re: To those who have lost someone to suicide

My father shot him self the week before I started LSU. I saw him the day before and he was in a good mood. There weren’t really clear warning signs and there often aren’t.

He definitely had risk factors: type 1 bipolar disorder, alcoholic, struggled with med compliance, owned lots of guns, not working (at the time he was taking short term disability from work for mental health treatment); and just two years prior a sudden divorce ripped our family apart.

My advice is pay close attention to those in rock-bottom situations. Especially if they express feeling hopeless, have a mental health/substance abuse disorder, and/or access to firearms or controlled substances.

If you think someone you know needs help, call the suicide prevention hotline and ask them what to do.

In early September 2001, a friend of mine died in a car wreck. 30 minutes later, a friend just over a mile away went into his backyard with a shotgun blew himself away. He had wrecked his truck the day before and his Dad came down hard on him for it. The coroner, who picked up my car wreck friend, got the call and loaded up my other friend with him.

A week later, 9/11 happened. Two weeks to the day, I lost my grandfather. I’d say that was a rough month.

Suicide sucks. A lot of times there is no warning. You try to the best friend or family member you can be.

My great friend from LSU was laid to rest just 10+ hours ago. He had been having a really rough year, but seemed much better recently (though he battled depression issues since I knew him). So I was stunned when I got the call. He had previously sent some suicidal texts 6+ months ago, but I was able to talk things over with him and talk him down. I sadly didn't get a call this time. He was one of the nicest people too. I'm sorry for all those who have been commenting who have lost someone due to suicide. I hope the happier moments you shared bring you some peace.

For those that say killing yourself is the most selfish thing you can do, killing yourself and your kids or others like some do when someone divorces them, etc., is worse. But also, that opinion shows that you don't really understand mental illness. Mental illness is like cancer, some cancers are bad, but survivable, but some have no treatment and are a death sentence. Mental illness varies greatly on how serious it is, and with some people, there is no logical reasoning because the illness has taken that ability away from them.

Yes. I lost a good buddy about a year ago and it was like railroad crossing lights going off leading up to it. Unfortunately I was one of the few people seeing it.

He suffered from seasonal depression and I think most of his friends chalked up his slow change of demeanor to that, but to me it was like watching a battery drain down. I'd invite him to go play music or just get out of the house and he'd shoot it down.

It finally got to a point where I decided I was going to try to get another friend and physically take him to a faciltiy that could help him with medication. I'd made the phone calls (on a Friday), found a place that would take him, and then called him to try go somewhere or let me come over. He refused and asked me to just let him be - and it was then I thought, "Ok, if he's still this way Monday I'm hogtying him and taking him for help.

The next day he did it after texting me his suicide note. I raced over there but it was too late.

My big takeaways are 1) trust your instincts. If you see behavior that alarms you in someone close, eff worrying if they'll be pissed at you for overreacting. 2) Tell as many people as possible about your concerns and eff worrying if they think you're off your rocker.

It's better to overreact and possibly lose the friendship than to not and live in regret.

I guess the signs were there when my dad did it but I didn’t see them. Probably because I wasn’t looking. This was the night before Thanksgiving in 2010. We’d just finished dinner. My mom, wife, 2 young sons and I were all there when he did it. I’ll never forget that night.
He was in a Vietnam veteran’s support group at the VA. He seemed to enjoy the group and made friends with a lot of the guys.
He was retired and we’d just finished building him a cabin in the woods to use as a getaway/hunting camp.
At the time he had 2 grandsons that were in his hip pocket and my daughter was about 2 months from her arrival.
I’ll never understand it.

Good friend of mine took his life.

Knew he was stretched thin financially but other than that I didn’t notice any signs. Very sad as he left behind a wife and young daughter. Still can’t believe he is gone.

One was a completely surprise to everyone. The other was him giving up after his body was completely wrecked from drugs and alcohol. He was off the drugs but drank a lot. No way to help him because he was still in the environment that got him there

Also, when I was younger (11, 12 years old) my next door neighbor killed herself, but it there is no idea why.

It was the summer after her senior year of HS and her parents had gone on vacation. Her dad had a gun in his room, he had taken her to the shooting range several times and she knew how to use it. He made sure she knew where he kept it in case she needed it for protection.

She had a friend staying with her and one early evening, evidently some dude kept calling them and messing with the girls.. He told them he was coming over to "get them". She went get the gun. She was sitting in the chair. She knew there were two bullets in the chamber and held it to her head and tells the girl "I am going to shoot myself". Pulled the trigger and it was empty. Her friend didn't think it was funny at all and was trying to get her to stop, but she did it again. The second time it went off.

My dad and I were in the front yard. She heard the shot, but didn't know what it was. For maybe a minute.. It wasn't right after we heard the noise, which sounded like a shot, but also kind of sounded like a car backfire but the girl came out hysterical just yelling "she killed herself! she just shot herself!".

My dad went yell to my mom to call 911 that the girl had shot herself.. And I followed him over there. She was slumped over the chair with blood pouring from her head.

Anyway, it was actually ruled a suicide based on the friend's story and the fact that she was aware the gun was loaded. If she did mean to kill herself, there were absolutely no signs.

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Holy shite man

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All from the same platoon. Its like a monster that just comes back periodically to take another bite. Almost 20% of the platoon is dead now either KIA or suicide.