{"id":191752,"date":"2014-09-11T21:52:10","date_gmt":"2014-09-11T21:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/2014\/09\/11\/comicsalliance-stories-of-suicide-myths\/"},"modified":"2018-09-15T13:52:13","modified_gmt":"2018-09-15T13:52:13","slug":"comicsalliance-stories-of-suicide-myths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/2014\/09\/11\/comicsalliance-stories-of-suicide-myths\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-191752 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/2014\/09\/11\/comicsalliance-stories-of-suicide-myths\/attachment\/191753\/'><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/tumblr_nbovb97TrH1qcw9rdo1_640-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/tumblr_nbovb97TrH1qcw9rdo1_640-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/tumblr_nbovb97TrH1qcw9rdo1_640-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"100vw\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p><a class=\"tumblr_blog\" href=\"http:\/\/comicsalliance.tumblr.com\/post\/97138686143\/stories-of-suicide-myths-risks-and-help-seeking\" target=\"_blank\">comicsalliance<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><strong>STORIES OF SUICIDE: MYTHS, RISKS, AND HELP-SEEKING IN THE CREATIVE COMMUNITY<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>By <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ArkhamAsylumDoc\" target=\"_blank\">Dr. Andrea Letamendi<\/a><\/p>\n<p>September 8\u201314 is\u00a0<strong>National Suicide Prevention Week<\/strong>, an annual campaign sponsored by the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.suicidology.org\/about-aas\/national-suicide-prevention-week\" target=\"_blank\">American Association of Suicidology<\/a>\u00a0that recognizes suicide as a major public health concern and promotes the message that suicide deaths can be preventable. In the U.S. alone, nearly 40,000 people take their own lives each year. That\u2019s an average of 105 deaths per day. Yet, unlike the campaigns focused on the 9 other leading causes of death, suicide prevention isn\u2019t just about raising funds and improving treatment. Suicide is associated with stigma and misconceptions that often close the dialogue and prevent us from learning how we can overcome this epidemic. We don\u2019t talk about it. We are scared to ask about it. We simply don\u2019t know what to do.<\/p>\n<p>It is undeniable that all of us are thinking about suicide. We thought about it when\u00a0<strong>Hank Pym (Ant-Man)\u00a0<\/strong>contemplated ending his life after years of stress on his constantly-morphing body. We thought about it when\u00a0<strong>Roy Harper (Red Arrow)\u00a0<\/strong>was tormented by his\u00a0phantom limb pain and overdosed on painkillers. We thought about it when\u00a0<strong>Bruce Banner\u00a0<\/strong>confessed that he could no longer withstand the internal destruction caused by\u00a0<strong>the Hulk<\/strong>, but when he put a bullet in his mouth, \u201cthe other guy spit it out.\u201d Everyone who\u2019s read\u00a0Neil Gaiman\u2019s<strong>\u00a0<em>The Sandman<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0can stand up. You\u2019ve thought about it, too. Constantine. Deadshot. Mr. Terrific. Rorschach. Nearly every character in\u00a0<em>The Walking Dead<\/em>. The list of narratives goes on, some more explicit than others.<\/p>\n<p>Fiction is one of the most common ways we openly explore suicidality and connect with feelings of hopelessness, despair, and depression. Comics allow us to participate in the subversive in a way that is culturally acceptable.\u00a0We break that rule and seem to enter a place of insecurity and isolation when we begin admitting our own feelings of anguish and thoughts of self-harm.<\/p>\n<h4>Misconceptions About Suicide<\/h4>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-100502\" height=\"863\" src=\"http:\/\/wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net\/80450F\/comicsalliance.com\/files\/2014\/09\/Facebook31.jpg\" title=\"Facebook3\" width=\"630\" \/><\/p>\n<p>When actor and comedian\u00a0<strong>Robin Williams<\/strong>\u00a0died by suicide on August 11, 2014, the creative community was momentarily paralyzed. Questions poured out of us as we experienced a strange combination of feeling shocked, yet unsurprised.<\/p>\n<p><em>What went wrong? I thought he was doing better. He didn\u2019t look depressed. I thought only those who were depressed commit suicide.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>For those of us in the mental health field, these questions aren\u2019t new. We know, for instance, that people who are not clinically depressed attempt suicide (dealing with chronic pain, drug and alcohol dependence, anxiety disorders, and other mental health problems can also lead to suicidality). We know that some people take their own lives in periods of happiness. We know that people contemplate suicide in euphoric states. We also know that people die while in our care. Half of individuals who die by suicide had seen a medical doctor within the last month. Over a third of people who die by suicide had seen a mental health professional \u2014 yes, a person who should be qualified to recognize warning signs \u2014 within the last 30 days.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re already feeling frustrated and confused, you should be. Every time we lose someone to suicide, I\u2019m asked, \u201cWhy aren\u2019t officials in the mental health system doing something about this?\u201d\u00a0The truth is, they are.<\/p>\n<p>In June, I was invited to Washington, D.C. to participate in something called the\u00a0<strong>Zero Suicide Academy<\/strong>. Launched by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Defense, the Academy was created to enhance the national infrastructure for suicide prevention. Scientists-practitioners and mental health professionals were gathered from all over the country to learn strategies and interventions. It was like the Hogwarts for suicide prevention, only instead of learning magic we were learning how to save lives.<\/p>\n<p>The word \u201czero\u201d is a firm response to a deeply held belief in our society that we cannot save everyone, that suicide \u201cwill inevitably happen.\u201d \u00a0Some even believe,\u00a0\u201dIf someone wants to die, who are we to stop\u00a0them?\u201d I can understand that this question stems from a culture that values free will, individualism, choice. The problem is that the person contemplating suicide and deciding that ending their life is an option may not know about other options available to them that can also end their pain.\u00a0<em>The Bridge<\/em>, a film\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/documentarystorm.com\/the-bridge\/\" target=\"_blank\">project<\/a>\u00a0that explored suicide attempts at the Golden Gate Bridge revealed that the few survivors of the near-fatal fall never tried to kill themselves again. The goal of zero suicides, therefore, supports the idea that everyone who considers suicide fundamentally wants to live. Something inside of us wants to spit that bullet out.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/comicsalliance.com\/stories-of-suicide-myths-risks-and-help-seeking-in-the-creative-community\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>READ MORE AT COMICS ALLIANCE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"the_content clearfix\">\n<p>If you or someone you know is suicidal, contact a mental health professional or call\u00a0<strong>1-800-273-TALK (8255)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>comicsalliance: STORIES OF SUICIDE: MYTHS, RISKS, AND HELP-SEEKING IN THE CREATIVE COMMUNITY By Dr. Andrea Letamendi September 8\u201314 is\u00a0National Suicide Prevention Week, an annual campaign sponsored by the\u00a0American Association of Suicidology\u00a0that recognizes suicide as a major public health concern and promotes the message that suicide deaths can be preventable. In the U.S. alone, nearly 40,000 &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/2014\/09\/11\/comicsalliance-stories-of-suicide-myths\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[10839,1039,4],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191752"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191752"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191752\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":191754,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191752\/revisions\/191754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}