DEPRESSION is the leading cause of suicide. According to Frank Minirth in his book, Happiness is a Choice, “Suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the United States; It accounts for twenty-four thousand deaths annually. A suicidal death occurs about every twenty minutes, and there are ten unsuccessful attempts for every successful one. In the world as a whole, the suicide rate seems to be increasing, with five hundred thousand being reported annually”.
Suicide is a uniquely human problem. Animals may kill other animals, but they do not kill themselves. Only man kills himself. It must be remembered, however, that not all suicide threats are genuine.
People who threaten suicide should be taken seriously, even though most suicide threats are merely manipulative. It is not true that people who threaten suicide never do so. In fact, over 10 percent of the persons who make a suicide gesture eventually do commit suicide. Most people who commit suicide have warned someone of their intentions. Suicide is more frequent among the divorced, the widowed, and the higher socio-economic groups. It is also common among single adult males? Women attempt suicide about five times more frequently than men, however, twice as many men are successful in the attempt. The reason for this is that men tend to use more violent means to commit suicide and do not use suicide as a manipulative gesture as often as women do. People of all religious denomination commit suicide, among college-age students, suicide only to accidents. Every three minutes someone “attempts” suicide, and every twenty minutes someone succeeds.
Potential suicide often share common characteristics or experiences. There are ten warning signs of individuals most likely to attempt suicide.
1. Individual with intense emotional pain, as seen in depression.
2. Individual with intense hopeless feelings.
3. Single white males over forty-five years of age.
4. Individual with a prior history of a suicide attempt and individuals who have warned others of their suicide intentions. Of any ten people who commit suicide, eight have given definite warning.
5. Individual with severe health problems.
6. Individual who have experienced a significant loss of some kind-death of a spouse, loss of a job.
7. Individual who have made a specific suicide plan the process builds as follies. Fleeting thoughts of suicide are followed by a serious consideration of suicide which is followed by an actual attempt.
8. Individual with chronic self-destructive behaviour (such as alcoholism).
9. Individual with an intense need to achieve.
10. Individual with an excess of disturbing life events within the last six months.
Suicide is a terrible thing for several reasons first, most people who commit suicide do so when they are not seeing things realistically. They would not commit suicide if they saw the true nature of the situation and realized that their problem was only temporary and solvable. After two months of therapy, patients who were formerly suicidal are amazed that they were actually considering suicide in the past. Secondly, the effects of suicide on the surviving children, other relatives, and friends are devastating. Children wrongly blame themselves for the suicide of a parents, they are also more likely to fellow their parents example by giving up on life and committing suicide when as adults they find themselves in difficult situations.
Finally, suicide is a sin just as murder is a sin. “Thou shalt not kill” (Exodus 20:13) applies to our own lives as well as the lives of others. Suicide is never God’s will!
Only seven suicide are listed in the scriptures: Abimelech (Judges 9:54), Samson (Judges 16:30), Saul (1st Samuel 31:3), Saul’s armor bearer (1st Samuel 31:5), Alithophel (2nd Samuel 17:23), Zimri (1st Kings 16:18), and Judas (the Gospels). None of the men who committed suicide was at that time acting in accordance with the will of God.
