Posted on Apr 7, 2023
A survivor of multiple suicide attempts explains 'How Not to Kill Yourself'
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https://www.npr.org/2023/04/05/ [login to see] /how-not-to-kill-yourself-suicide-clancy-martin
Clancy Martin has lived most of his life with two incompatible ideas in his head: "I wish I were dead – and I'm glad my suicides failed." Martin has survived more than 10 suicide attempts and he wrote his new memoir – How Not to Kill Yourself: A Portrait of the Suicidal Mind – especially for those who have attempted suicide, or struggle with suicidal thoughts.
"I am tremendously relieved that I did not die as a consequence of any of my suicide attempts," Martin says. "I'm so relieved that I am alive."
Martin says John Draper, who served as director of The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, told him that anyone who survives a suicide attempt has a "superpower" — because they understand what it's like to be suffering in that way and are now in a position to help others going through something similar.
Clancy Martin has lived most of his life with two incompatible ideas in his head: "I wish I were dead – and I'm glad my suicides failed." Martin has survived more than 10 suicide attempts and he wrote his new memoir – How Not to Kill Yourself: A Portrait of the Suicidal Mind – especially for those who have attempted suicide, or struggle with suicidal thoughts.
"I am tremendously relieved that I did not die as a consequence of any of my suicide attempts," Martin says. "I'm so relieved that I am alive."
Martin says John Draper, who served as director of The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, told him that anyone who survives a suicide attempt has a "superpower" — because they understand what it's like to be suffering in that way and are now in a position to help others going through something similar.
A survivor of multiple suicide attempts explains 'How Not to Kill Yourself'
Posted from npr.org
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Suicide
Mental Health
Depression
Posted 1 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."On existentialist philosophy and suicide
I think that this feeling that life didn't make sense and this was sort of a battle and a struggle and that it ought to make sense and that there are answers to these questions definitely drove me into philosophy. The philosophers I connect most deeply with, we call it the existentialist tradition. ...
Clancy Martin says, "I needed to learn to accept my suicidal thinking, recognize that it was there, and not to add a moral label to it, not to be ashamed of it or afraid of it."
Lauren Schrader/Pantheon Books
Camus thought that you should not kill yourself out of stubbornness, that life is suffering and it is ultimately meaningless. And so you should say, you know what, life? I'm tougher than you are. I'm not going to let you do what I know you're trying to make me do, which is to end my life, I'm going to stand up to you. And he thought that in standing up to life, as he put it, as with Sisyphus rolling that rock back up the hill, that's where you find your meaning. And that's the opportunity for beginning to make sense of life and to turn life into something that you're grateful for. When you say, you know what? Even with all the suffering, I'm going to stick around."...
..."On existentialist philosophy and suicide
I think that this feeling that life didn't make sense and this was sort of a battle and a struggle and that it ought to make sense and that there are answers to these questions definitely drove me into philosophy. The philosophers I connect most deeply with, we call it the existentialist tradition. ...
Clancy Martin says, "I needed to learn to accept my suicidal thinking, recognize that it was there, and not to add a moral label to it, not to be ashamed of it or afraid of it."
Lauren Schrader/Pantheon Books
Camus thought that you should not kill yourself out of stubbornness, that life is suffering and it is ultimately meaningless. And so you should say, you know what, life? I'm tougher than you are. I'm not going to let you do what I know you're trying to make me do, which is to end my life, I'm going to stand up to you. And he thought that in standing up to life, as he put it, as with Sisyphus rolling that rock back up the hill, that's where you find your meaning. And that's the opportunity for beginning to make sense of life and to turn life into something that you're grateful for. When you say, you know what? Even with all the suffering, I'm going to stick around."...
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel good day Brother William, always informational and of the most interesting. Thanks for sharing, have a blessed day!
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I just submitted my clinical article to Research Gate on this particular topic. It is poorly done. If any of you are interested I will forward a copy of my article. [login to see] .
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