated with mental illness and how this might affect their career.

    Helping doctors deal with depression and burnout is now more prevalent than ever before.

    https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0246602
    This study found 25% had post traumatic stress disorder PTSD.
    50% could have an alcohol disorder – so we can read that the ‘could’ means it is not definite but this does exist among health care workers.

    https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/896257
    A literature review in 2018 showed in the past 10 years “the suicide rate among physicians was more than double of the public”. Physicians have access and know the types of drugs needed to carry out this act. Male physicians are 40% and female physicians are even higher.

    In 2020, the Medscape National Physician Burnout and Suicide Report surveyed 15,000 doctors across 29 specialties and found that, depending on age, 21% to 24% “felt suicidal”.

    In 2021 Medscape report, in areas associated with Covid, around 50% said they were either burned out or depressed. This report also revealed that between 33% and 27% of doctors said they had talked to a therapist about burnout. But 20% refused to speak because they did not want to risk disclosure. Note – 79% said their burnout or depression began BEFORE Covid-19. 21% said it started after.

    Decades before these studies, Dr. Myers, a professor in Psychiatry at New York State University had witnessed the suicide trend unfold in real time. He saw the toll that medicine’s culture of perfectionism was taking on medical school students and doctors and how reluctant many were to seek professional help. The fear of losing a medical licence made many seek other ways to deal with their issues. Some would get colleagues to prescribe medication off the record. Others treated themselves in the hope that the problem would go away.

    Dr. Myers published a book “Why Physicians Die by Suicide” from his years of treating medical students and doctors. He talks about the human-ness coming through when a different approach is applied for doctors.

    This comment is a snapshot as it is in one country – we call that a microcosm of the whole as the world is the macrocosm. Yes this is going on and it continues because of the demands placed from day dot of what is expected from our medical world. We know they are human and therefore what is a human response when time deadlines, impossible volumes of studying and being super human is supposedly the norm and they have yet to hit the real job, as this is just as a medical student.

    What type of Intelligence are we subscribing to if those society regards as the top of our care professionals – doctors are even having thoughts of suicide?

    How serious that we have them give up on their life because they are unable to cope and continue with what seems to be pressures on the outside?

    How wrong is it that due to the stigma involved, few end up seeking the help and support they deserve?

    How irresponsible is it that there is no space in the medical training agenda, of however many years for self-care and practical daily living support that would equip them to deal with whatever life brings up for them?

    It is high time to have experts and leaders in the field of true health and wellbeing to present to our current and future doctors.

    These people need to walk the talk, live what they present and deliver from a body that can bring about change, as they are not coming from theory, memory recall or the current form of intelligence that most of us happen to subscribe to. A great example is the founder and author of this website.

  66. Independent News – 29 April 2021

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/suicide-syria-children-save-the-children-b1839111.html

    Number of children attempting or committing suicide in north-west Syria is rising sharply, according to Save the Children charity. One in five of all recorded cases involved are those under the age of 18.

    The charity has warned of a mental health crisis and stated that the number of suicides in the area at the end of 2020 had jumped by nearly 90% in comparison to the first three months of last year – 2021.

    246 suicides and 1,748 attempts were recorded in the last three months of 2020.
    Of those who attempted suicide 42 were 15 years old or younger.
    18% were adolescents and young people between the ages of 16 and 20.

    15% of adult patients have suicidal thoughts.
    Children express their emotional struggles through behaviour and become aggressive, isolated or vengeful, says a mental health worker with Save the Children’s partner organisation – Hurras Network.

    Sonia Kush at Save the Children’s Syria Response Director said the situation was “desperately alarming. After 10 years of conflict, we are now seeing children resorting to taking their own lives. It is incredibly sad that children are reaching a point where they see no other way out from a life where they cannot get an education, enough food or adequate shelter.”

    Syria has been wrecked by more than a decade of devastating conflict with many struggling to secure their basic needs like food and medication. 3 million people internally displaced from other parts of Syria live there among them 1.6 million in overcrowded squalid camps.

  67. CDC – Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – 18 June 2021

    https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7024e1.htm

    During 2020, the proportion of mental health related emergency department (ED) visits among adolescents aged 12 – 17 years, increased 31% compared with that during 2019.

    In May 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, ED visits for suspected suicide attempts began to increase among adolescents aged 12-17 years, especially girls.

    During 21 February to 20 March 2021, suspected suicide attempt ED visits were 50.6% higher among girls aged 12 – 17 years than during the same period in 2019.

  68. Independent News – 14 October 2021

    https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/east-asia/japan-children-suicide-rate-pandemic-b1938200.html

    Child suicides at record high during pandemic in Japan.

    Suicide rates among Japanese children are the highest they have ever been for more than four decades.

    As the pandemic prompted school closings and disrupted classrooms, 415 children from elementary to high school age were recorded as having taken their own lives, according to the education Ministry survey this is the highest since record-keeping began in 1974.

    Suicide has a long history in Japan as a way of avoiding perceived shame or dishonour and its suicide rate has long topped the Group of Seven nations, but a national effort brought numbers down by roughly 40% over 15 years, including 10 straight years of decline from 2009.

    After a decade of declines, suicides increased in 2020 with the number of women committing suicide surging amid the emotional and financial stress caused by the pandemic, although few men took their own lives.

    The Education Ministry said a record high of more than 196,127 school children were absent for 30 days or more.

    The results show that changes in school and household environments due to the pandemic had a huge impact on children’s behaviour.

  69. Independent News – 29 October 2021

    https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/india/india-suicide-deaths-2020-covid-b1947748.html

    Death by suicide rose in India during 2020 pandemic to 153,052, according to new data released by the country’s National Crime Records Bureau.

    Most of the suicides recorded were among daily wage earners, agricultural labourers and housewives.

    5 states contributed to more than half of the total suicides.
    The rate of suicides was also greater in the cities.

    Lockdowns because of the pandemic led to an increase in family problems across the world. In India, problems related to family and marriage dominated the cause of suicide in 2020.

    The report pointed out that among these suicides, only 12.6% of the individual’s were illiterate, while the rest had received education ranging from primary, middle to graduate levels.

    Dear World

    We have a 911 again.

    How do we begin to process this kind of news reporting and how much attention do we really give when it’s happening on the other side of the world?

    We all know that a suicide death affects so many that are left behind, devastated and asking questions that will never be answered.

    What if there was tension in relationships and family life before lockdown and when the restrictions were imposed, it highlighted even more the breakdown of marriage and family?

    We know that these people were intelligent by world standard as we put great emphasis on those that are well educated and not illiterate. So how come it happened to the so-called intelligent individuals?

    Why did those that are illiterate not get the same result following lockdown?

    Are these questions we ought to be asking as something is just not adding up?

  70. NIH – National Institutes of Health – 2 February 2022

    https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/suicides-drug-overdose-increased-among-young-people-elderly-people-black-women-despite-overall-downward-tren

    A new study of intentional drug overdose deaths, or suicides by an overdose of a medication or drug, found an increase in young people aged 15 to 24, older people aged 75 to 84 and non-Hispanic Black women.

    The study also found that women were more likely than men to die from intentional drug overdoses, with highest rates observed in women ages 45 to 64.

    Factors, such as time of year, length of day and the day of the week appeared to be associated with intentional overdose death rates.

    2020 – in the United States, 92,000 people died from drug overdoses overall. This represents the largest increase ever recorded in a calendar year and reflects a nearly 5 fold increase in the rate of overdose deaths since 1999.

    There is more detail to read for those that need the information – see link
    https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/suicides-drug-overdose-increased-among-young-people-elderly-people-black-women-despite-overall-downward-tren

    Dear World

    What information has been imparted above is enough for us to stop and question – why on earth is this happening and how do we intend to deal with this out of control epidemic?

    Are we going to implement strategies, find new solutions or are we going to wait for more studies, as that is what we have always done?

    What is interesting to note here is that the seasonal variations in suicide risk.
    Lowest in December and highest rates in late spring and summer?

    The study authors suggested that the low rates in December could be linked to holiday season, which could mean the mood is more positive and hopeful as this is the season of Thanksgiving and Christmas. And the increase in overdose risk with longer daylight hours in May through to August may be related to seasonal changes linked to opioid receptors in the brain. These receptors influence mood and behaviours and are targets of opioid drugs, which we know are the most frequent substances identified in intentional overdose deaths.

    Much to ponder on and join the dots.
    We could simply start by saying SOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT.
    We all know this and so a wise move would be to just say it and see what happens.

    While we ponder on the ‘something is not right’ – worth noting that a person who intends or has the will to carry out a suicide is someone that is not truly engaging with others and so there is a withdrawal from the commitment of daily life and all that it brings. Our relationships break down and we are left with our own thoughts.

    We all know that when we are open, deeply caring and honest with others in all our conversations, there is no space for a mood to change us and alter our natural way of being. Suicide or an overdose of a drug would simply not be on our radar.

    This is not far fetched or out there, this is simple and makes sense.
    Those that challenge this can do so but we all need to voice what we can sense feels simple and could possibly be the truth.

  71. UPI News – 26 May 2022

    https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2022/05/26/guns-home-teen-suicide/8941653571844/

    Adolescents with firearm access have higher odds of suicidal ideation and prior attempts, compared to those without firearm access, highlighting the need for universal EM – Emergency Department based screening for suicidality and lethal means.

    One third of US adolescence coming to the emergency department for any reason have moderate or severe depressive symptoms, suggesting high mental health needs among this population said the study authors.

    Researchers found 40% of those depressed teenagers have access to a gun.

    “Our findings underscore the importance of screening all adolescents who present to the emergency department for suicide risk and access to firearms. This is even more critical now that we are in the midst of a youth mental health crisis, said the lead study author Dr Samaa Kemal – Paediatric Emergency Medicine fellow at Children’s Hospital of Chicago.

    The study found teenagers and preteens with access to guns had about 1.5 times higher odds for a prior suicide attempt or current suicide ideation and this was prior to the pandemic, when emergency departments saw increased youth mental health needs.

    “Universal mental health screening of adolescents is particularly important in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has led to both increased firearm availability and worsening indicators of youth mental health” said Kemal.

    14% of teenagers reported having access to a firearm in the home or the ability to get one within the next 24 hours.

    Among the issues that increase the odds of a prior suicide attempt were a history of sexual assault. In addition, verbal bullying, intimate partner violence, and/or abuse by a caregiver significantly increased odds of current suicidal ideation and a prior suicide attempt.

    Suicide death among U.S. teenagers has almost doubled in the past 10 years.
    It is the second leading cause of death for that age group.

    Guns related deaths surpass road crashes as the leading cause of death among U.S. children.
    https://news.umich.edu/firearms-now-top-cause-of-death-among-children-adolescents-u-m-analysis-shows/

    44% of suicide deaths in the 14 – 18 year old age group were caused by guns between 2015 and 2020.

    70% of firearm-related suicide attempts involved weapons obtained within the victim’s household.

    Dear World

    How on earth have we got to the point that our children suicide and gun related deaths are the leading cause of death in the U.S?

    We want our Paediatric Emergency Departments to screen but do we not need to stop it ever getting to the ED in the first place?

    How are we raising our children and what has gotten into them that leads to such devastating consequences for all those involved?

    Is it time to go back to the drawing board, so to speak and start with a huge dose of honesty and say we have not got it right?

    In fact, we are way off the mark and it is time to find another way so we can erase and eradicate a common modern day ill called Suicide. Delay is not an option and neither is waiting for the next research study to tell us what we already know and have known for a very long time.

  72. UC San Diego News Center – 29 June 2022

    https://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/pressrelease/study-reveals-the-job-problems-contributing-to-physician-suicide

    1 in 15 physicians experiencing suicidal ideation.
    Physician burnout and suicide are a growing public health concern.

    Studies have consistently shown that physicians are more likely than non-physicians to experience work related stressors prior to suicide.

    Deterioration of physical health, substance use, mental health and work related issues, relationship conflicts affecting work, legal problems and increased financial stress.

    Corresponding author of the study Kristen Kim, MD, a resident physician in Psychiatry at UC San Diego Health said “The unspoken culture of medicine encourages self-sacrifice, deferred needs and delayed rewards. We always want to put our patients first but healers cannot optimally heal unless they themselves are first whole.”

    Dear World

    Why does it not make sense to know that one of our top so-called intelligent work population that society holds in the highest regard – physicians are on burnout or even considering suicide?

    What on earth has gotten into them that gets them to that point?

    WHY has the medical school training not made self-care the top priority for those that are going to be caring for others?

    Is Kim making a point when she says it has to start with us first and we have to be whole before we can heal another.

    What is the “unspoken culture” doing and when are we going to hold them accountable?
    Who are they and why are we subscribing to such a self harming way of working?

    The authors of the study called for cultural changes to address workplace stress and poor physician self-care.
    How long has this call been made and how many more lives will be lost because there is no response following the call?

    It makes no sense to have poor self-care for any occupation and even more when we are physicians.

    The question is WHAT intelligence is telling us to study without any reference to our own personal self-care to support the human body, when the job is taking care of the health of others?

    Something is not right because we know physician suicide is on the rise.

    We can blame the pandemic and whatever else we want but why are we not looking at the fundamental tenets of medicine that are not working, have never worked and will continue to not work?

  73. Medscape UK – 5 September 2022

    https://www.medscape.co.uk/viewarticle/gp-practices-urged-prioritise-mental-health-ahead-world-2022a10022dt

    GP practices have been urged by the BMA to Prioritise the Mental Health and Wellbeing of staff, as it revealed that calls from doctors to its counselling service in the last year were 3 times higher than before the pandemic.

    The British Medical Association suggested that practice team members set aside time on Friday 9 September to reflect on their own mental health and consider ways they can support colleagues.

    In July a GP from Surrey suicided and her husband described the “overwhelming” nature of her work. This sent a shockwave through the profession, according to Dr. Kieran Sharrock – the deputy chair of BMA England.

    1400 GPs responded to a recent poll and 24% said they knew colleagues who had taken their own lives because of pressures at work.

    Dr. Sharrock said “an exhausted, unwell and demoralised workforce cannot provide care..”

    On that note – Dear World

    What are we doing that is clearly not working if physicians – those deemed highly intelligent and going through years and years of medical training are suiciding?

    WHY are we always going to solutions instead of going to the root of the problem?
    Something is going on and we know it is not working.

    Would it be wise to seriously ask some questions and not stop until we get to the root of this as our current model is failing us?

  74. Queen Mary University of London – 3 October 2022

    https://www.qmul.ac.uk/media/news/2022/smd/suicide-risk-almost-seven-times-higher-after-diagnosis-of-young-onset-dementia.html

    A study of 600,000 people in England shows that suicide risk in the first 3 months following a dementia diagnosis for patients aged under 65 is nearly 7 times higher than in patients without dementia.

    850,000 people are currently living with dementia in the UK and it is the leading cause of death.

    70,800 of these have young onset dementia.

    66% of those living with dementia have received a diagnosis and it is a major priority for the NHS to improve access to a timely and accurate dementia diagnosis.

    Dear World

    We have enough news and research studies confirming that dementia is on the rise and it can come as no surprise that once it was for the elderly and now it seems to be the age is getting younger.

    What is dementia and how do we end up with it?
    Does it have something to do with how we lived our life up to that point?
    Are there signs we need to consider and examine before we look for more solutions?

    What if we study those that show zero signs of dementia and check what they get up to every single day?

    Then observe them over the years and see how they fare with their given lifestyle choices and if these choices differ from those that led different lives and ended up with dementia.

    Our health systems cannot and will not cope with the rise in dementia. Society is not equipped because we the general people are unsure and uncertain how to deal with a close relative who has dementia?

    Those that do are struggling when a loved one barely recognises them or ignores them after a relationship of decades.

    Some find the option of care homes the only way to deal with the situation and with rising costs this does not always work for everyone.

    Back to the news story headlines – why is the suicide risk so high for those that discover they have been diagnosed with dementia?

    Is it a way out as they know life from this moment will be downhill and no longer can they continue ‘business as usual”?

    We ought to all be reminded that our daily living choices have an impact on how we react or respond to any health news.

    If we are not taking deep care of our body or have behaviours that are not in consideration to our true health and wellbeing then there will be consequences.

    This website is dedicated to supporting humanity to become aware that there is another way to live, that brings in responsibility and accountability for every single choice made in our lives every day.

  75. Rutgers University, New Jersey – 9 January 2023

    https://www.rutgers.edu/news/military-service-members-who-hide-their-suicidal-thoughts-are-more-likely-store-their-firearms

    According to a new Rutgers Study, Military Service members who hide their suicidal thoughts are more likely to store their firearms unsafely.

    The study highlights that suicide risk within the military might be highest among those not identified by the mental health care system.

    “We know that firearms account for the large majority of suicide deaths within the military and that unsecured firearms at home dramatically increase the risk for suicide.
    We found that suicidal service members less likely to be seen as high risk – those that hide their thoughts from others and avoid behavioral health care, tend to be the service members with the most ready access to their firearms” said lead author Michael Anestis – Executive Director of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center at Rutgers and Associate Professor at Rutgers School of Public Health.

  76. The Guardian – 22 February 2023

    Women who suffer domestic abuse are 3 times as likely to attempt suicide

    https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/feb/22/women-who-suffer-domestic-abuse-three-times-as-likely-to-attempt-suicide

    Those who have experienced sexual abuse within a relationship have an even higher risk of suicide and are 7 times more likely to have attempted to end their life.

    Campaigners for women’s rights say the findings should prompt GP’s, midwives JOBCENTRE staff and others who come into contact with vulnerable women to start routinely asking them about their personal safety.

    Victims of abuse are also more than 3 times as likely to self-harm and at more than double the risk of having suicidal thoughts.

    The findings come from an analysis by a health expert at City University of London.

    The researcher examined the number of women who had experienced physical, sexual, emotional or economic IPV (intimate partner violence) and those who had self-harmed, had suicidal thoughts or tried to end their life in the last year.

    The fact that three-quarters of those who take their own lives are men has led to the link between domestic abuse and suicide being overlooked.

    The study found that women living in poverty, or who are unemployed, or cannot work because of sickness or disability and those who are in debt are more likely to suffer IPV.

  77. Medscape UK – 23 March 2023

    https://www.medscape.co.uk/viewarticle/suicide-nhs-worker-prompts-call-change-community-mental-2023a1000641

    The suicide of a female NHS worker has prompted a call for change in Community Mental Health assessements. She died while under the care of a CMHT (Community Mental Health Team).

    The common practice of NHS trusts is scoring patients’ risk of repeated self-harm or suicide using ‘high’, ‘medium’ or ‘low’ risk categories should be avoided as they were a “poor predictor” of future intentions, according to a report by the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch.

    National experts in suicide and self-harm told investigators that categorising patients in such a way could lead to resources being focused on those assessed as high risk. Scales and tools for assessing suicide risk do not accurately predict the risk of suicide 95% of the time and suicide deaths in the large “low-risk” group are often missed.

  78. University of Georgia College of Public Health – 18 April 2023

    https://publichealth.uga.edu/one-in-five-suicides-involved-intimate-partner-problems/

    2003 – 2020
    1 in 5 suicides involved intimate partner problems, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the University of Georgia.

    The study found that mental health problems; life stressors, such as unemployment and family problems; and recent legal issues were more common among suicides related to intimate partner problems.

    Intimate partner problems include divorce, separation, romantic breakups, arguments, conflict and intimate partner violence.

    “Romantic partners experience other kinds of relationship stressors, such as general hostility, arguments and jealousy” said Lt. Cmdr. Ayana Stanley – lead author of the study.

    Suicide is one of the leading causes of death in the United States.
    48,000 Americans died by suicide in 2021, according to the CDC.
    That equates to one death every 11 minutes.

    During the study, of the 402,391 suicides of Americans aged 18 years and older – 20% involved intimate partner problems.
    Half the individuals were between the ages of 25 and 44.
    The majority were white male with at least a high school education.

    These individuals were also significantly more likely to experience mental health problems than those whose suicides did not involve intimate partner problems.

    Suicides involving intimate partner problems, were also more likely to involve interpersonal violence perpetration and victimization, arguments, financial problems, job problems, family problems and recent legal problems.

  79. University of Virginia – 21 April 2023

    https://news.virginia.edu/content/covid-19-pandemic-led-increase-suicide-attempts-kids-teens-study-shows

    Pandemic led to increase in suicide attempts by children and teenagers, according to a new UVA Health study.

    2021
    Attempted suicides among children and youth ages 10 to 19 increased by 30% – the pandemics first full year.

    73% increase in the rate of suspected attempts by intentional poisoning among children ages 10 to 12.

    48% increase in suspected suicide attempts by poisoning among adolescents ages 13 to 15.

    36% increase in suspected suicide attempts by poisoning among females ages 10 to 19.

    81.2% of the suspected suicide attempts among adolescents ages 10 to 19 were girls.

    The findings build on a concerning trend in an earlier UVA study – see link below
    This study found suspected suicide attempts by poisoning among children ages 6 to 19 increased 26.7% between 2015 and 2020.
    https://newsroom.uvahealth.com/2022/05/31/suspected-suicide-attempts-poisoning-rose-among-us-children/

    According to the latest data, the dramatic increase in suicide attempts in such a young population continues to escalate.

    The most 2 common substances involved in the reported suicide attempts were acetaminophen and ibuprofen. Both are commonly available, over-the-counter pain relievers.

    The other most used substances were 2 antidepressant medications.

  80. Columbia Mailman School of Public Health – 26 April 2023

    https://www.publichealth.columbia.edu/news/gun-deaths-more-likely-small-towns-major-cities

    Analysis of 20 years of U.S. mortality data was conducted.

    The study found the divide in total intentional firearm deaths between urban and rural counties increasing.

    Gun suicides outnumber gun homicides each year in the United States.
    The risk of gun suicides in the most rural counties exceeds the risk of gun homicides in the most urban counties.

    2001 – 2010
    Two most rural counties had higher total firearm death rates than the most urban counties.

    25% higher overall firearm death rate in the most rural counties than the most urban counties.
    54% higher gun suicide death rate.
    50% lower gun homicide death rate compared with the most urban counties.

  81. Diabetes UK News – 22 July 2023

    https://www.diabetes.co.uk/news/2023/jul/new-study-finds-imaginary-chronic-pain-disorder-is-pushing-thousands-to-suicide.html

    According to a meta-analysis, which combine results from numerous scientific studies, people living with fibromyalgia have 27% higher risk of death due to a greater risk of accidents, infections and suicides.

    Researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel said “Fibromyalgia is often called an “imaginery condition” with ongoing debates on the legitimacy and clinical usefulness of this diagnosis.

    4 million adults in the United States are affected by Fibromyalgia.

    Women are twice as likely to have fibromyalgia and the condition can run in families.

    People with fibromyalgia are 44% more likely to develop infections, such as pneumonia and sepsis and 3 x more like to commit suicide, according to the recent review.

    The researchers explained “the finding of increased mortality associated with accidents can stem from fatigue, unrefreshing sleep and the concentration difficulties that accompany fibromyalgia.”

    The condition causes prevalent pain and tenderness across the whole body, such as the arms, legs, head, chest and abdomen and causes people to be more sensitive to pain.

    The NIH shared that other symptoms can include muscle and joint stiffness, tenderness, an intensified sensitivity to light and noise, numbness and tingling, memory issues and digestive issues. The condition is usually diagnosed in middle age.

    Not only are people with fibromyalgia more likely to develop other conditions such as arthritis, lupus and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), they also have a greater likelihood of developing depression and anxiety.

    Researchers said – “Studies have shown that medical staff are reluctant to accept fibromyalgia as a medical condition and they face emotional and psychological difficulties interacting with these patients and coping with their disorder. This could be the reason behind the increased likelihood of suicide.”

    Cases of Fibromyalgia are on the rise and although it is unknown what causes the condition, researchers are calling for these patients to be taken seriously. They suggest an increase in screening for suicidal ideation, accident prevention and prevention and treatment of infections.

  82. CDC | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – 10 August 2023

    https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2023/s0810-US-Suicide-Deaths-2022.html

    2021
    Suicide death rates increased in the United States.

    2022
    Suicide deaths further increased to estimated 49,449 deaths

    90% Americans believe America is facing a mental health crisis.

    “Too many people still believe asking for help is a sign of weakness” says HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra.

    “Mental health has become the defining public health and societal challenge of our time. Far too many people and their families are suffering and feeling alone” said U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy.

  83. Military.com – 28 August 2023

    https://www.military.com/daily-news/2023/08/28/suicide-rates-surged-among-post-9-11-veterans-even-deaths-remained-steady-general-population-study.html/amp

    Suicide rates surged among post 9/11 Veterans even as deaths remained steady in the general population, according to a new study of 2.5 million service member records.

    The findings were even more serious for veterans diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury. These veterans had suicide rates 56% higher than those without a head injury and 3 times higher than the general population.

    This retrospective study, published in JAMA Neurology shows that those multimillion-dollar suicide prevention initiatives and programs have had little impact.

    “We are stunned, honestly. The trends are so alarming, we felt we needed to report it as soon as possible” said study lead Jeffrey Howard, Associate Professor of Public Health at University of Texas at San Antonio.

    Suicide rates were highest among the 35 to 44 age group, followed closely by 25 – 34 year old group and among Native and Alaskan Americans, Asians and Pacific Islanders and veterans with traumatic brain injury.

    The findings build on work published in February 2022, also by Professor Howard that found veterans with even mild traumatic brain injury, as well as those with moderate to severe injuries, were more likely to die by suicide, accidents or homicides than counterparts who had never received blows to the head.

  84. International OCD Foundation

    https://bdd.iocdf.org/professionals/suicidality-in-bdd/

    Individuals with body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) have a markedly increased risk for suicidality.

    80% of those with BDD report that they have experienced suicidal thoughts

    25% or more have attempted suicide.

    For the majority of these individuals, BDD symptoms are the primary reason for their suicidal thinking and behaviour.

    Suicide attempts appear to be even more common in youth and in Veterans with BDD.

    In a study on muscle dysmorphia in men (i.e., preoccupation with having an insufficiently large or muscular build, which often results in excessive weight lifting, dieting and use of potentially dangerous drugs such as anabolic steroids), 50% reported a lifetime suicide attempt.

    Multiple studies have shown that suicidality is significantly more common in individuals with BDD than in those with OCD.

    The presence of comorbid major depressive disorder is associated with a significantly increased risk of suicidal ideation in individuals with BDD. And the presence of comorbid post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or a substance use disorder is associated with a significantly increased risk of attempting suicide.

    The risk of suicide may be even higher than for individuals with major depressive disorder, anorexia nervosa and bipolar disorder.

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