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Suicide

Suicide. Essential elements of an Intolerable Phenomenon. By Stuart H. Baggish. Background. On March 5, 2013, my big brother (2 years my senior), Jeffrey S. Baggish , M.D., whom I admired as an intellectual giant, committed suicide.

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Suicide

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  1. Suicide Essential elements of an Intolerable Phenomenon By Stuart H. Baggish

  2. Background • On March 5, 2013, my big brother (2 years my senior), Jeffrey S. Baggish, M.D., whom I admired as an intellectual giant, committed suicide. • He left behind an adoring wife, DoneeneBaggish, whose devotion to him could not have been greater. • Both his parents were proud of him and lit up at the instance of his calling. • His sagacity alone inspired his twin sisters (each 1 year his junior), Mindy and Cindy, to consider him a Moses-like figure. • He was financially secure. • His life would be the envy of most people. • None of this mattered on March 5, 2013, as he went through acts of exacting precision that could lead to but one result . . . his own end. • I had to ask, “Why?!?!?”

  3. Prerequisite Elements for Suicide • There exist essential prerequisite conditions for suicide. • They are: • Despair • Hopelessness • Urgency • Means • Reconciliation • (None of this applies to self-sacrificial acts, such as diving onto a live hand grenade to save one’s platoon, or like acts of heroism or jihad.) • Each of these elements will be addressed, in turn.

  4. Despair • DESPAIR is the most obvious element of suicide. • Simply put, it is the primary motivating factor we all think of as depression. • It manifests itself as a deep and abiding sense that life is awful.

  5. Hopelessness • HOPELESSNESS is the element that overwhelms. • When it exists, it creates the sense of utter exhaustion. • As a motivator, it solidifies the sense that continued resistance is futile.

  6. Urgency • URGENCY overcomes the subject’s natural propensity to procrastinate, if only to see if things get better. • When urgency exists, it is as if the subject has passed a “point of no return”. • That point serves as a trigger event, setting in motion the chain of events that make the most irrational of all acts seem irresistibly rational.

  7. Means • MEANS signifies the ability to carry out the necessary acts so as to assure a 100% successful conclusion. It includes: • Access to the instrumentality of death, for example: • A gun; • A tall precipice; • Sleeping pills; • A rope and sufficiently high place to tie it with adequate unobstructed clearance beneath; or • A car and an enclosed space. • The necessary means always includes solitude for the minimum amount of time necessary to see it through. • For the subject contemplating suicide, it is a serious undertaking. • Oftentimes, the lack of means is the only thing preventing one from killing oneself. • But it is easily satisfied, because where there’s a will, there’s a way.

  8. Reconciliation • RECONCILIATIONis the process of overcoming one’s survival instinct. • It salves one’s conscience, enabling one to enjoy the satisfaction of feeling that it is OK to do the unthinkable. • Usually, the principled bases on which one builds one’s life prevent people from reconciling with suicide. These bases include: • Religious objections • One’s soul burning in hell for eternity for committing a “mortal sin” • In this respect, atheists are at a severe disadvantage, which more than despair/depression, explains why they have a higher propensity to commit suicide. • Sense of duty • One’s family, especially children, serve as a strong motivation to endure. • Competitive spirit • Don’t let the bastards get you down. • Sometimes, reconciliation is reactive, for example, serving one or more of the following purposes: • Getting the last word; • Getting even or settling a score;; • Making someone else realize the pain they have caused; or • Ensuring that one is remembered. • Only by virtue of reconciliation does one establish a sense that it is alright to end one’s life, perhaps even a moral imperative.

  9. Outcome • When the 5 elements of despair, hopelessness, urgency, means and reconciliation exist, suicide becomes not only possible, but inevitable. • It does not happen because the person doing it does not care. It happens because the stars line up just the wrong way, and like an explosive chemical reaction, there is nothing that can stop it. • It can be forestalled. But whenever the 5 elements exist at the same time, unless at least 1 of them is eliminated, suicide cannot be permanently prevented. • Look at your family and friends. • Act as if it is the most important thing in the world to prevent these 5 elements from coalescing in the life of one tormented individual. • Use all means necessary. • You won’t get a second chance.

  10. I miss you, Jeffrey, more than you will ever know.

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