[[Important : Read Disclaimer | About ]]
Preventing Suicide is a short interactive fiction story, to help readers understand the wrongdoing in commiting suicide, infuse hope in them, direct them to help, through the online psychiatrist WoeBot and helplines.
[[Complete this questionnaire to evaluate how vulnerable you are to suicidal tendencies | Preventing Suicide questionaire ]]
The scene is set in modern mineapolis, down in the metrapolis, of tall towering structures, nudging each other for space, and in this setting is one woman, Geetha, managing to pull herself together from a thousand pieces, pieces so small and insignificant, that you would not notice, but somehow, they come together to form a whole, a working class urban woman, progressive, futurist and higly philosophical.
[[ continue#1]] Her career was in doldrums, she was stuck as a manager for the past five years, not moving forward, dull work reviews, she was in no mood for *petty* campaigns, in higher circles, to nudge her up the ladder. Actually she was depressed, suffering from winter depression, in the dull silver clad skies, the dull mornings, when she could scarcely pull herself together to go to work, she just resigned to working from bed.
[[Do you suffer from Winter Depression? Find out | winterDepression ]]
Her husband had left her for another woman, and she had two kids, one daughter to support, she was well paid though, working for a great American company, but she had one dependancy, and that was prozac, she overdozed on it, depending on it for her moods, to lift her up to her workloads and the teams and peers in her circle.
[[Continue | continue#2]]Prozac
[[Learn more about Prozac | Prozac ]]
Prozac, had a bad side effect, that was suicide, and she always had a desire to end it all, to commit suicide, and how? There were many options, a bottle of sleeping pills, to sleep for ever, an exit bag, if she could buy one online, or to hang herself with rope, but there were no fixtures on the cieling for that. She even thought of jumping out of her office window, but a glance at an old photgraph of her daughter, changed it all, she still had to move on. It was a tug of war in her mind, one to live with strong brown haired gaints tugging the rope, against red hairy monsters, to die, tugging harder at it.
[[Continue | continue#3 ]]Summary from wikipedia
Fluoxetine, sold under the brand names Prozac and Sarafem among others, is an antidepressant of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) class. It is used for the treatment of major depressive disorder, obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), bulimia nervosa, panic disorder, and premenstrual dysphoric disorder. It may decrease the risk of suicide in those over the age of 65. It has also been used to treat premature ejaculation. Fluoxetine is taken by mouth.
Side effects of Prozac.
Common side effects include trouble sleeping, sexual dysfunction, loss of appetite, dry mouth, rash, and abnormal dreams. Serious side effects include serotonin syndrome, mania, seizures, an increased risk of suicidal behavior in people under 25 years old, and an increased risk of bleeding. If stopped suddenly, a withdrawal syndrome may occur with anxiety, dizziness, and changes in sensation. It is unclear if it is safe in pregnancy.[6] If already on the medication, it may be reasonable to continue during breastfeeding. Its mechanism of action is not entirely clear but believed to be related to increasing serotonin activity in the brain.
(link: "For more details see the WIkipedia article") [(goto-url: 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluoxetine ')]
Safer alternatives and alternative therapies.
[[MiCBT|mindful CBT]] or [[ CBT|CBT]] may be a safer alternative, Check with your mental health professional.
[[ continue#2]] Winter Depression is one of the forms of Depression, a mental illness in one out of n people in america and one out of m people in the world.
Lack of sunlight, with a dull silver cast sky, a dull morning are normal symptoms of winter depression.
A common solution prescribed, is the use of broad spectrum lights, to compensate for the lack of sunlight.
Much can be learnt from the study of Norwegian and finnish people, who have six month winters, with very little sunlight, and adopt to artificial lighting. A similar scenario exists in spaceflight where, there can exist long spells without natural light, needing an adaptation to artificial lighting.
In the next version we add information on:
Summary of studies.
Common medications and what to avoid.
Alternative therapies, like theaurapatic glasses.
Meditation for winter depression.
Acupuncture for winter depression.
[[ continue#1]] Social Networks.
Social Networks always played the side of a support network, trusted friends and relatives, you could confide in. Geetha had two close friends and of course her mother in India. They were her support, her safety net, would she fall, they were there for her, and her daughter.
They often asked her to consult a psychiatrist, but there was a stigma to it, a barrier, she shyed away from it. Hiding her symptoms, which surfaced like a tip of an iceberg, hiding a large mass of ice in the subconcious.
She had to confront the darkness, which creeping from her shadows was slowly engulfing her entire physicque.
[[Social Network of Geetha | socialNetwork ]]
[[Continue | continue#4]]
Friends.
Close friend: Sheela, a colleague , where Geetha worked, Sheela was a software developer, who worked in Python, her favoutite language, so obsessed was she with the language that she actually had a pet ball python. A gaint yellow cleature that mostly slept all the time, tucked in a corner in a terranium. She was a level headed, tom boyish, dominating person. She was quite the opposite of Geetha, yet teh two were drawn to each other.
Close friend: Tara, a freelance artist, she specializes in water color landscape potraits, she is a frequent hiker, mountaineer and naturalist.
Extremely sentimental, she is easily upset, supported by a kind like minded husband and family. She is 40 years old. Geetha often confides in her and she provides emotional and social support.
She was instrumental in helping Geetha with her suicide problems.
Mother: Lakshmi, a housewife, she is a retired high school teacher in a catholic school, she is aged 64 years. Has one son Rahul and daughter Geetha. Lakshmi is of even temperment, loucacious, always calling up Geetha, often annoying her at odd times. She does not want to visit the USA, as she thinks americans are sick beef eaters. She is a pillar of support for Geetha, wise with age. She is a widow and lives in an old villa supported by staff.
[[ continue#3 ]] A Stigma to talk to a psychiatrist.
Geetha was too depressed to work on Mondays, she needed to talk to someone, she reached out to Tara, who suggested WoeBot, a psychiatric bot.
In studies, she argued that it was found that people could confide with a bot much more than with a human psychiatrist.
[[Register to talk to Woebot | Register with WoeBot]]
[[Why is Suicide wrong |Suicide]]
[[Geetha attempts suicide | Attempted Suicide]]
(link: "Register with WoeBot") [(goto-url: 'https://woebot.io/account/register/')]
[[ continue#4]] //Suicide.
Comiting suicide has always been illegal through out the world, till recently when citizens won the right to commit suicide.
Suicide is different from euthanasia, which maybe physician assisted. In the United States, the dying with dignity act allows for physician assisted euthanasia, in terminally ill people.
Humans are believed to have a soul, though Buddhism believes in 'annata' or transcendance of the soul. While taking ones life, do we hurt the soul?
It is believed that one should not take one's own life, as it is culpable homicide of oneself, and possibly the death of the soul.
This could have material ramifications, leading to disturbances in the social fabric and space time.
This is reffered to as 'antar atma' in Hinduism, or trans-soul transits. These transits form naturally at the time of natural death, but do not exist in the case of homicide.
Only if one can give life in true knowledge, like a light worker, can one take life, and people with such knowledge are healers, restoring life rather than homicide.
[[Suicide Factors | Suicide Factors ]]
[[Suicide Helpline | Suicide Help]]
[[ continue#4]]
Dark clouds looming low in the sky, Geethas mind felt like a gaint rock, there was darkness everywhere, even a pencil torch, a beam of light could not illuminate a path out of this, something of a space that had her walls caving in, the roof descending on her as she slowly rose from sleep, much like a slug, slipping out of her bed to the bathroom.
As she looked at her face in the smart mirror, she could see the reflection of her younger self, she clicked on 'memories', a folder of moments she had compiled to keep her going in times like this. They were memories of a past era. Was she in the same universe? or had she been shifted to another? She barely recognized her life, Why had Ravi, her husband left her for a dumb-witted waitress? Just because she had those sexy legs, like maryl monroe, had he fallen so low? Sticking to an existance below the waist? But was she any different? All she had was an aching groin, and a life compared to it? Single celled existance, she was struggling to find a way to that glimmering light, so distant. And there was her daughter, too much to bear.
In a flash, all her steam ran out, much like a leaking steam pipe, bearing all that frustration, from decades. Was there purpose, anything left to live for. She started writing a note to her mother.
[[Note to Mother | Note ]]
[[She speaks to WoeBot instead | WoeBot saves the Day]]Dear Mummy,
I am writing this to you in pain, that cannot be described. There is no more hope. Chinny (Geeta's Daughter) is all I have and I give her to you, to bring up, safe in India.
I scarcely feel a breath in me, my voice is so low, I can only whisper, something is draining my blood away, like a slow vacuum, in space, maybe my blood will live on, but today I must end it all. I am taking the extreme step and wish to say Goodbye.
-Geetha
[[The Act | Act ]]Geetha saw no light through that dark passage, maybe it was Doom she was playing in her mind, maybe she caught a glimpse of Woebot, at the turn of a corridor. Maybe he was waiting, to help her at every branch, every turn of her life. Would he walk in to her life in augmented reality.
She logged on to the internet and started chatting with woebot on messenger.
Woebot, the friendly CBT, therapist, was glad to greet her and help her with CBT based therapy, when she spoke about her intention to commit suicide, it triggered woebots panic circuits, woebot presented information on suicide prevention, urging her to seek professional help and therapy. Woebot further helped her by addressing her specific concerns, which lead her to suicidal intents, woebot addressed each concern, resolving it using CBT.
[[More about CBT | CBT]]
[[More about MindfulCBT | MindfulCBT ]]
[[More about Woebot's CBT algorithms | Woebot's CBT Algorithms ]]
She reached out to a can of pesticide, the label red 'toxic if ingested, seek immediate help'
She ingested in two quick gulps, it was bitter tasting, but somehow ran down her throat. She swallowed an anti-emetic to avoid vomiting, and then the adverse reactions started, she felt as though her stomach was going to explode, she felt weak and nauseating, her muscles, began to paralyze like a dying insect, maybe it was their revenge, as she convulsed, she cried out in pain, chinny found her on the floor writhling in pain and quickly summoned everyone, soon she was at the casualty ward, on an antidote, the tiny spark of life that remained swell up to fill her voids as the compassion of the care that her insurance sought filled her with life, in the force of many a compassionate soul of the network to prevent suicides.
Another life saved, remarked a passing nurse, the doctors were safe she had survived and was beyond danger, she would soon return home, to be counselled periodically, till she was out of danger of repeating the act.
[[DooDoo, the psychiatrist | Psychiatrist]]
[[ WoeBot saves the Day]] Dr DooDoo was an experienced psychiatrist, an expert at suicide cases, he was following up Geetha's case. He brought her to a support group, where she could, share her story with like minded people, all who had survived the dark sides of their lives to revisit the light of the moon and sun and something more, a torch that the angels held, something every human deserved, and Dr DooDoo brought that light to their souls, at the bottom of their hearts, each soul recovered, slowly regaining its inner light, the aura of life and the warmth of human company, in an optimistic return to the mundane relative, but with a resurgence of the life force, to see life again afresh, move away from the past and start a fresh chapter in life.
Many were recovering from wounds, some deep, some not so deep, but with scars that left a lasting , to be washed away by the alternative therapy Dr DooDoo had long researched and perfected.
The pharmeucitical companies saw each life as a resource to profits, in an endless greed to cash in on their miseries, as if as much as driving them to it, a dumping ground for expensive medicines, but could medicines change anything, they only drained the living and moulded a living-dead, in two states at once like a scrodinger's cat, simultaneously dead and alive. Maybe people were better off dead than living like this, why save them then , Dr DooDoo reasoned, he had brought back life to those living dead who chose to end it.
[[Alternative Therapy | Therapy]]A Therapy session.
Geetha met five other people at her therapy session, it was mediated by Ram, a social worker at Dr DooDoo's clinic. The session started with introductions and people shared their stories.
Terry spoke first, introducing himself, he spoke of the darkness in his life and of how his previous sessions had helped him recover, his voices were a lot less pushy, because of avatar therapy and he also attended therapy sessions with schizophrenics, suicide was not on his mind now, and he was less likely to commit suicide again, there was hope in his eyes, to regain his life, find a new girlfriend and get back to his career as a manager. As far as guns, he confessed, never to cross paths with one.
This was Krishna's first therapy session, he confessed he was a failure, a no better, his conscience pricked and it burst out like a dam burst in a century-old Himalayan dam. In the flooding were the survivors, who spoke the tales, he confessed plundering many a girls life, sire bastards, he felt no responsibility for, children he did not care for and yet he carried on his tirade, girl after girl, like pages of some cheap novel, till death spoke right on his face in an attempt at suicide, would the Lord forgive him, he asked the group if they would forgive him for what he had done? If he still had a chance?
The whole group felt mixed feelings, mostly enraged at first, but a deep wave of sympathy raged, he had confessed to his sins, and the rest was up to God. At least he saved his life and Ram hoped with Dr DooDoo's care, he would reform, outgrow women and rebuild his life.
Motor was silent, he rarely spoke these days, it had been a while since he spoke to anyone, he just sat and listened to people, Ram asked him if he wanted to share anything and he nodded no.
Carpenter spoke next, he spoke of how he had learned to use a wood lathe, of how precision had made all the difference in his life and his mental discipline, it was the discipline that had made the difference, he had won his personal battle and confessed to feeling so full of life. He had a message for everyone in the group, to take life as it comes and to practice discipline.
BooBoo was alcoholic and had successfully detoxed, he confessed being much better sober, away from the wicked bottle. He wanted to spend the rest of his life telling people to stay away from the bottle and use Flex-fuel instead, feed the generator not the mouth he said. As far as euthanasia is concerned, he wanted to lobby for it, but the group advised him against it. It's in God's hands, not ours was the consensus, we must learn to wait for our time, and prepare for it.
Geetha was the last to share with the group, she spoke of her depression, how she had sunk, down the drain hole, all she lived for was her daughter.
She shared her broken marriage, her dull career and the rat race, everyone suggested she change careers and find a new life, a new husband perhaps on an Indian dating site? New hopes and a new life for her and her daughter. A new beginning. Ram was very supportive of everyone, and compassion was the tool along with a patient hearing. Hope was infused and people were recovering. Private sessions with Woebot were always recommended and the transcripts analyzed to help the patients.
[[ WoeBot saves the Day]] What is CBT?
"Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, is a common type of talk therapy that for some people can work as well or better than medication to treat depression. It can be effective if your depression is mild or moderate. It also can help with more severe cases if your therapist is highly skilled. In some cases, CBT can help you the most if you combine it with other treatments, like antidepressants or other drugs."
(link: "Read more on WebMD") [(goto-link: 'https://www.webmd.com/depression/guide/cognitive-behavioral-therapy-for-depression#1')]WELCOME TO
(link: "MBCT.com") [(goto-url: 'http://www.mbct.com/')]
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is designed to help people who suffer repeated bouts of depression and chronic unhappiness. It combines the ideas of cognitive therapy with meditative practices and attitudes based on the cultivation of mindfulness. The heart of this work lies in becoming acquainted with the modes of mind that often characterize mood disorders while simultaneously learning to develop a new relationship to them. MBCT was developed by Zindel Segal, Mark Williams and John Teasdale, based on Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program.
This website provides information ranging from the practical aspects of MBCT classes to the theoretical basis for its development and effectiveness. Feel free to explore.
(link: "Listing of Professionals") [(goto-url: 'accessMBCT.com')]
[[ WoeBot saves the Day]] "Woebot
Woebot is an automated conversational agent designed to deliver CBT in the format of brief, daily conversations and mood tracking. Woebot is used within an instant messenger app that is platform agnostic and can be used either on a desktop or mobile device. Each interaction begins with a general inquiry about context (eg, “What’s going on in your world right now?”), and mood (eg, “How are you feeling?”) with responses provided as word or emoji images to represent affect in that moment. After gathering mood data, participants are presented with core concepts related to CBT by link to short video, or by way of short “word games” designed to facilitate teaching participants about cognitive distortions. The first day included an “onboarding” process that introduced the bot, adding that while the bot may seem like a person, it is closer to a “choose your own adventure self-help book” and therefore not fully capable of understanding what the needs of the user may be. The bot also briefly explained CBT and notified the user that while a psychologist was “keeping an eye on things” (ie, monitoring), this was not happening in real time and thus the service should not be used as a replacement for therapy. In addition, participants were encouraged to call 911 for emergencies.
The bot employed several computational methods depending on the specific section or feature. The overarching methodology was a decision tree with suggested responses that also accepted natural language inputs with discrete sections of natural language processing techniques embedded at specific points in the tree to determine routing to subsequent conversational nodes. For the duration of the study, the decision tree structure remained the same for each participant and parameters did not change depending on the participants’ inputs. Weekly graphs were processed using temporal pattern recognition to provide users with weekly mood description.
The bot’s conversational style was modeled on human clinical decision making and the dynamics of social discourse. Psychoeducational content was adapted from self-help for CBT [16-18]. Aside from CBT content, the bot was created to include the following therapeutic process-oriented features:
Empathic responses: The bot replied in an empathic way appropriate to the participants’ inputted mood. For example, in response to endorsed loneliness, it replied “I’m so sorry you’re feeling lonely. I guess we all feel a little lonely sometimes” or it showed excitement, “Yay, always good to hear that!”
Tailoring: Specific content is sent to individuals depending on mood state. For example, a participant indicating that they feel anxious is offered in-vivo assistance with the anxious event.
Goal setting: The conversational agent asked participants if they had a personal goal that they hoped to achieve over the 2-week period.
Accountability: To facilitate a sense of accountability, the bot set expectations of regular check-ins and followed up on earlier activities, for example, on the status of the stated goal.
Motivation and engagement: To engage the individual in daily monitoring, the bot sent one personalized message every day or every other day to initiate a conversation (ie, prompting). In addition, “emojis” and animated gifs with messages that provide positive reinforcement were used to encourage effort and completion of tasks.
Reflection: The bot also provided weekly charts depicting each participant’s mood over time. Each graph was sent with a brief description of the data to facilitate reflection, for example, “Overall, your mood has been fairly steady, though you tend to become tired after periods of anxiety. It looks like Tuesday was your best day.” "
(link: "Read More ..") [(goto-link: ' https://mental.jmir.org/2017/2/e19/')]
[[ WoeBot saves the Day]] National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
"We can all help prevent suicide. The Lifeline provides 24/7, free and confidential support for people in distress, prevention and crisis resources for you or your loved ones, and best practices for professionals."
Call 1-800-273-8255
(link: "International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP)") [(goto-url: 'https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/')]
(link: "Befrienders Worldwide" )[(goto-url: 'https://www.befrienders.org/')]
(link: "I am alive")[(goto-url: 'https//www.imalive.org/')]
[[Suicide]] Preventing Suicide
(link: "Check Your Suicide Intentions") [(goto-url: 'https://illnessquiz.com/suicidal-test/')]
This is a great site, that evaluates your suicidal risks and recommends treatment.
[[Introduction]] Career displacement.
Family transients/ social transients.
Loss of a near one / Human or Pet loss.
Substance abuse.
Debt or loss, bankruptcy.
Side effects of medication.
Mental health issues.
Loss of self esteem.
[[Suicide]] VayuVaidya is a non-profit research and development hospital, a venture of A.B and Mutter Gottlich, headquartered at Seattle WA, USA.
This is the second of the Infotainment Series, Information + Entertainment, with the details of the mathematics involved in risk prediction in Health Sciences and ways of preventing sickness and Early Intervention.
"The information in this skill is provided for informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, treatment, or diagnosis. If you think you may have a medical emergency, please dial your local emergency response phone number."
(link: "Browse VayuVaidya's Website") [(open-url: 'https://vayuvaidya.weebly.com')]
[[Introduction]] WELCOME TO
(link: "MBCT.com") [(goto-url: 'http://www.mbct.com/')]
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is designed to help people who suffer repeated bouts of depression and chronic unhappiness. It combines the ideas of cognitive therapy with meditative practices and attitudes based on the cultivation of mindfulness. The heart of this work lies in becoming acquainted with the modes of mind that often characterize mood disorders while simultaneously learning to develop a new relationship to them. MBCT was developed by Zindel Segal, Mark Williams and John Teasdale, based on Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program.
This website provides information ranging from the practical aspects of MBCT classes to the theoretical basis for its development and effectiveness. Feel free to explore.
(link: "Listing of Professionals") [(goto-url: 'accessMBCT.com')]
[[ continue#2]] What is CBT?
"Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, is a common type of talk therapy that for some people can work as well or better than medication to treat depression. It can be effective if your depression is mild or moderate. It also can help with more severe cases if your therapist is highly skilled. In some cases, CBT can help you the most if you combine it with other treatments, like antidepressants or other drugs."
(link: "Read more on WebMD") [(goto-link: 'https://www.webmd.com/depression/guide/cognitive-behavioral-therapy-for-depression#1')]
[[ continue#2]]