Suicide is painless (for some) ... it brings on many profits

Brother, you are one ugly human being.

For God's sake, get out there and try to get your head around the mental illnesses that often lead to suicide.

For you to suggest that the family members left in suicides had somehow inspired anger or jealousy, had somehow contributed to the suicide, is sadistically cruel.

Depression and other mental illnesses are typically behind suicides. Contrary to your thoughtless, knee-jerk reflex, no blame need be placed in these tragedies.

You have made a career in vilifying organizations and professions. It's not fair comment. It's shameful stereotyping.

"They are so full of hate or jealousy they want to leave a message.''See how you have hurt me?'' is their mantra.''You've done me dirt so much I'm going to kill myself.'' I'm convinced their minds are filled with such perverse ''You'll be sorry'' fantasies that the lust for remorse in others overcomes the instinct for survival in themselves."

This article has been bothering me all day. I cannot agree with your opinion that people commit suicide to punish those who love them. Many times, the victim is not even thinking about other people. They see suicide as the only way to ease their physical or emotional pain, real or imagined. This column is hurtful to families that have struggled with the pain of losing someone to suicide. I read the same article you did about the "Out of Darkness" walk and felt nothing but sadness for these families.

Um, first of all...the terrorists were going to kill Todd Beamer, the other passengers of Flight 93, and God knows who else when they crashed the plane. In my mind, he is a hero..he DID NOT commmit suicide.

Second of all, you pick on psychiatrists? All of the healing they have done and do everyday...you call them "self serving millionaires"? Do you feel that way about all physicians?
What a quack you are. You sound like you may need a shrink, honestly.

I do agree that M*A*S*H the movie was great, and the TV show was unwatchable, for the reason you suggest.

But let's not confuse doing something that will almost certainly result in your own death at the hands of others as suicide - it is more likely bravery. The exception, of course is shooting at police officers forcing them to return fire because you are too afraid to take your own life, and you want the family members left behind to profit either through insurance or a lawsuit against the municipality involved.

Carpenter is no rocket scientist, he has borderline personalities with attention seeking behavior mixed up with those who are truly depressed, agitated and hopeless. While it is true that some people end their lives with angry feelings in mind, there are many who are purely hopeless and have had enough and most of all,it seems like the best idea at the time, the best answer to everything they're feeling. Carpenter obviously doesn't like psychiatrists, hmmm, wonder why-very Freudian.

Paul Carpenter , are you an idiot or a moron ? The thought processes you attribute to suicidal behavior are actually those of a person who would commit an atrocity such as Columbine High School . I would suggest that you learn about a subject before you start to insert you foot in your ***!

Talk about picking a fight where there is'nt one.Whats wrong with this guy?I wonder if he would feel the same way if he had a child or sibling who had committed suicide.This is truly a warped perspective and I do not know why anyone would write such trash or why anyone would publish it.Please clean up "The Morning Fish Wrap" and dont print such idiotic drivel.

Why don't you focus your energy else where and write about something else? Suicide painless?? Why would you even think this article would be appropriate? As someone effected by the lost of a close one to suicide, I don't take these articles lightly. Why?

Paul Carpenter, you are WRONG. In so many ways...
If you'd bother watching the original Mash movie, you would see that the soldier contemplating suicide, upon having a "mock" funeral so he'd be around to experience it, came to understand that he was cared about and wanted and would hurt those left behind. Those who are contemplating suicide (or have tried, or have succeeded) are not thinking rationally. Their brain is not functioning properly. They are in so much anguish that they cannot get out of it and see no end to it. Perhaps, Mr. Carpenter, you should study a subject just a wee bit before shooting from the hip! You obviously cannot imagine how much pain and depression can spiral out of control. Do you honestly think that somebody in that much emotional anguish would want to feel that way?!? You do an incredible disservice to humanity with this article. One day, perhaps you or a family member will suffer such a negative life-changing event that it will give you a whole new understanding of suicide. Will you be strong enough to pull through? Will your mind splinter in a million peices and litterally chew itself apart? BTW - it happens to wonderful, brilliant people. It can happen to anybody. So I'd watch your condescending attitude and tone so that you don't invite negative Karma into your life!

I've found some good info on this site
http://lucidinterval.org

Kelly7 wrote:

Paul Carpenter, you are WRONG. In so many ways...
If you'd bother watching the original Mash movie, you would see that the soldier contemplating suicide, upon having a "mock" funeral so he'd be around to experience it, came to understand that he was cared about and wanted and would hurt those left behind.

As I remember from the MASH movie, he had the funeral because he couldn't get aroused. He fully expected to die, but was given a placebo. After the nurse had reltions with him, he was fine & for him, life went on as normal.

Paul Carpenter,

May you never be plagued by depression so profound that you can think of nothing else but ending your life. Perhaps when you can no longer ride your bike or your motorcycle and you've lost your job because no one wants to read your condescending comments, you'll experience some of the pain that depression can cause and finally gain a bit of perspective. People who contemplate suicide cannot even think clearly nor form a thought as complex as punishing someone else for their pain by ending life. That desperate sadness and emptiness is all-consuming. The clinically depressed usually cannot function and may even be truly unable to get out of bed or dress or bathe. Thank God for psychiatrists and modern medications as well as therapists dedicated to restoring their patients' lives. I would not be here today and living a happy and fulfilled life if it weren't for them.

It seems you can't help but show your ignorance sometimes, Mr. Carpenter.

Masher wrote:

<quoted text>
As I remember from the MASH movie, he had the funeral because he couldn't get aroused. He fully expected to die, but was given a placebo. After the nurse had reltions with him, he was fine & for him, life went on as normal.

Ah, your memory serves you better than mine does for me! That's OK, Paul Carpenter is still wrong!

Been There wrote:

Paul Carpenter,
May you never be plagued by depression so profound that you can think of nothing else but ending your life. Perhaps when you can no longer ride your bike or your motorcycle and you've lost your job because no one wants to read your condescending comments, you'll experience some of the pain that depression can cause and finally gain a bit of perspective. People who contemplate suicide cannot even think clearly nor form a thought as complex as punishing someone else for their pain by ending life. That desperate sadness and emptiness is all-consuming. The clinically depressed usually cannot function and may even be truly unable to get out of bed or dress or bathe. Thank God for psychiatrists and modern medications as well as therapists dedicated to restoring their patients' lives. I would not be here today and living a happy and fulfilled life if it weren't for them.
It seems you can't help but show your ignorance sometimes, Mr. Carpenter.

AMEN! Thankfully we are still here to help others understand!

Mr. Carpenter,

Never in my life has my blood boiled as much as when a co-worker of mine (who selflessly participated in the Out of Darkness walk) alerted me to your ignorant, bigoted viewpoint in your article about suicide. I have suffered with the struggles of Bipolar Disorder for twenty years. The highs, with the accompanying psychosis and delusions, and the dark desperate lows which at times have made me contemplate suicide. You are obviously ignorant of the problems of humanity and easily stereotype to cover any problems you may have yourself. Tell me, do you acknowledge your own obesity and obvious poor physical health? Although you may ignore your physical problems, the majority of (Crazy as you call us) consumers of mental health services do not. We have diseases, just like you, which I am nearly sure that you do. Your appearance looks as though you at the very least have high blood pressure, possibly alcoholism? We diligently seek continuing care to alleviate the symptoms of our illnesses as to live as healthy as we can, with minimal symptoms. You express that the psychiatrists are only there to accumulate wealth. You are certainly a fool. Did you know that the majority of psychiatrists are the lowest paid physicians practicing medicine? Hardly any psychiatrists in these times have high paying positions. They are working in community mental health facilities, or state hospitals, making a fraction of what even a primary care physician, and possibly even you earn. I wish God could place you in any symptomatically suicidal person’s shoes for one week, or even a day, to help you fully understand the pain and misery we (Crazy as you call us) experience when ill, so that you may recant your ignorant remarks. My fear is that because of your comments, people who truly need help may choose not to seek it because you ignorantly wrote that psychiatrists are only out there to make money. This only perpetuates the need for the walks that you so adamantly oppose. You are the problem, not the walks.

Obviously Paul is ignorant and knows no facts on mental health. Mental health is a disease just like heart, kidney, liver, or brain disease yet the stigma behind it comes from those that know nothing about it. Those that try to understand or do understand are people with heart, empathy, and compassion. None of which Paul exhibits. The ignorant people are the ones that truly do not understand mental health and choose not to learn. It is the psychiatrists and the psychiatric nurses who know best and do the best they can every day to deal with someone with a mental health illness. An illness is what it is...you say that these psychiatrists are so rich and live off of the money that they receive from such events is ridiculous! There are many psychiatrists that stop their own lives to help someone that feels that they are at the end of their own....these are the same psychiatrists who will take patients with no insurance or moeny and at times not even charge for their services to help someone in need...they accept their phone calls in the middle of the day or night....their is never a time that their pagers are turned off......you don't see other doctors doing this deed. You can't even make an appointment at a doctor's office without being asked first if you have insurance and if you dont you are basically not welcomed. It takes a special doctor and nurse to deal with the mentally ill...ask other health care professionals who are not in this specialty and 99% will tell you they couldn't do it. They can't do it because the brain is the most complex and most misunderstood organ of the body, so those that don't or are unwilling to understand it are because they are not intelligent enough and don't have the time or energy to learn and help in research to understand this part of the body. Paul Carpenter being one of them. If you do not know what it is like to be depressed and thinking of suicide or have a loved one who has been through it or has died because of it you will never understand. A person commits suicide because they feel like they are at the bottom of the ditch...the more you dig the deeper the hole gets. You have no hope and are so overwhelmed with life you can't go on. It is not about being selfish or trying to hurt someone else. It is about wanting to end the mental pain (just like any other pain from any other illness...which of course is never acceptable especially in the minds of people like Paul) that overtakes your whole body. When you think about suicide you believe that everyone would be better off without you. You do not think rationally and you do not realize the pain and agony that happens to your loved ones. This is why it is important to hold events and raise money for suicide prevention. To educate the mentally ill, their loved ones, and society. Get your facts straight Paul....talk to the families that have someone who has committed suicide, talk to someone with a mental health illness, or talk to the doctors and nurses to understand what is happening here and how it could possibly be prevented. That is why I and others walked that day to prevent suicide. We are proud to stand up, speak, and inform others to help them better understand the truths and not myths of mental illness. Maybe Paul you need to walk in someone else's shoes before you place blame and hatred on a subject that you obviously know nothing about. I would be glad to sit with you and so with many others to help you understand what it is like......maybe you should try the old saying, "insert foot into mouth" and just stay quiet in areas that you have no education.

One more comment.....I believe you owe the people with mental health illness, their families, and the people that work in the psychiatric field an apology for being so ignorant to the real facts. I hope to see you next year at the Suicide Prevention Walk to support such a good cause......and thanks for writing this article so, that others like me and those that posted comments can have the opportunity to help educate others on mental illness. Without your article you would not have had the opportunity to read these comments and hopefully something got through that thick skull of yours......one can only pray. I feel sorry for you, but there is help out there for you just like there is for the mentally ill.

why the Morning Call has people trying to "hock" this newspaper in grocery stores. Mr. Carpenter, your article was not only pathetic, it was a poor excuse for journalism. Was the editor on vacation when this sorry excuse for a story was printed?

this is an opinion column. reading makes you think. reading what others think can help you expand and strengthen your own thoughts and views, whether they are in agreement or disagreement.

if everyone merely read things that were aligned with their own view points we'd have a world full of people like Sarah Palin. Oh wait, I forgot, she doesn't read anything [at least that she can name].

And what about all those young kids who shoot themselves in the head while they have their girlfriend on the line who just broke up with them and saying: here this is for you! I know of 2 people who did exactly that! That is selfish and was intended to hurt the person left behind.

That being said, I believe those cases are in the minority. Although I usually like Paul's columns, this one WAS way off and really hurtful!