something my psych teacher said..... (opinions please)
 

we were talking about depression and suicide, and he said all the stuff i expected him to for the most part. one bit i hadn't heard before..... he said that more people tend to try to kill themselves when they are actually coming out of the depression, not when they're at their lowest point. apparently this is because at someones lowest they have no energy and don't care anymore, and it is only when they start feeling a bit better and having a bit more energy that they are able to actively plan and carry out an attempt.........

not sure what to make of that, whether its true..... so, thoughts please?

I've heard it before. Don't know if it's true. I had the energy at my lowest point.
But about when you're coming out.... To have a setback can be SO devastating and discouraging that a suicide attempt is very likely. At least that's my experience.
So that may be another reason you might want to give your teacher.

That's an interesting thought. I think that the times when I am most suicidal would be when I had more energy and am feeling slightly better with the world. Also, yes, like Mum24 said, setbacks hit you so much harder than the destructive behaviours hurt now though I'd never thought about it in the context in which your psych teacher mentioned it. It won't be as simple as that, of course, with people killing themselves at their lowest points and screwing the correlation, but I can understand the thinking.

What are your thoughts, Katie?

Hmm....doesn't make much sense to me, but I don't know that much about psychology so I don't know....

There's a lot of research around that. It's one of the problems with prescribing some anti-Ds; they work to raise energy and motivation - which can be used for recovery, but often they don't raise mood at the same time - so you end up with somebody who is feeling low, but with more motivation to carry out plans.

Obviously it differs for everybody, and this isn't saying that this is universally true - but it's not uncommon to hear something similar to this, and there's quite a bit of research to support this, I think.

well i'm not really sure how much he knows. i mean, hes a good teacher, definately.... but this is a broad highschool course, even if it is an AP, and i've noticed some other things that seem really simplified.......

in some ways it makes sense and in others it doesnt..... and makes me wonder how they're judging someone's lowest point, cause thats really subjective. and what a doctor or other person percieves as someones lowest doesn't really necessarily reflect how that person is feeling

Ohhh, I understand why they increase suicidal tendencies now... that makes sense.

I've heard it before, and I can definitely see the point.

Or maybe not so much that the depression is lifting, but that they're calmer about it. Rather than being at that state of depression where someone is so low that they can't be bothered to get out of bed, shower, get dressed, etc etc etc, they become 'calmer' and more 'accepting' (e.g. maybe knowing that they've planned to die), so they begin to feel slightly better in a strange kind of way and have a bit more energy.

And as, as said above, when you start to feel better and then you have a bit of a setback it can be so distressing and overwhelming, that fear that it's going to feel really bad again. So I suppose that could contribute too.

I can see were you're teacher is coming from and i have heard that quite alot before. For me. I wasn;t coming out of depression but i was at my lowest point. For me... it's a little hardi was at my lowest point and i took a large od with the intend on ending my life the next day. However due to the pills making me sleep alot longer then normal i had 'missed' the time i wanted to end my life. And when i went to A&E two days later I still very extremely depressed but i didn't have the energy or more it was too much effort to try to leave and then go on to end my life.

However the day after when i came out of hospital, having been kept in overnight I was totall focused on getting more pills and ending my life in the same way as i had planned before. The only thing that stopped me was my parents and that litrally were ever I went my parents came.

Mmm. When I reached rock-bottom, I was so far past the point where I wanted to kill myself. Maybe I wanted to die, maybe not. At that point there was really nothing except a pain so overwhelming I felt like I could barely breathe; I thought that pain itself might kill me. But I got through it, and it was as I was waking up that the suicidal thoughts started to kick in again. However, in my case, knowing the worst was over, and that things (in my environment) could never be as bad as they'd been (because everything that could have happened, had happened), I got through it.

How are you feeling anyway? Does what he said bother you?

ive read that before. sometimes i look back and it applies to me, sometimes it doesn't. i certainly don't think it's the only time people act on the thoughts though.

you ok?

ive read that before. not sure if its completely true but i know with myself & SH, that when my depressions been bad, ive not had the energy to do anything, i guess same could apply for suicide?

i'm fine, just thinking about what he said, in an intellectual way. i definately don't want to commit suicide. i'm doing pretty well right now. i'm sorry if i worried anyone *hugs all*

just liek to check :) i'm glad you're doing ok right now. hope it continues for you xxx

This has been said to me, many times before now, as I have sui tendancies. I have to let someone know I am on medication so that they can keep an eye on me etc... just in case.

I think it is a common theory, especially where ADs are concerned. A lot of research was done after certain ADs (I forget the names, but they were all over the news at one point in the UK) seemed to increase sui tendancies in certain people...

Roiben x