question of interest

Interest

I wondered today why I keep telling my therapist I am suicidal when I really want to kill myself. I know that she can stop me with a phone call for the white coats but it is more than that. Maybe I am afraid that if I am no longer suicidal to her, she will lose interest in me and find me a bore. I doubt this is true but I can’t help but feel this way. I also wonder why I am suicidal. I know I am depressed but you don’t have to be depressed to be suicidal. I hate myself. I hate my life. But I mostly just hate myself because I am not who I am.

Then I think maybe I am just suicidal to keep my readers interested. I know that sounds silly. I am not an attention seeker. I really feel like killing myself at times but something always holds me back, from going through with my plan. Lately it has been trying to see if taking the different pills I am on in large doses will be effective in doing damage. I don’t know why I think these things. It just comes to me so automatic that I really have gotten out of touch with what I truly feel and can think about something other than killing myself. The coping strategies I know about I have not put into use, though distraction is my biggest coping skill I use. If I distract myself from killing myself, that is good. Usually music will do it or sometimes writing/journaling/blogging. I write my therapist letters about how I feel and send them to her. I don’t know if she reads them as I usually save them up and when a bunch accumulates, I then mail them. They can be the most depressing things she ever reads. But it helps distract from acting on killing myself. I feel that the interest I have in suicide is also a factor in why I want to kill myself.

Today my therapist and I were talking about lethality. I don’t think I am lethal in my suicidality where she thinks I am because it’s not like I am saying I am taking one aspirin and calling it an OD. I am saying I am thinking about taking the bottle. But then the feeling passes but the thoughts don’t. I don’t know if this is making sense. I have been up since 0600, with weird dreams a few hours before that waking me up every 90 mins, which is the standard dream cycle. I am waking up because the dreams are disturbing but I can’t recall them when I wake up. Even now I don’t remember what the dreams were about. I know one of them had me in my old house I grew up in. But that is all. Frustrating as hell because this has gone on the past three nights and I have been waking up early despite going to bed around midnight. It just sucks because being sleep deprived always gives me a migraine, like I have right now. I want to take a nap but I think that will just make my sleep even more disturbed. And the more my sleep is disturbed, the more suicidal and pain I get.

worries

Just had chipoltle for lunch. Now I am enjoying my Isla Flores coffee from Starbucks. There are no seats at Starbucks so I am typing this is the noisy atmosphere of the Mexican restaurant. There are a lot of people talking over some kind of Spanish jam.

I had to get out of the house today as I was feeling cooped up. Today the coffee if better with a hint of chocolate that makes it takes like a mocha. I love Isla Flores.

I got some disturbing mail yesterday from my Long Term Disability (LTD). I am really upset about it and if it is for real and not some wrong development, I have to repay them. I don’t know how I am going to do this as I am already pushed to the limit with my finances. I have no other income other than my SSD. If I really do have to pay them back I can forget about school. There will be no “extra” now and I will be barely scraping by. I still plan on taking a summer class just to see how I do but I think that will make me want to take more classes. This just sucks.

And of course the first thought that popped into my mind when I got the letter was killing myself. If I were to just throw a rope over my neck and take a dive off the back porch, that will solve all my problems. I know It will cause others but at least I won’t owe the government, Sallie Mae, and now my LTD over $150,000 dollars! I need to win the lottery.

I hate Saturdays. It always reminded me that I needed to work. I would bust my ass getting to work every week just to clean up the mess day shift had left me. Whether it be the MPA or the outpatients there was always left over work to be done.

After waiting almost a half hour in the cold for the bus, I am wicked cold. I am now in my flannel pajamas and under my flannel blanket to try and warm up. The temp was in the thirties, though I swear with the wind, it was colder. Now I am in my room and it still feels cold. I have socks, long sleeves, flannel PJs, and I am still fucking cold. I would turn up the heat but that would mean leaving my cozy bed and I don’t want to.

I really wanted to go to school this summer. I still have the money for it but I am not sure it will be a wise decision to make given the debt that I am facing. Plus I don’t want it to turn to a tease because I know I won’t be able to take another class for a while. This is of course, if I am able to register online without difficulty. This class has pre-reqs so that is the only thing that will hold up my registration, but if I have to go down to the school, that will be cool too. I don’t know if a book(s) are required for this class. But it will be interesting. Oh I really want to say to hell with the consequences and take this class!!!!

vocabulary of suicide

Suicidal words

Hopelessness, psychache, lethality, perceived burdensomeness, thwarted belongingness, press, perturbation, fearlessness and competence.

These words encompass suicidality. It has been shown that most of the people that are suicidal feel this way and then act on the pressure of these feelings and commit and act of suicide. When someone feels all of these at once, it is a terrible feeling. Some people might only feel a few of these things and still be suicidal. Some people will feel these things and just be depressed.

Hopelessness, the feeling of being lost in hope, that nothing is ever going to change, that things will always be the same no matter what.

Psychache is defined as despair, anguish, hopelessness, guilt, worthlessness, and psychological pain one feels. It is like pain in the heart that no one else can feel. Your heart feels heavy and you feel like a burden because of it. Nothing soothes this pain. No medication can touch it. And suicide seems like the only answer for this type of pain and anguish.

Lethality, the degree to which someone is at risk for suicide. Whether it be a loaded gun or a few bottle of pills or some cuts on the wrist. This is what determines how suicidal a person is and how they are going to act. If the risk is high and eminent, involuntary hospitalization is called for. If the risk is low, then more contact is need and assessment at every visit.

Perceived burdensomeness, the idea that you are a burden to those around you but in reality you are not,

Thwarted belongingness, the idea that you don’t belong anywhere and feel the need to belong somewhere. It is a very awkward and lonely place that hurts very badly. Everyone wants to feel like they belong somewhere or to something and when that need is not met, they feel detached and alone.

Press, similar to stress. It is as if the building of the press is similar to the pressure of a volcano ready to explode. It can lead to further perturbation and make things worse.

Perturbation, the need to feel or do something to ease the pressure and anguish and despair they are feeling and to feel better. It can lead to want to do something but the idea is that you need to do something to relieve the pressure of the feelings on your chest.

Fearlessness, the absence of fear. In this regard, it means that people may be fearless when trying to take their life, like a type of Russian roulette.

Competence, the meaning is the level of competence to carry out the means for their suicidal plan. Examples include rope for hanging, gun handling and shooting, knowledge of drugs, etc. High competency is a high risk factor.

All these elements can lead to a suicidal crisis. It is imperative that these elements be asked about on a consistent basis. Talking about the pressures of work or home life is important. If someone is saying they are a burden and wish they were dead is a huge tip off that something is going on and the elements I have just described are in full play. All of the elements depending on their degree, is an important indicator of how suicidal a person is. Merely asking about being suicidal is NOT enough as most suicidal individuals fear hospitalization or a thwarting of their plans and therefore will not be honest about their intention to commit suicide.

copyrighted 2013, Collerone, G

my thoughts for the day

Today was a snow day. I didn’t go out because it was plain yucky out with freezing sleet and rain at times. I have to go out tomorrow so that will be better. I plan on taking a shower tonight so I don’t have to take one in the morning. Sometimes a shower can exhaust me so it is kind of good that I take it at night.

I started writing another paper on suicide. I don’t know where it is going but I decided to define some terms that I think will be valuable and then take it from there. I have to remember to put in copyright at the end of the paper so no one steals my work. I know it could be “stolen” anyways or parts of it very easily with copy and paste, but at least with the copyright it might prevent that from happening.

I made some progress with one of my characters with my game that I play. I am glad I did cause I didn’t think I could as I don’t play it very often. I have three Facebook accounts for this game so I can get the stuff I need to play. Between the four accounts, I use it to advance in the game as best I can. Course I have other player that help out too, but not so much for my other accounts.

Because today was a snow day, I didn’t have therapy this afternoon. I am glad because I was already in a bad mood this morning. I really wanted to go out today but I couldn’t because of the snow. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to get to McD’s and get a cheeseburger. I have been thinking of it every time it comes on the radio. I know they are bad for you and everything but they just taste so good.

I tried working on my book today but that didn’t happen. I need a break from it for a little while. It is stirring up too much stuff.

I don’t really want to go to group tomorrow. I just feel like I opened up tomorrow and I need more time to process what I said. I just feel really terrible that I talked about transgender and didn’t get a trip to the hospital. It was really weird. I thought I would go in the hospital because people don’t talk about it. My therapist was telling me that Kelly Curic had done a segment on kids that were transgender. That is all well and good but I didn’t have that growing up. I couldn’t express my feelings because it meant I would get smacked in the mouth. Nor did I have the words for what I was going through. I just knew that I was a guy at a young age but I was forced to conform to being the sex I was born with. I had to act like a girl. I couldn’t play sports I wanted to. I couldn’t wear the clothes I wanted to. I couldn’t even wear a baseball hat. My father threatened to cut them all up if he saw me wearing one. So I couldn’t be who I really am without having physical violence with my parents. It killed me whenever he threatened to destroy my property. I just wanted to die all the more. I figured what would be the point in living if I couldn’t be who I was. I envy the kids today that are getting the support and transitioning that they are doing. I wish I had that growing up.