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> I tried to kill myself at Penn because I felt so utterly alone. If I was the only person on Earth, I wouldn't kill myself. Life isn't about feeling happy all

> I tried to kill myself at Penn because I felt so utterly alone. If I was the only person on Earth, I wouldn't kill myself. Life isn't about feeling happy all the time.

mentalhealth 13y ago
Suicidal ideation is, in general, not a choice a person makes. It's the result of a combination of depression and lack of inhibition, due to anything ranging from psychosis to extreme anxiety or stress. If you were sufficiently depressed and stressed from being the last person on Earth, you'd most likely commit suicide.
- a8da6b0c91d 13y ago
  Is it possible to drive a lab monkey to suicide? I'm assuming suicidal people are usually in a state of learned helplessness from prolonged stress, which I understand is well understood in animal experiments.
- sp332 13y ago
  Exactly, so the statement "I tried to kill myself at Penn because I felt so utterly alone." is probably wrong. I mean it's probably subjectively true, and it's informative, but loneliness probably didn't cause this person to attempt suicide.
  - kaonashi 13y ago
    That was her description of her subjective experience, but she made it clear that it was most likely due to the stress & anxiety.
  - a8da6b0c91d 13y ago
    Why would you doubt that loneliness was the problem? Man is a social mammal and isolation in such animals produces easily measured extreme stress. If unchecked it results in breakdown.
tptacek 13y ago
Cool story.
jhh 13y ago
It's kind of condescending to say something like that though because we have no direct understanding of how other people feel. Most people do not kill themselves. It's possible that those which try simply feel worse than those that do. If you would feel way worse most of the time, then maybe you would kill yourself. And if you would not, is that morally superior behavior and if yes, why?
sliverstorm 13y ago
FWIW, I find being alone/lonely when surrounded by happy bustling people is much more crushing than being or feeling alone with no other people around. In the latter case, you can kind of ignore it a little, in the former it's right in front of you, teasing you, but just out of reach.
- RankingMember 13y ago
  Ah yes, the ol' "alone in a crowd" feeling. You're surrounded by people, but you can't relate to them and don't see them as being able to relate to you, even though it's statistically likely that some of them feel similar to you and put on a good face.
wavefunction 13y ago
How about spending your entire life never feeling happy and "knowing" that it will never change. You simply don't understand the mind of the depressed, so what you would do or wouldn't do doesn't matter in this discussion.
p_random 13y ago
you're a moron.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
almosnow 13y ago
I don't get why you got downvoted. Being alone is not "an issue", as the common status quo of occidental society tries to make us think. Correct me if I'm wrong but I assume the following about the author: 1. He's an american. You were lucky to be born in a first-world country where you can really get to be EVERYTHING you want. Yeah, even with all the "McDonalds/Starbucks/DumbAmericans" criticism being born here gives you access to many things that 90% of the world population can only dream of. 2. He's a middle-class young man. Society, your family and the people that care for you set everything up so that you can go through this period of your life without worrying about anything else than GETTING BETTER AT THE THINGS THAT YOU LOVE in order to earn yourself a place in society that you will enjoy for the rest of your life. 3. "This same nurse was present when some of my friends came to visit to wish me a speedy recovery from my allergic reaction. After they left, she looked at me and said, “Look at all those friends you have!” " - He can be a cynical asshole as much as he would want, but the fact that he had people that took some time to visit him at the hospital because he was ill (i.e. FRIENDS) also makes him a very fortunate person. What I'd like to say to the author of this post is this: I don't want to change your mind and I don't care, I just want to tell you what's going to happen next. Ten years from now you will meet someone who didn't have half the things that you have access to now, this person will be happy with his/her life and you will still be bitching about how terrible yours is "because of the government", "because of a significant other(or lack of it)", "because money", "because... because... because...". The day you stand in front of this person, you will see the person that you had been if you weren't just a little pussy and that day you will enter a state of depression that is nothing like you have ever experienced before; definitely not the kind of depression that you are used to see on your teen movies. And that day you will kill yourself... and that's it, that's you.

> I tried to kill myself at Penn because I felt so utterly alone. If I was the only person on Earth, I wouldn't kill myself. Life isn't about feeling happy all the time.

mentalhealth 13y ago

Suicidal ideation is, in general, not a choice a person makes. It's the result of a combination of depression and lack of inhibition, due to anything ranging from psychosis to extreme anxiety or stress. If you were sufficiently depressed and stressed from being the last person on Earth, you'd most likely commit suicide.

a8da6b0c91d 13y ago
Is it possible to drive a lab monkey to suicide? I'm assuming suicidal people are usually in a state of learned helplessness from prolonged stress, which I understand is well understood in animal experiments.
sp332 13y ago
Exactly, so the statement "I tried to kill myself at Penn because I felt so utterly alone." is probably wrong. I mean it's probably subjectively true, and it's informative, but loneliness probably didn't cause this person to attempt suicide.
- kaonashi 13y ago
  That was her description of her subjective experience, but she made it clear that it was most likely due to the stress & anxiety.
- a8da6b0c91d 13y ago
  Why would you doubt that loneliness was the problem? Man is a social mammal and isolation in such animals produces easily measured extreme stress. If unchecked it results in breakdown.

tptacek 13y ago

Cool story.

jhh 13y ago

It's kind of condescending to say something like that though because we have no direct understanding of how other people feel. Most people do not kill themselves. It's possible that those which try simply feel worse than those that do. If you would feel way worse most of the time, then maybe you would kill yourself. And if you would not, is that morally superior behavior and if yes, why?

sliverstorm 13y ago

FWIW, I find being alone/lonely when surrounded by happy bustling people is much more crushing than being or feeling alone with no other people around. In the latter case, you can kind of ignore it a little, in the former it's right in front of you, teasing you, but just out of reach.

RankingMember 13y ago
Ah yes, the ol' "alone in a crowd" feeling. You're surrounded by people, but you can't relate to them and don't see them as being able to relate to you, even though it's statistically likely that some of them feel similar to you and put on a good face.

wavefunction 13y ago

How about spending your entire life never feeling happy and "knowing" that it will never change. You simply don't understand the mind of the depressed, so what you would do or wouldn't do doesn't matter in this discussion.

p_random 13y ago

you're a moron.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

almosnow 13y ago

I don't get why you got downvoted. Being alone is not "an issue", as the common status quo of occidental society tries to make us think. Correct me if I'm wrong but I assume the following about the author: 1. He's an american. You were lucky to be born in a first-world country where you can really get to be EVERYTHING you want. Yeah, even with all the "McDonalds/Starbucks/DumbAmericans" criticism being born here gives you access to many things that 90% of the world population can only dream of. 2. He's a middle-class young man. Society, your family and the people that care for you set everything up so that you can go through this period of your life without worrying about anything else than GETTING BETTER AT THE THINGS THAT YOU LOVE in order to earn yourself a place in society that you will enjoy for the rest of your life. 3. "This same nurse was present when some of my friends came to visit to wish me a speedy recovery from my allergic reaction. After they left, she looked at me and said, “Look at all those friends you have!” " - He can be a cynical asshole as much as he would want, but the fact that he had people that took some time to visit him at the hospital because he was ill (i.e. FRIENDS) also makes him a very fortunate person. What I'd like to say to the author of this post is this: I don't want to change your mind and I don't care, I just want to tell you what's going to happen next. Ten years from now you will meet someone who didn't have half the things that you have access to now, this person will be happy with his/her life and you will still be bitching about how terrible yours is "because of the government", "because of a significant other(or lack of it)", "because money", "because... because... because...". The day you stand in front of this person, you will see the person that you had been if you weren't just a little pussy and that day you will enter a state of depression that is nothing like you have ever experienced before; definitely not the kind of depression that you are used to see on your teen movies. And that day you will kill yourself... and that's it, that's you.