September: Suicide Awareness & Prevention Month

 Hey, baddies! It is officially the start of a new month, and we're slowly creeping into fall, my personal favorite season. Anyway, it is September, which is suicide awareness and prevention month. Let's talk a little bit about suicide. The word suicide means the act of intentionally taking one's own life, AKA killing oneself. The word suicide originates from the Latin words "sui" which means self and "caedere" which means the act of slaying. An estimated 703,000 people die by suicide per year. The rate is more than double for men compared to women. Suicide is the 4th leading cause of death in 15-29 year-olds. 

Now, what are some ways someone may kill themselves? 

- using firearms

- hanging

- slitting/cutting/stabbing

- poison

- overdose

- suffocation

- drowning

- toxins

- jumping

- starvation/dehydration

- vehicular suicide

- fire

- assisted suicide/murder-suicide

- and more

This list is not to encourage or inspire suicide, this is simply a means of sharing information on such a serious subject. 

How do you know if someone around you is suicidal? A warning sign of suicide is talking about death and unbearable pain. Another sign is if they feel hopeless, worthless, burdening, useless, trapped, guilty, ashamed, and/or angry. Other signs may be changes in behavior or mood, such as a recent suicide attempt. More signs include:

- increased alcohol and drug use 

- losing interest in physical appearance or hygiene 

- withdrawing from their surroundings

- sudden goodbyes and I love you's 

- giving away prized possessions

- depressive episodes

- major changes in eating and/or sleeping

- becoming violent or being a victim of violence

- recklessness 

- expressing extreme rage

Now that we know what some warning signs of suicide are, take a moment to think about the people around you and see if there's anyone who displays a lot of these signs. If so, try to help them out by offering support, listening to them, or directing them to someone who can help better. If you or someone you know is suicidal and is contemplating suicide, call or text 988 (US) or go on their website (988lifeline.org). From my own experience, they have helped me calm down and feel better, and I recommend this if you have no one else to talk to. 

I hope we all learned a little more today about suicide and how to help those around us. Please, talk to someone if you can; even if you have no one, journal or distract yourself instead of attempting. Life is worth living and it is beautiful and incredible. Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Please reconsider, and have an amazing day, baddies! 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

CSA: Child Sexual Assault/Abuse

  Hey there, baddies! Today we're discussing CSA (child sexual assault/abuse). What is CSA? CSA is sexual activity between a child and an adult, adolescent, or older child. If an adult engages with a child sexually, then that is sexual abuse.  How do you know if you or someone around you is being sexually abused? Ask yourself these questions (if you're concerned for someone else, pretend you're asking them). Does an older person touch you in ways that make you uncomfortable? Does an older person show you inaproppriate pictures or videos? Does an older person take inappropriate pictures or videos of you? Does an older person talk about inappropriate or uncomfortable topics with you? Does an older person force you to look at or touch their genitilia? Does an older person look at or touch yours? Does an older person engage in sexual contact with you (ie. oral sex, penetration, touching)? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you or someone else is most likely being se...
Read more

Love, Infatuation, & Limerence

Hey, baddies! Today, I'm talking about love, infatuation, and limerence. Let's start by defining each of these words. What is love? That's a TWICE song. Seriously, though. Google defines love as an intense feeling of deep affection. Love can mean many things to many people. There are several types of love, as well. The ancient Greeks had 8 types of love:  Eros (sexual passion) Philia (deep friendship) Ludus (playful love) Agape (love for everyone) Pragma (longstanding love) Philautia (love of the self) Storge (family love) Mania (obsessive love) They felt as though the word love was overused and used loosely, so they had 8 words for love, one for each type. I honestly agree with this. People use the word love so loosely that we will use the same word to describe our liking for food and to describe our affection, dedication, and adoration for a soulmate.  What is infatuation? Infatuation is intense (but short-lived) obsession and admiration. Some people confuse infatuation f...
Read more

An Update

Hello, baddies. This post is going to just be an update on my life. It's been over a month since I've uploaded anything. I went through a lot within that time. I fell into a depressive episode that I thankfully got out of. Ramadan started. I recently reconnected with an old friend. I'm still unable to travel. I got my first commission order. Things are pretty much okay. I hope this lasts. I'm not a big fan of this strange, boring, neutral feeling, but it's better than depression. I haven't had a manic or euphoric episode in forever. I don't like that. I know this is for the best. But it still hurts.  I just want to give a shoutout to everyone that's helped me and talked to me in the past few weeks. I really appreciate all of you. Thank you. Bye.
Read more