2. Aren't all suicidal people crazy?
Description
This article is from the Suicide FAQ, by Graham Stoney greyham@research.canon.com.au with numerous contributions by others.
2. Aren't all suicidal people crazy?
No, having suicidal thoughts does not imply that you are crazy, or
necessarily mentally ill. People who attempt suicide are often
acutely distressed and the vast majority are depressed to some extent.
This depression may be either a reactive depression which is an
entirely normal reaction to difficult circumstances, or may be an
endogenous depression which is the result of a diagnosable mental
illness with other underlying causes. It may also be a combination of
the two.
The question of mental illness is a difficult one because both these
kinds of depression may have similar symptoms and effects.
Furthermore, the exact definition of depression as a diagnosable
mental illnesses (i.e. clinical depression) tends to be somewhat fluid
and inexact, so whether a person who is distressed enough to attempt
suicide would be diagnosed as suffering from clinical depression may
vary in different peoples opinions, and may also vary between
cultures.
It's probably more helpful to distinguish between these two types of
depression and treat each accordingly than to simply diagnose all such
depression as being a form of mental illness, even though a person
suffering from a reactive depression might match the diagnostic
criteria typically used to diagnose clinical depression. For example,
Appleby and Condonis[1] write:
The majority of individuals who commit suicide do not have a diag-
nosable mental illness. They are people just like you and I who at a
particular time are feeling isolated, desperately unhappy and alone.
Suicidal thoughts and actions may be the result of life's stresses and
losses that the individual feels they just can't cope with.
In a society where there is much stigma and ignorance regarding mental
illness, a person who feels suicidal may fear that other people will
think they are "crazy" if they tell them how they feel, and so may be
reluctant to reach out for help in a crisis. In any case, describing
someone as "crazy", which has strong negative connotations, probably
isn't helpful and is more likely to dissuade someone from seeking help
which may be very beneficial, whether they have a diagnosable mental
illness or not.
People who are suffering from a mental illness such as schizophrenia
or clinical depression do have significantly higher suicide rates than
average, although they are still in the minority of attemptors. For
these people, having their illness correctly diagnosed can mean that
an appropriate treatment can begin to address it.
For more information about clinical depression, see the
alt.support.depression FAQ, available from:
ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/alt-support-depression/faq/
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