Suicidal Behavior - Case Study Example

Fairweather's "From Suicide to Survival" tells about the story of a suicidal individual with the focus mainly on what brought about the suicidal tendencies and the road to redemption. Qualitative analysis of the narrative has resulted to a very interesting discussion that enlightens the reader about the psyche of a suicidal person and the dynamics and processes that leads to such conditions. Essential to the story is the reason why the narrator has become suicidal. As we are concerned on the cause, it is appropriate then that we establish a cause and effect relationship. In the process of determining the cause and effect, I have come to the understanding that such task is indeed tedious as the dynamics is complex and interconnected. Nevertheless, I have established the following cause and effect relationship for the suicidal case: 1. Narrator becoming suicidal Family related - an abusive father with grave personal issues such as gambling addiction (p. 86); a self-destructive mother who eventually died leaving the children to fend for themselves (p. 86); a sister as a source of envy (p. 88). Suicidal tendencies common in the family (p. 86). Self related - attempt to make people around feel guilty; tendency to blame self for the miseries happening around her (p. 95). The narrator also had the feeling of being powerless of saving the parent whom he loved very much (p. 93). Society related - being a woman at that time (stated to be 1972) was disadvantageous because of the concept of man as superior than his partner. (p. 92). There was also a lack of effectiveness for the support and rescue system such as tranquilizers only causing lethargy, uninspired trainee psychiatrist and ignorant love of nuns at the convent school (p. 85). Religion related - the religious fostered the idea of the Man to be the natural Head of woman and that pain was God-decreed. The narrator found no comfort in the house of the nuns. (p. 86) 2. An insensitive father Self related - transferred to his children his misery of being prevented on availing grammar school scholarship because of financial reasons. Family related - blamed his children for his lousy marriage and the mental state of his wife. Occupation related - was working as a policeman, a person of authority that he practiced heavily and abusively on his children. 3. Mother becoming self-destructive Family related - an abusive husband whom she divorced and who did not even come in her last hours. Self related - a traumatic childhood being alone to fend for herself as young as 10 years old. She also had a terminal illness that made her all the more in despair. The Cause and Effect analysis reveals many important points for the determination of the suicidal tendencies. Foremost of the reason is the abusive father who found it appropriate to make his children suffer as he did. He had a hard background and the pressure of supporting his children and his mentally challenged wife was too much for him to bear. He saw his family as people who made him suffer and so he must make them suffer. Backed by the notion that the man is the head of the family, he could have deemed it fit to treat to make his family recognize his superior masculinity, albeit, to a serious and violent degree. The patriarchal system pervading the period was also providing the justification for the abusive act. Self-destruction it appears runs in the family. The mother and sister had it as well as the narrator. However, it becomes more important to point out that such unfortunate situation can be more attributed to the unfortunate life that their parents had. The narrator's mother fended for herself at the young age of 10 while the father was forced to work and forget schooling. Misery for those misfortunes made itself known thru violence. There is also a cause and effect relationship for her survival. It is as follows: 1. Narrator successfully repressing her suicidal tendency Family related - fond memories for her mother who taught her the value of cheerfulness; a newfound sibling relationship with her sister. Self related - a realization that her self is not to blame for her misfortunes; a solid resolve to survive against the odds (p. 85); availing of professional psychiatric help that help her understand and overcome her violent and Other related - the concept of the other signifies another person extending help. She received it in the form of Dr. Forster who healed her thru therapy and Judi who befriended her in spite of her attitude towards her. The mother was not so lucky as to have her life extended due to her terminal sickness but the very fact that the narrator's reverence for her mother made her stronger purports the notion that the woman is almost always the fond source for the desire to survive and strive. As for the father, we can say nothing but consider him as a major source of the narrator's uninspired life. Aside from the analysis of cause and effect stated above, we can also find a sequence of developments that defined the way the story was narrated. We classify it into: pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance and relapse. All those who survive or is trying to deal with the ordeal of being self-destructive begins their journey to self-healing by laying out the reasons why the condition came to be. It was the pre-contemplation and the contemplation stage. The pre-contemplation stage involved the narrator stating how she had become suicidal: from the urge to self-destruct was a legacy from years of being mentally abused to the unfortunate meeting with his estranged father in the train. She laid out her family situation wherein her mother was a source of stress for all the siblings due to her self-destructive behaviour. She also laid out the situation where they let the abuse of their father go unreported because of their love and fear for him. The narrator was pre-contemplating how she had come to believe as a child in an unhappy family, she was the one to blame for the mental and emotional anguish in the home. 'We believe that ' If only I clean up my act, become a better child, then they'll love me'. The contemplation stage deals with finally realizing that self-hatred and self-blaming were the primary reasons why she had a self-destructive attitude. She tries to justify her mother and father's behaviour with connecting it with their miserable past. Her mother was an orphan by the age of twelve and survived by hawking firewood around the street and sang for pennies in a Glasgow shipyard. Her father was envious of the fact that his surrogate son made it in grammar school and had been snubbed for his fondness of bread and dripping for tea and his habit of putting milk on the table in its bottle. As Eileen realized more and more that she is not to blame for the misfortunes of her family and is in fact the result of the individual actions of 'adult fuck ups', she is becoming prepared to embrace the road to recovery and self-healing. Other experiences also such as choosing one's self instead of the boyfriend and being able to go to the university despite the strong urge and fad to elope with 'the first man to offer bed and board, shacking up or marriage, a gilt covered cage to save me from the terrifying task of finding and defining myself; not just so and so's daughter, now so-and so's wife, but Eileen, me.' Prepared to release one's self from self-hatred and acknowledge one's own value, Eileen acted take responsibility for her life because she knew that no one else will do that for her. Through the process of meditation and self-hypnosis, easy to learn but startlingly effective, Eileen 'learnt how to refund that younger Eileen, she of the still healthy mother and loving self-image, and too, to greet all the sad, scabby, suicidal Eileens who followed, to rescue them from whatever part of my brain their pain is still imprinted in, and give them reassurance: Look, it's all right - we made it through!' 'and yes, I know; it's bloody scary.' As per all life changing moments, there is the period called maintenance due to the possibility of relapse. Eileen noted that there is a need to wait and to give one's self time because time can heal pain. Many women were suffering pain during that time and it is indeed not an easy thing to face. The road to redemption is not easy as 'half the time you don't at first even recognise them and know them for what they are'. Be wary and be very patient, according to Eileen, for the road to self-healing cannot be achieved only in one session as she found out that her visit to Release didn't work instant magic. She didn't turn overnight from self-destroyer into survivor. 'It was a long, long haul and involved many years of therapy, and more than a few wrong turnings along the way.' The issue of suicidal tendencies has long been the subject of many researches especially due to its scandalous nature. Beck and Steer (2005) followed the lives of 379 suicide attempters and survivors and evaluated the process by which they recovered and changed or went further deeper into self-destruction and committed suicide. Thru interviews with close relatives and follow-ups with their respective psychiatrists, they were able to determine that the process is indeed complex but essentially those who relapsed are those who had nobody who care for them. Beautrais (2004) was able to determine that while there is a considerable variance in the cause of suicide, the reason that stands out the most is the situation in the home. Too many suicide attempters, it seems, have been the victims of domestic violence. Feelings of insufficient love and abusive male figures in the family had developed people into self-destroyers. Eileen's narrative was indeed provocative and impelling as it makes us question not only ourselves but also of the accepted norms of our society. Tolerance for abuse and neglect for the feelings of other people have all resulted to many of our kind destroying them. Nonetheless, Eileen's narrative is a call to many suicide attempters to reach within themselves for answers for it is there where they will find it. Reference: 1. Beautrais AC: Further suicidal behavior among medically serious suicide attempters. Suicide Life Threat Behav 2004; 34:1-11. 2. Beck AT, Steer RA: Clinical predictors of eventual suicide: a five to ten year prospective study of suicide attempters. J Affect Disord 1989; 17:203-209 Read More