I think the issue should be discussed more at schools, it was never ever discussed in the school I went to even though a few people died by suicide who went there over the years. I know its a delicate topic but it has to be talked about more openly so people can talk to one another if they have problems without people thinking their freaks. Hate that when people jeer the shit out of someone whos depressed. My friend had depression and everyone was like âoh dont invite her to your party sheâl sulk for the nightâ and by god did I have a fit. People like that have no understanding of mental illness and need to be educated on it so I think the best place to start is schools.
Heartbreaking stuff there OâMalley. Sorry for your loss. Lost my father a couple of months ago to illness- only 54 he was too. Still trying to come to terms with it. Hearing how others deal with a loss helps someway I find and support from friends of course. This will be the first Christmas without himself now and itâll probably hit us hard Iâd say.
[quote=âPikemanâ]Heartbreaking stuff there OâMalley. Sorry for your loss. Lost my father a couple of months ago to illness- only 54 he was too. Still trying to come to terms with it. Hearing how others deal with a loss helps someway I find and support from friends of course. This will be the first Christmas without himself now and itâll probably hit us hard Iâd say.
On the plus side-thereâll be more turkey goin.[/quote]
Sorry to hear that pike. Christmas, as happy as it can be, can also be a tough time on people who had a bereavment.
[quote=âPikemanâ]Heartbreaking stuff there OâMalley. Sorry for your loss. Lost my father a couple of months ago to illness- only 54 he was too. Still trying to come to terms with it. Hearing how others deal with a loss helps someway I find and support from friends of course. This will be the first Christmas without himself now and itâll probably hit us hard Iâd say.
On the plus side-thereâll be more turkey goin.[/quote]
Same story as me except my father didnât eat turkey so I donât really have the plus side. Oh and he was a bit older. Tough going sometimes.
An unflinching look at the complex and highly emotive issue of suicide. A three part series revealing the heartbreak of families, friends and in one case a survivor of suicide. The series poses searching questions. Why does it happen? How might it have been stopped? What are the families and communities left behind able to make of their loss? Is it possible to pick up the pieces of lives
touched by suicide
This happened about late 2004 when in college in Galway. Myself and 2 of the housemates were out in the GPO some random Monday night. We were walking home towards the college at about 2.30am crossing the Salmon Weir bridge. As we were walking I noticed another lad on the opposite side just leaning against the bridge gazing into the water below.
Dunno why still to this day but myself and another stopped and asked him was he ok. His phone rang and he said he was grand so off we we went on our merry way and thought nothing more of it.
That Thursday reading the Galway advertiser and low and behold thereâs a student missing last seen around the Salmon Weir bridge at 2.30am on the night of etc etc. 2 of us went into the Garda station, made a statement and so on. Sure enough it was the lad we were talking to.
The thing that got me about the case was that the family would only release a small passport photo of the victim. For whatever reason they didnât want his photo being circulated around town as you normally see.
Yer man was washed up somewhere in County Clare a week later. My One of us was asked to go to the inquest. My friend drove down. In it the family refuted the fact it was suicide. Even though he had been depressed etc the would not let it through. The judge in the end ruled âdeath by misadventure.â
Wonder about it sometimes was there anything else we shouldâve/couldâve done but at least we stopped and tried.
Sadly this appears to be coming to pass. Have heard of two high profile suicides since turn of the year and know of one locally. Fuck it, itâs only money. Certainly makes me think long and hard about my job and the âbigger pictureâ
Bumping this after the tragedy that occured this evening. While no death ever deserved to be played out in the media, I hope for a change that it is actually reported properly in the Irish media as a suicide. The reason being that all Irish people see suicide as such a taboo subject that no-one ever wants to speak of it.
How often do you see reports in the papers of people found in âtragic cirumstancesâ etc. I agree that a duty of care has to be undertaken for the relatives involved but having seen at close hand how it can affect a family I donât think anyone would honestly care if it was reported how it happened.
Only when itâs reported in the mainstream media will people realise how big a problem this is amongst young males in Ireland. Thereâs a crowd on Grafton street every week collecting for Youth Suicide Prevention - they donât receive a penny from the Government and provide voluntary services to youths on the brink of taking their own lives. They survive on donations from the likes of us. How sickening is it to read about a clown from Kerry taking money from our pockets to pay for a taxi in Heathrow when that money could have saved someones life?
More young males die by suicide every year than in road collisions - the RSA run big expensive campaigns telling young males to slow down - where are the ads telling them where to turn if they are thinking of taking their own life? Last week was World Suicide Prevention week - how many Irish people would have known that? There was a candle lit vigil in Trinity last Thursday which was given a token mention on the news channels and then forgotten about more than likely.
Apologies if the post is in bad taste after what occured this evening but it sickens me when something like this happens and for all we know, it could have been prevented somehow. My thoughts and prayers are with his friends and relatives. What they have to go through is something you wouldnât wish on your worst enemy.
I was reading comments at the weekend from the chair of some media group and he was saying that reporting a case as suicide was a bit of a lottery because when thy first report the case they arenât aware of the full facts and would need to 100% sure if it was suicide before labeling it as such, and by the time the Gardai would have established that the death was definitely suicide then the story is no longer current and there is no need to drag it up again.
I get what you are saying Mac, but I donât think any family would like to have a death labelled a sucide and it later turned out to be an accident.
[quote=âMacâ]Bumping this after the tragedy that occured this evening. While no death ever deserved to be played out in the media, I hope for a change that it is actually reported properly in the Irish media as a suicide. The reason being that all Irish people see suicide as such a taboo subject that no-one ever wants to speak of it.
How often do you see reports in the papers of people found in âtragic cirumstancesâ etc. I agree that a duty of care has to be undertaken for the relatives involved but having seen at close hand how it can affect a family I donât think anyone would honestly care if it was reported how it happened.
Only when itâs reported in the mainstream media will people realise how big a problem this is amongst young males in Ireland. Thereâs a crowd on Grafton street every week collecting for Youth Suicide Prevention - they donât receive a penny from the Government and provide voluntary services to youths on the brink of taking their own lives. They survive on donations from the likes of us. How sickening is it to read about a clown from Kerry taking money from our pockets to pay for a taxi in Heathrow when that money could have saved someones life?
More young males die by suicide every year than in road collisions - the RSA run big expensive campaigns telling young males to slow down - where are the ads telling them where to turn if they are thinking of taking their own life? Last week was World Suicide Prevention week - how many Irish people would have known that? There was a candle lit vigil in Trinity last Thursday which was given a token mention on the news channels and then forgotten about more than likely.
Apologies if the post is in bad taste after what occured this evening but it sickens me when something like this happens and for all we know, it could have been prevented somehow. My thoughts and prayers are with his friends and relatives. What they have to go through is something you wouldnât wish on your worst enemy.
I get what you are saying Mac, but I donât think any family would like to have a death labelled a sucide and it later turned out to be an accident.[/quote]
Thatâs a fair point Runt, but when the police rule out foul play and a poor fella has been found hanging thereâs not really much else it can be.
Like I said, a duty of care has to be paid to family but I think a lot of it goes back to our Catholic upbringing. I think at one point in the past, if someone took their own life they werenât allowed to be buried in a Catholic graveyard or they werenât allowed have a proper funeral or something like that. Itâs as if part of that stigma still exists.
[quote=âMacâ]Thatâs a fair point Runt, but when the police rule out foul play and a poor fella has been found hanging thereâs not really much else it can be.
Like I said, a duty of care has to be paid to family but I think a lot of it goes back to our Catholic upbringing. I think at one point in the past, if someone took their own life they werenât allowed to be buried in a Catholic graveyard or they werenât allowed have a proper funeral or something like that. Itâs as if part of that stigma still exists.[/quote]
See The Field, youâll note Seanie was not buried in the graveyard proper.
Iâve been to four funeral masses in the past 6 months and 3 of them were suicides. Both men and women with ages ranging from mid 20âs to late 50âs. The mood at the funeral of a suicide victim is way different to the mood at your regular funeral. Itâs the stigma thing that Mac talks about, people donât seem to be able to celebrate the life of the victim the way they do at a ânormalâ funeral.
