{"id":1458,"date":"2019-05-29T18:51:18","date_gmt":"2019-05-29T18:51:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/?p=1458"},"modified":"2021-07-10T20:02:02","modified_gmt":"2021-07-10T20:02:02","slug":"suicide-all-the-reasons-why-not-by-christina-ryan-claypool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/2019\/05\/29\/suicide-all-the-reasons-why-not-by-christina-ryan-claypool\/","title":{"rendered":"“Suicide: All the Reasons Why Not” by Christina Ryan Claypool"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\u201cWhy\u201d is\nthe question we are haunted by when someone we love takes their life.  Netflix picked up on this quandary and\ncreated the series, \u201c13 Reasons Why,\u201d about a teenage girl\u2019s decision to complete\nsuicide. She leaves her tragic story behind on cassette tapes implicating\nothers for her fatal action. The teen drama was released on March 31, 2017, and\nhas been renewed for its third season to air sometime later this year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When this controversial show was originally broadcast, all kinds of folks weighed in. I didn\u2019t. It was too close to home. I suppose I\u2019m a reluctant expert, because in my youth I almost died by suicide. Still, it\nseems important to speak up now, because according to a recent Forbes article\nby Dr. Robert Glatter, \u201c\u2026[a] study from Nationwide Children\u2019s Hospital noted\nthat from 1999-2014 the suicide rate increased three fold among girls between\nthe ages of 10-14.\u201d In addition, \u201cSuicide is the second most common cause of death\nin the U.S. among youths between the ages of 10-19\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within the faith community, Pastor Rick Warren<\/a>, the well-known author of the New York Times <\/em>#1 best-seller, \u201cThe Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth am I Here For?\u201d<\/a> and his wife, Kay Warren<\/a>, have stepped to the forefront in the battle for mental health awareness<\/a>. Since, Matthew Warren, their 27-year-old son\u2019s highly-publicized suicide six years ago, they have been champions for the cause raising awareness for those silently suffering with a mental health issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite their efforts, there are archaic beliefs that continue to abound within the church. For instance, condemning an already emotionally fragile person for not having enough faith to overcome a mental health issue. Some even claiming it\u2019s a sin to allow yourself to plummet into a pit of despair, ignorantly comparing a clinically depressed state to a self-induced pity party. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you’ve\nnever struggled with any form of clinical depression, bipolar disorder, or even\ncrushing anxiety, you probably don\u2019t understand how an afflicted person can’t simply\nwill themselves out of their hopeless mindset. Depression, which is often a\nprecursor to suicide, is different than being sad, disappointed, or experiencing\nan occasional down day. Instead when depression accompanied by suicidal ideation\nis unrelenting and untreated, it\u2019s rather like having terminal cancer and being\nin so much agony nothing alleviates the pain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadly, www.mentalhealthamerica.net<\/a> reports, \u201c44,000 Americans die by suicide each\nyear\u2026[and] There is one death by suicide for every 25 attempts.\u201d Addiction increases\nthe risk, \u201cIndividuals with substance abuse disorders are six times more likely\nto complete suicide….\u201d( www.verywellmind.com<\/a> )<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since Netflix is preparing a third season of the graphic and exploitive \u201c13 Reasons Why,\u201d parents of teens should be alarmed, because some experts consider the program to be extremely harmful. It\u2019s not only, \u201c13 Reasons Why,\u201d but reading books or viewing movies like, \u201cBreathe\u201d or \u201cMe Before You,\u201d which glamorize and promote physician-assisted suicide can influence individuals of any age to falsely decide a mental health\/personal crisis can only be solved by terminating their existence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If someone is contemplating suicide, I would like to offer you some reasons why not. Beginning with the fact, the people who love you will change, but not for the better. Most likely, they will never stop wondering what they could have done to make you stay. Those left behind will probably blame themselves and be filled with regrets. A counselor will shake his or her head sadly confirming no one is to blame, but deep inside many loved ones will continue to be tormented by \u201cwhat might have been.\u201d I know this firsthand, because I lost someone I loved more than my own life to suicide. Someone I would have gladly traded places with if only it worked that way, but it doesn\u2019t.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those of us who are suicide survivors, defined as losing a loved one to suicide, there are never any good answers. Survivors grapple with the \u201cWhy?\u201d question, until this internal wrestling exhausts us, and we reluctantly accept we will never know why. So, please don\u2019t embrace the lie that you are a burden, and suicide will free those you love.  Instead you will create an agonizing pain for family and friends \u2013 a heartache so unbearable they could lose all hope for tomorrow. After all, statistics reveal those who lose a loved one to suicide can become vulnerable to taking their own life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Stay alive for the people you care about, even in the midst of the depression and the darkness. Reach out and get the help you need, because with professional treatment you can recover. My life is a testimony that with God\u2019s grace you can live one day at a time. You will see the light again. Hope will return and one day you will remember you are on this Earth for a purpose.                    <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you are contemplating taking your life call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255 or chat online at https:\/\/suicidepreventionlifeline.org\/<\/a>. Whatever you do, don\u2019t give up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Christina Ryan Claypool <\/a>is a national Amy and Ohio AP award-winning freelance journalist and inspirational speaker. She has been featured on Joyce Meyer Ministries Enjoying Everyday Life TV show and on CBN’s 700 Club. Learn more at www.christinaryanclaypool.com<\/a>. Her latest book, \u201cSecrets of the Pastor\u2019s Wife: A Novel\u201d <\/a>is available on all major online outlets.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhy\u201d is the question we are haunted by when someone we love takes their life.  Netflix picked up on this quandary and created the series, \u201c13 Reasons Why,\u201d about a teenage girl\u2019s decision to complete suicide. She leaves her tragic … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1459,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1016,306,46,703,780,477,1017,220,221,473,882,575],"class_list":["post-1458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-13-reasons-why","tag-christianity","tag-church","tag-kay-warren","tag-me-before-you","tag-mental-health","tag-netflix","tag-pastor-rick-warren","tag-purpose-driven-life","tag-suicide","tag-suicide-prevention","tag-teenagers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1458"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1739,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1458\/revisions\/1739"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}