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by vjk800 978 days ago
> What often stops otherwise suicidal folks is that it's not an easy thing to do

Is the take away from this that if all people knew how to kill themselves efficiently, the suicide rates in general population would be as high as they are among vets? It's pretty grim to think that the only thing that's stopping many people from killings themselves is that they don't know how...
3 comments
basisword 978 days ago
I think it depends on how 'easy' it is. If it was as simple as pushing a button and you knew it was instant and painless I can imagine many times in my life I would have pressed that button - and I'm sure a lot of people might do it in moments of great distress, when thoughts of the future aren't there. I think the issue isn't the "know how" as you mentioned, it's more the difficulty and uncertainty (of pain and success). Working in a place that has the tools and you know how to use them reduces so many barriers to entry so to speak.
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wcedmisten 978 days ago
There's a case study [1] from the UK when they phased out "coal gas" which contained carbon monoxide, and which many people were using to painlessly kill themselves via their ovens (Silvia Plathe being the most famous to do so). The conclusion was that removing this method of suicide did decrease the suicide rates over that time period.

[1]: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC478945/

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tonyedgecombe 978 days ago
Just putting paracetamol in small blister packs lowered the rate of overdose in the UK:

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6...

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HeyLaughingBoy 978 days ago
I wouldn't be surprised.

I had an gf who was bipolar and suffering from PTSD and was on meds for those conditions and also due to previous suicide attempts.

I remember one conversation after we had broken up when she told me how depressed she had been and I said, "well at least you haven't offed yourself."

She smiled a bit and said, "I tried to kill myself three times in the last two months. I guess I'm not very good at it."

Answering the begged question: twenty+ years later and last time I checked she was still alive and well.

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