Father's Day Doom's Day

I probably will be the only blogger in my community who would be posting about something not particularly worth smiling about on this special day for fathers. But this morning, at breakfast, my husband told me a story that just was so sad for Father’s Day. I cannot turn a blind eye to this unfortunate reality because really, it can happen to just about any family out there.

According to my husband, last night, a man from the other side of the neighborhood – a husband and a father at that – shot himself to death. The man allegedly was a businessman and had three young kids. My husband surmised that the eldest of the children was probably younger than our eldest who’s turning 13 this December.

The question we kept pondering upon was: Why did he kill himself?

My heart goes out to the children. Surely, this incident is something they’ll never forget. And given that we don’t really know the family, we probably will never know the real story. And just so we address the question my husband and I kept asking ourselves, here are some of the answers the Internet came up with:

1. Depression. Just like heart disease, depression is an illness. In the same way a heart patient suffers chest pains, a depressed person experiences a pervasive sense of suffering that he thinks he cannot escape from. Depression distorts their thinking, leading them to believe the world is better off without them.

2. Guilt. They’ve made a mistake and think that the mistake is irreparable.

3. Psychosis. Inner voices in a person suffering from psychosis/schizophrenia can be very commanding, sometimes forcing them to self-destruct.

4. Drug and alcohol abuse. Substance abuse impairs a person’s logical thinking, which can sometimes lead to suicide.

Death of a loved one is a tragic experience. But losing somebody you love because of suicide has far more lasting repercussions. The sense of pain mixed with anger, remorse and guilt by the person left behind may take months, even years to finally wash off.

Source: KevinMD.com