Stigma of Suicide: the Effects of the Taboo

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Stigma of suicide: The effects of the taboo. Angie McCoy Hondros College Abstract The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention state that over 34,500 people commit suicide every year and it’s rated in the top ten causes of death in the United States. Like the sex talk though, parents and teens still avoid talking about it. A person seeks out help if they have a broken arm or cancer, but what if there was a stigma attached to those conditions. Would those people seek help if that stigma stated that only crazy people or families who are crazy get broken legs and cancer? That may sound farfetched but that same scenario plays out every day concerning suicide. The Stigma of suicide. The effects of the taboo. I remember the day my seventeen year old cousin decided to take his own life. It was the day I took my NCLEX exam and my eldest brother’s birthday. I had planned on stopping by his house or at least call to let my aunt know I had taken my test. I changed my plans and stayed up in Columbus with a friend. My initial feeling when I found out was shock and then guilt. I felt as though I could have saved my aunt from the pain of his death if I had stuck to the original plan. I wished I could have at least saved her the pain of being the one to find him. It’s been a long road of healing for her and she’ll never completely heal. My cousin didn’t show the typical signs of suicidal tendency, nor did he leave a note. He was just gone from us and the family has not been the same. The stigma that surrounds suicide is hardest on the survivors. The suicide reference library quotes historian Arnold Toynbee as writing, “There are always two parties to a death; the person who dies and the survivors who are bereaved”. Talking about suicide will not save every person with suicidal thought, however with time many can be helped,

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