Smokers are simply manifesting their Suicidal Tendencies...Leave them to it

               "Time takes a cigarette, puts it in your mouth" [David Bowie]

 

Back in 2008 the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich highlighted the link between young smokers and suicide.  Thoughts about suicide and attempts to commit suicide were four times more frequent for German teens aged 14-24 that smoked.  

In the U.S a year later Ronald Kessler and his fellow Harvard University colleagues provided data that smokers were about two or three times as likely to have thought about or attempted suicide in the past year than non-smokers. The more you smoked the more you thought about ending your life.  

This result backs-up a ‘mass’ study done involving 300,000 U.S smoking/non-smoking military employees over the period 1987 to 1996.   

Suicide and Smoking are unequivocally linked.  

These studies however concentrated exclusively on the act of killing oneself on the spot, rather than taking the long route via lung cancer etc.  

So what about smokers who don’t take overdoses of pills, place a gun to the forehead – are they too suicidal, just too ‘chicken’ to jump off a bridge?     

All smokers know they are deliberately ending their lives early, yet they are perfectly happy exchanging a shorter life for what they consider ‘a pleasure’.  

Most smokers dismiss outside advice to quit the habit with the quip “You have to die some-way”.

I’m sure you’ve heard the dismissive barb before, more than once.  

 

Is this simply a form of the philosophical doctrine of fatalism: death is inevitable so live your life to the fullest doing whatever spins your wheels? 

This could be the case were it not a fact smoking is strongly linked with suicide of the immediate kind.   

Repeat: the more you smoke the more you think about suicide.  

Similarly it’s a fact, smokers as a group end their lives earlier than non-smokers and they largely don’t care, remain almost defiantly proud of this sad stat.     

For all intents every smoker is manifesting suicidal tendencies, most opting to take the long-way out. 

For this demographic, if it wasn’t smokes it would be some other health impinging vice.

 

 

Religions Unheralded Role in New Zealand’s Suicide Statistics.

New Zealand has one of the worst levels of suicide in the world & youth suicide in this country is a major issue.

The reasons for suicide are complex and often linked to mental health problems - depression being the number one precursor.

SPINZ (Suicide Prevention Information NZ) is the national body charged with reducing suicide in this country by providing the public with preventative strategies such as improving self-esteem.

Some of these ‘red lights’ family members and friends should look for include:

- Feeling down all the time
- Say that life isn’t worth living
- Get into death image and music
- Use alcohol in excess or drugs
- Acting ‘out of it’, dangerous or violent
- Out of character risk-taking
- Changes in personality

Despite the comprehensiveness of sites like SPINZ there was a disturbing oversight in their advice.

They all failed to deal with one of the lesser-known causes of suicide.

The ugly ‘throw-back’ child that is spoken about in hushed tones even in professional circles, as if it didn’t exist.

We are not talking about the easy cubby-holes of death metal and Marilyn Manson – its belief in the after life & the false hope entities, homo-erectus chimps have named, Gods offer to those seeking help.

International Suicide research shows there is a major ‘at risk’ group that feels they are disenfranchised from their families, peers and society as a whole. This is why homosexuals are over represented in suicide statistics.

Those that fail to integrate into the mainstream are therefore vulnerable, so are those that have suffered a relationship breakdown.

So back to the whispered role religion plays in suicide – the taboo subject within the taboo subject.

Religious apologists argue that ‘good’ comes from religious adherence and individuals are instilled a belief they are loved unconditionally, are part of a community and have a greater purpose.

Theist beliefs and those ‘at risk’ therefore have to be dealt with as a whole.

The success stories of those turned around at the edge of the cliff by a new found belief in God are touted publicly - but what about the failures?

When religion fails to treat the symptoms or makes them worse we hear nothing?

Surely it is the role of the state (via SPINZ etc) to monitor bogus treatments in this contentious and convoluted area of human-psychiatry and highlight the possible dangers of indoctrinating often mentally-ill individuals with tales of invisible beings and Lord of The Rings type stories with unicorns and seven-headed dragons?

Offering someone hope is fine – but what if that hope is a false one?

Placing a meme in someone mind that “Jesus loves you” if no one else does is meaningless in itself when your own crap-life continues spiraling out of control and you still see no way out of your hole.

What happens if the only person who supposedly loves you unconditionally also lets you down when you seek their help?

What happens if you are Gay and you get told you are inherently evil and need ‘rescuing’?

Hold-on, if you listen hard to what your new found buddies are telling-you there is a way out from the dark-times!

A place which by definition of the word is: paradise.

It’s called ‘heaven’.

How does one get to this place?

Well the quickest way to get to heaven is not to give your life to Christ and wait for old-age – simply kill your-self.

You can be re-united with love ones, live an infinite ethereal existence without the pain.

Rub shoulders with Mother Teresa, Martin Luther, a whole bunch of virginal Popes and if you so desire it Peter Pan & the interesting half The Beatles as well.

Instead of dealing with the ‘issues’ of those with suicidal tendencies in certain individuals religion offers not just offers false-hope but a way-out – the imaginary ‘after-life’.

For those that doubt the power of religious indoctrination & suicide I have a one word answer: Martyrdom.

Note: The letter at the top of the article is an actual 'Suicide Note'.