Life-loving suicides

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Most of us cannot name the desired “end” date of our life, but assume to live as long as possible. However, many shorten their lives every day without realizing it. What is killing us?

KNOWLEDGE OR CONSCIOUSNESS?

Already three-year-olds know that smoking is harmful. By the age of four or five, they learn about the dangers of alcohol, by eight or nine they know about drugs. You need to cross the street in the right place, eat well and fully, and visit doctors on time - all this is also known. Really, getting older, people forget about all the safety standards of life, starting to "burn" it? Maybe they still realize that they are approaching their end?

The point is that knowledge does not guarantee awareness. That is, a person, in principle, knows that something is harmful and theoretically shortens life, but does not allow this thought for himself. A kind of paradigm of personal invulnerability. When you directly tell a person that drinking or smoking shortens his life, leading to chronic diseases that do not allow him to live for a long time, he turns on protection. As a rule, it is primitive: an example of “someone I know or have heard of” is given. So this "someone" lived a long life, despite the fact that … (smoked three packs a day, drank too much, had obesity, ran like mad - emphasize the necessary).

CHOICE OF LIFE

When a person with third degree obesity devours cake after cake, does he choose life or death? When he smokes the fourth pack, fights in the street, rushes at a breakneck speed, does he think at these moments that he would like to die? Undoubtedly, all this brings him closer to the mark of nothingness, something gradually, and something on the edge of the moment. But he thinks about life! All of the above helps to get special pleasure from life for a while, to feel alive. The consequences remain behind the scenes.

The internal background is described by the concept of "latent presuicide" - one of the stages of the formation of suicidal behavior. A person can be in a state of socio-psychological and mental maladjustment for a long time: he has a lot of problems, or he feels like a “loser”, or has parted with a loved one, and there are still a lot of all kinds of “or” from which you do not feel very good. Such circumstances happen to everyone in life, but not all of them lead to the passage of the steps from life to death. This state can last for years, during which a person slowly but surely "kills" himself in the chosen way.

Self-destructive behavior can differ according to the criterion of suddenness of death: using alcohol, drugs, tobacco, eating improperly (especially already having chronic diseases), working eighteen hours a day, avoiding doctors, a person "kills" himself slowly but steadily. And there is a category of "games with death", which includes the desire to fight, violation of traffic rules (from crossing in the wrong place to "racing without rules"), non-observance of safety measures - everything that can lead to instant death at any moment. The paradox of the situation is that almost everything that brings death closer is associated with obtaining "a taste of life."

TOP-10 "DESTROYERS" OF LIFE

- Alcohol

- smoking

- Drugs

- Eating disorders (overeating or refusing to eat)

- Violation of the rules of life in chronic diseases

- Workaholism - Aggressiveness in contacts with others (lovers of fighting)

- Violation of traffic rules - both as a pedestrian and as a driver

- Violation of safety rules in hazardous professions and hobbies

- Refusal of medical care

LOOK CAREFULLY

For the close people of the destroyer of his life, the situation is more transparent than for himself. What relatives and friends do not do to convince a person to be more careful, to take care of their health, not to take risks, to quit bad habits. And all is in vain, as if he “does not hear”. Or rather, his inner “I”, which is ready to die rather than live, does not hear.

I would like to emphasize that the author of the article does not at all stand up for some ideal world, where there are no temptations and risks and where they live boringly up to a hundred years. Not at all! There is a place for everything in life. But if we are talking about a hidden motivational readiness for suicide (so hidden that it may not be realized by the person himself), then, in addition to the obvious self-destructive behavior, there are additional criteria here.

Although he rarely shares this with others, much can be understood without direct admission. If he composes poetry or draws, the theme of death begins to be traced in his work. He listens to music where "the romanticism of death" reigns. If you talk to him about some kind of suicide (from a movie or news), he is more likely to look for excuses for why the person wanted to end his life. In his speech, statements periodically appear (often in the form of jokes or anecdotes) related to non-existence.

Self-destructive behavior provides a person with a powerful weapon - to kill himself "accidentally". He "suddenly" gets into an accident; drives himself to an acute attack of a chronic illness by doing what is prohibited (for example, eating a pound of pork sausage); gets into a fight; gets a heart attack from overwork; dies of drug or alcohol overdose. Considering the entire path, one can understand that a person has come to the outcome that he has chosen for himself.

ERROR RELEASED

It is believed that those who choose dangerous professions unconsciously shorten their lives: military, police, firefighters, rescuers of the Ministry of Emergency Situations - all those who, constantly at risk, save others. This list also includes people involved in extreme sports - skydivers, divers, sports "stunts", fans of extreme driving (as a kind of sport). They say that these people choose such a profession or hobby because they potentially want to die. But this reasoning is extremely superficial.

Yes, representatives of dangerous professions really have an increased willingness to sacrifice themselves in a critical situation. But at the same time, they will do everything to increase the chances of survival not only of the person they are saving, but also of themselves. They have a healthy desire for life, and this is expressed precisely in the fact that they comply with all prescribed safety instructions - both during preparation and in an emergency. They do not risk in vain, their actions are clear, because they want to live! The same applies to extreme sports enthusiasts: they honor correct parachute placement, protective suits and serviceable brakes.

Of course, among these people there are those whose condition leaves much to be desired. For example, while working in the police, I regularly discouraged employees who had just gone through a divorce or separation from going to Chechnya. I knew that in this case, the chances are high that they either will not return, or they will be seriously injured.

SO…

The knowledge that something is "harmful" does not at all guarantee the awareness of the danger to oneself. When it comes to what is killing us, you need to assess the scale of what is happening. A little alcohol on the holidays, "hanging out" at work on an important project, or a couple of cakes shouldn't be considered self-destructive behavior. But if the influence of the "destroyer" on life becomes significant, it is time to think about what is happening.