I don’t see how you could survive a shotgun blast to the back or top of your mouth, much less a bomb. At the very least, the brain stem is vaporized, and you can’t survive without that. I suppose if you turned the barrel to the side and just blew out your cheek and jaw, perhaps, but that’s being stupid.

Yeah, my point was simply that it’s not hard to kill yourself, like the OP asserted. Obviously, many people would have other considerations in mind (e.g. pain, the state of your body afterwards, etc).

It is NOT difficult to kill yourself intentionally, at all.

• Make a simple, strong slip knot to use as a noose, secure it somewhere that will support your body weight, tie your hands behind your back so that you can’t easily get out of the restraints, and jump off a ledge of some kind. It won’t break your neck and you’ll die agonizingly, but you will almost certainly die of asphyxiation. Even more effective if you tie yourself up in weights and jump into deep water.
• Shotgun. Easily procurable in America. Stick in mouth with buckshot and pull trigger. Messy, but effective.
• Lots of ways to make powerful bombs with materials you can find in stores. Make one and set it off in your mouth.
• Lock yourself in a room with carbon monoxide. So long as no one’s coming to get you, it’s a nice, peaceful way to go out.
• Snort a sugar cube’s worth of fentanyl.
• Sever any major artery and get in a bathtub full of water so the wound can’t seal easily. Cope with the pain until you pass out. As long as no one finds you, you dead.

I could go on, but I think I’ve been morbid enough.

Thankfully, suicidal impulses are just that: impulses. They are relatively short-lived (10-20 minutes on average) and then they pass. You may still be depressed, but the urge to end it all is no longer there, for most people. One of the best things you can do when you’re feeling suicidal is just to go to sleep. When you wake up, you’ll likely feel better. The vast majority of people who attempt suicide and live regret it almost immediately, and most of them do not attempt it again.

However, there are people who enter long suicidal states, where they’ve genuinely made up their mind to end their lives. With these people, no matter what the psychiatric intervention is, short of permanently restraining them, they will almost always find a way to kill themselves. The truth is you cannot stop a person who is truly intent on ending their life. And I for one am very thankful for that, because living should always be a choice. We should not be in the business of forcing people to live torturous, agonizing lives from which there is no real escape or remedy. Everyone should have the option of “getting off the ride” if they so choose. Ultimately, it’s no one’s business but their own.

Depends: do you want rules that apply equally to everyone or rules that apply selectively based on your demographic status?

Personally, I choose the former.

Beat me to it. 6.6 IMDB, 33% RT. It stars Antonio Banderas as an Arab, but goddamnit I love this flick.

Agreed. I never thought it would happen in my lifetime, but it looks like we’re going to have Star Trek computers pretty soon.

I’m an American atheist Jew, and I’ve had conversations with my (converted) mother about it. She’s pretty solidly on Israel’s side, but she’s also not very educated about the conflict. She just kinda goes by the mainstream media’s narrative and doesn’t think too much beyond that. When I present her with information, she’s horrified and agrees with me that “Israel is going too far,” but it never results in her thinking the U.S. should stop sending them money. She hates Netanyahu and his conservative government, but she’s very hung up on Hamas being a terrorist organization. And I suppose I am too, to be honest. I want a free Palestine and for the Israeli settlers to be expelled, but I don’t want to support Hamas and I think they should pretty much be eradicated. I’m just much more willing to condemn Israel for their actions than she is; she’s very caught on the idea that Israel has a right to defend itself from Palestinian terrorism, and has a hard time seeing that it’s gone way past that at this point.

Mental health counselor here.

The outcomes of treatment for bipolar disorder are unfortunately very variable. It depends on how severe your son’s symptoms are, how well he responds to the medications cocktail he’s being given, what that medication cocktail is, and how well he adheres to it.

The important thing is that your son controls what he can control, which is largely whether or not he takes his meds and how much he engages in therapy. Therapeutic skills involve insight/mindfulness work (i.e. how well your son can recognize his symptoms as they’re happening) and resource use (i.e. does he inform his therapist and/or psychiatrist when he notices he’s be king symptomatic). Mania often feels amazing to people experiencing it, so they’re often motivated against treating it when it occurs, and this is major barrier to treatment.

A big component is whether or not symptoms of psychosis are involved in either the mania or depression. Psychotic symptoms are: 1.) hallucinations (false sensory perceptions, like hearing voices, seeing things, smelling things, etc), 2.) delusions (false beliefs that don’t conform to “normal” societal beliefs, like “I am Jesus” or “God has a mission for me”), and 3.) paranoia (i.e. feeling people around you are hostile to you or are spying on you, etc). These can be experienced in either mood state, but are most often seen in manic states.

I would suggest getting in touch with an organization called NAMI (National Alliance for the Mentally Ill) as they have tons of resources for people struggling with mental illness and family members of mentally ill people.

“Terryology may have some merits and deserves consideration.”

I don’t hold this opinion, but I can guarantee you it’s unpopular.

Largely, yeah. I think it would have been fine if we’d stayed in the Iron Age. Things started getting fucked up with the Industrial Revolution.

LOL, the Amish Philosophy.

Nothing so crude. I simply think it’s better for the universe if we don’t propagate it, because we’re not a good enough example for other species to follow yet. It’s not about respecting “God’s” law so much as acknowledging humanity’s limitations. We’re a pathetic species, not ready for rulership over multiple planets, let alone multiple solar systems. My comment simply suggests I don’t have confidence we ever will be. This has nothing to do with the Amish belief that we’re better in a simplistic state; just that the universe is better without us in whatever state.

The ability for human beings to advance scientific knowledge further than it currently exists.

Something needs to protect the rest of the galaxy from us.

There is some truth to this in that one of the first distinctions infants learn to make is “good/bad” or “pleasure/pain,” in terms of its ability to analyze its own emotional states.

That being said, it’s still an increíble oversimplification of even an infant’s mind.

There’s a game called Haven that you might want to check out. It involves you playing your chosen side of a couple trying to survive on an alien planet, hiding out from a society that wants to prevent you from being together. Lots of relationship RPing and that sort of thing.

I’m paid $60k/year, have a caseload of 70 for 35 hours/week work, and work conditions force me to work 50 hours/week to complete my duties, no additional pay, overtime LOL.

We are not the same.

Mental health (masters-level therapist), shit.

Pick mah nose.

You could try a litmus test with your friend, based on the criteria you personally have for a friendship breakage.

For me, with my (now ex-)friend, it was a simple question: “Can you not see that Trump is a malignant narcissist who will—like at the end of his first term—not cede power at the end of his second?”

My (ex-)friend refused to render a judgment, so my response followed: “That cements it. I no longer have respect for your judgment of character. For you to support this transparent a wannabe dictator makes it clear you lack the basic moral fiber I expect in a friend. I’m sorry, but I no longer can call you someone I want to associate with, let alone a friend. I’m a truly, deeply disappointed in you, and will no longer tolerate your companionship. I have to draw the line somewhere. I tolerated your choice of husband, I tolerated your choice of political party, and I tolerated your first vote for Trump based on the idea that you didn’t understand the person you were voting for. No longer. You have had plenty of time to see the true character of the disturbingly mentally disordered candidate you voted for in 2016 and yet you still support him in 2024. I have such a low opinion on of you at this point that I can’t stomach keeping your company, even civilly.

Goodbye.”

Her response: a “HaHa” reaction to my comment.

We haven’t spoken since.

The real question is: why are we spending resources creating speed bumps when pot holes accomplish the same thing?