When did you first become aware of suicide?

freshpopcorn · 25-02-2020 06:51PM #1

I couldn't give an exact age but I was about nine or ten when I found out somebody could kill themselves. I may have heard about the word before that but I wouldn't have had a clue how somebody would do it then.
I remember when I was in 5th or 6th year somebody older that us committed suicide and it was discussed in school and the person beside me asked me what was suicide, he didn't have a clue about it.

When did you first become aware of suicide?

Gatling · 25-02-2020 06:58PM

7 or 8 at the time a friend's dad went missing during the last week of the run up to our first communion ,his body was found the morning of ,
Our parents were asked to attend the school and it was explained what had happened to our friends dad ,
The week after a teacher tried her best child like way of explaining what suicide was ,

25-02-2020 07:09PM

Kurt Cobain at age nine, a classmate blurted out to me that "the coolest thing just happened". I'll never forget it.

Princess Calla · 25-02-2020 07:11PM

Gatling wrote: »

7 or 8 at the time a friend's dad went missing during the last week of the run up to our first communion ,his body was found the morning of ,
Our parents were asked to attend the school and it was explained what had happened to our friends dad ,
The week after a teacher tried her best child like way of explaining what suicide was ,

Jesus that poor child

bitofabind · 25-02-2020 07:14PM

I remember going to the Galway Races with my Dad, must've been ten or eleven. We met a friend of his and stopped to chat. He was with his daughter who was a new mum and had her baby with her. She was probably late 20s, early 30s.

A few weeks later I heard my parents discussing her in the kitchen, she was struggling to cope and had died by suicide. I remember hearing the method too and being utterly shocked and disturbed - how could someone do something like that to themselves? What was going to happen to her baby? I thought about it for weeks. Couldn't get my head around it.

Princess Calla · 25-02-2020 07:16PM

I honestly don't know.

I think I was young enough though.

My siblings are alot older so alot of conversations in the house that were probably not the most age appropriate.

r93kaey5p2izun · 25-02-2020 07:54PM

I think around 3/4. My neighbour hung himself and we were told about it.

Lewis_Benson · 25-02-2020 08:03PM

They day Kurt Cobain died, I was 12.
I'd never even heard about suicide before that

ILoveYourVibes · 25-02-2020 08:11PM

I was about 3 or 4.

I never spoke about it to anyone. I just have a memory of the room i was in when i knew. Then i never spoke about it.

A few years later my mother was surprised i was able to remember.

NSAman · 25-02-2020 08:13PM

13, best friend in school, without warning, committed suicide. Still to this day, wonder if there was anything I could have done....

chopperbyrne · 25-02-2020 08:15PM

Either the 8th or 9th of April 1994. Whichever day Irish media started reporting on Kurt Cobain's suicide.

ILoveYourVibes · 25-02-2020 08:19PM

NSAman wrote: »

13, best friend in school, without warning, committed suicide. Still to this day, wonder if there was anything I could have done....

Im sorry. There wasnt i promise you. If they are going to do it they are going to do it.

x

Better Than Christ · 25-02-2020 10:06PM

I think I was around six or seven. A character in Home and Away jumped off a cliff. The next day, me and some friends made up a game called 'suicide' which consisted entirely of us taking it in turns to dive down a grassy embankment while all the others screamed in faux-horror. Bleak stuff.

Just did a search for the clip on YouTube, over thirty years on, and it's exactly how I remember it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZMIOWm1ado

branie2 · 25-02-2020 10:38PM

In an encyclopedia article about Adolf Hitler

arybvtcw0eolkf · 25-02-2020 11:03PM

NSAman wrote: »

13, best friend in school, without warning, committed suicide. Still to this day, wonder if there was anything I could have done....

One of my best mates died by suicide, and that's the question on my mind all the time too.. I keep wondering if he even thought of giving me a ring just before doing it, and decided against it in case I talked him out of it.

We'll never know.

To the thread, I'm not sure when I became aware of it but my first first hand experience of it was a suicide in work. I was on duty in Lebanon (a village called Hadatha, that's the only specific I'll give) when I heard a gun shot.. It wasn't unusual to hear gun fire, but then one of the lads ran into the duty room looking for a medivac (medical evacuation).

Closest suicide to me besides my mate was my brother in law, done it on his birthday too.

BuboBubo · 25-02-2020 11:04PM

M*A*S*H theme song, when I was about 6.

AllForIt · 25-02-2020 11:17PM

I am the only one that finds this a strange question? Like totally random, and what difference does it make anyway.

ILoveYourVibes · 26-02-2020 12:08AM

AllForIt wrote: »

I am the only one that finds this a strange question? Like totally random, and what difference does it make anyway.

maybe they have to discuss it with a child.

BrianBoru00 · 26-02-2020 12:12AM

AllForIt wrote: »

I am the only one that finds this a strange question? Like totally random, and what difference does it make anyway.

It's after hours and THIS is the question you find strange? ??

freshpopcorn · 26-02-2020 12:15AM

AllForIt wrote: »

I am the only one that finds this a strange question? Like totally random, and what difference does it make anyway.

In the past few years I've heard of a few kids committing suicide or saying they want to. When I was a kid I hadn't any idea it was even possible to do such a thing until I was a little older. I was wondering was I in a minority.
It's a discussion forums and I asked it.

wakka12 · 26-02-2020 12:16AM

I actually dont have any strong recollection of learning about the concept as a child. I dont think it was something I found too hard to comprehend for some reason, which is strange as I was quite a naive child and believed in santa etc until a fairly old age

wakka12 · 26-02-2020 12:17AM

AllForIt wrote: »

I am the only one that finds this a strange question? Like totally random, and what difference does it make anyway.

Strange but interesting. 'What difference does it make' could be said about 99% of things human discuss! And I think it makes a difference anyway as it is an important and tragic issue that most of us will experience the effects of during our lifetime and it is interesting to consider when is an appropriate time for a child to learn about it, if they are emotionally able to etc.

punisher5112 · 26-02-2020 12:22AM

NSAman wrote: »

13, best friend in school, without warning, committed suicide. Still to this day, wonder if there was anything I could have done....

Honestly no. And don't even ponder on that...

It's an absolute devastating situation and it's sometimes just that and no matter what one does they just won't change their mind.

I came close myself around that age till around 20..... School was no fun and honestly the worst time of my life.

You can be happy that you were friends and I'm sure he knew you cared.

An Ri rua · 26-02-2020 12:24AM

freshpopcorn wrote: »

In the past few years I've heard of a few kids committing suicide or saying they want to. When I was a kid I hadn't any idea it was even possible to do such a thing until I was a little older. I was wondering was I in a minority.
It's a discussion forums and I asked it.

It's well worth reading Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point in this regard. Fascinating stuff. Re social viruses and social validation. Study of suicides among Polynesians. Utterly fascinating when you detach the study from feelings of anyone you've known.

I recall hearing about lemmings jumping off cliffs. When I was around 6 I'd say. I found it utterly bizarre. It only made sense a few years later.

My heartfelt wishes to all who wonder could they have helped someone. It's not ours to give unfortunately. They have to see a way forward.

Church on Tuesday · 26-02-2020 12:34AM

Obviously I was aware of it by the time I hit my mid twenties but when my cousin passed by suicide around that time it made it very real.

I hope he's at peace. Talk to people if you feel down.

AllForIt · 26-02-2020 12:42AM

freshpopcorn wrote: »

In the past few years I've heard of a few kids committing suicide or saying they want to. When I was a kid I hadn't any idea it was even possible to do such a thing until I was a little older. I was wondering was I in a minority.
It's a discussion forums and I asked it.

Well fair enough. What you said in the first sentence is rather worrying, it's not something I've ever come across and if that's what you've experienced then your right to bring the subject up. Sorry if I came across insensitive.

wakka12 · 26-02-2020 12:44AM

freshpopcorn wrote: »

In the past few years I've heard of a few kids committing suicide or saying they want to. When I was a kid I hadn't any idea it was even possible to do such a thing until I was a little older. I was wondering was I in a minority.
It's a discussion forums and I asked it.

Are you talking about the Australian boy that there was a recent video of? I found it really disturbing that such a young boy was talking like that, the use of "I want to kill myself'' rather than something like 'I dont want to be alive anymore' that you might expect from a distraught child

Plumbthedepths · 26-02-2020 12:48AM

13, a school friend took his life. Found by his dad who a few years later did the same in the place where he found my friend. Broken heart he never got over it.
35 years ago, I still remember him. Sadly he was the first of 4 school friends who did this all within a few years.

TheBoyConor · 26-02-2020 12:53AM

When my father came in shaking after cutting a fella down from a bridge at the back of our land.

freshpopcorn · 26-02-2020 01:03AM

wakka12 wrote: »

Are you talking about the Australian boy that there was a recent video of? I found it really disturbing that such a young boy was talking like that, the use of "I want to kill myself'' rather than something like 'I dont want to be alive anymore' that you might expect from a distraught child

That was one of the instances and you do hear about similar stuff going on hear in Ireland.

TheBoyConor · 26-02-2020 01:29AM

What I'd be more concerned about is the bullying of the parent towards that child, and them opportunistically videoing and spashing it all over social media for the world and it's aunty to see for the sake of a few likes. Jesus Christ like.

If the child was in such a state would you not just comfort the child and ease their pain and prioritise that? No, I'll stream it up on social media for the likes and so everyone can see how woke I am.

I thought that was an absolute disgrace and shameful parenting and a gross violation of that poor child's dignity and privacy. What a cock of a parent.

When did you first become aware of suicide?

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