Suicide...What exactly is happening?
Suicide - What exactly is happening?
Kate Spade, famous handbag designer and entrepreneur, committed suicide this week by hanging herself in her New York City apartment. On the surface, she had it all, a 35 year marriage to her husband/business partner and a 13 year old daughter and no money problems whatsoever. Though she and her husband lived apart for the past 10 months, he said he saw her the previous evening and did not get any vibes regarding what was about to transpire; she never spoke about committing suicide.
Her husband issued a statement in the New York Times:
“Kate suffered from depression and anxiety for many years. She was actively seeking help and working closely with her doctors to treat her disease, one that takes far too many lives. We were in touch with her the night before and she sounded happy. There was no indication and no warning that she would do this. It was a complete shock. And it clearly wasn’t her. There were personal demons she was battling.”
The Morning Call cites that “suicide rates up sharply sine 1999” and how to determine the warning signs.
The media does play a role in suicides and some are copy cat with both adolescents and adults. Two days later there was another celebrity suicide Anthony Bourdain also by hanging.
Social media has been blowing up blaming these people for leaving their children and not thinking about their loved ones. People that want to do this are in pain and the only way they can ease the pain is by completing the act. They truly believe that the world will be a better place without them.
Real mental health issues don't make any sense. It makes sense to people who do not suffer from such afflictions. Even if it is situational, how does it sound if your girlfriend breaks up with you and while you probably will feel pain, saying you don't want to live is not a rational way to respond.
Regular mental health treatment underlies about 50% of all hospital visits -( think if diabetics could change their habits) so as a country it would save tons of money if we were all afforded regular affordable mental health and we held no stigma against it.
Kate Spade inspired female entrepreneurs and Anthony Bourdain changed the way we look at the restaurant industry and removed the stigma of talking about drug abuse. He also supported the #metoo movement. In many ways they live on....