This is not the first suicide to be committed on a webcam. In March 2007 a British man hung himself in front of his webcam.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/23/shropshire_webcam_death/

This young man, a junior at the local Broward Community College a few miles from me, may not have intended to die. He had conversed with his dad, and had agreed to take him a meal. It may have been that he counted on his dad coming home when the meal didn’t arrive…or on his dad calling him. I doubt he figured in his dad stopping and buying food on the way home instead, thus delaying his arrival. Depression can do that to you, mess up your thinking and planning.

This is indeed a tragedy. The father is distraught, as one would imagine. He is a professional at the college and probably felt he was doing all he could to keep the son engaged in life.

The point for it being in your blog, I’m sure, is because he used the internet to cry for help. Did he cry wolf before? Perhaps so. But often those who go through the motions once, are more likely to try it again.

Maybe he was sure that his friends online would react differently, and were a backup plan to his “attempt.” Is it a crime to egg someone on to commit such a crime? It should be. It’s definitely a shame.

Young people need to realize that we ARE our brother’s keeper. The internet websites/ webmasters need to create some code for compliance to aid the young and ignorant in the developing of human relationship skills
they need. It may be they flock to the websites because of the very lack of those social skills. Such skills of caring about others, and how to call for help, may save lives in the future, including their own.

I feel also for those who viewed and were concerned yet didn’t know what to do,or how to help. There are far too many websites that offer a safe haven for members, and fail to provide a safety net when the members so desperately need one.

May the loss of this soul and it’s media attention cause a revolution among the webmasters and change the parameters of what is an often lucrative business without much liability and far too many loopholes.

Frankly, I just don’t understand suicide. I wish I knew more…
I mean, I’ve been depressed before, but never enough to want to end it all.
At the same time, do I _really_ want to empathize?

Hopefully one day there will be a real treatment to mood disorders.

Trust me, Ash, and those that feel the same; I am one that was that depressed and actually attempted it. I’m thankful that the Good Lord saw no reason for me to die and more reasons for me to live at a period of time when my thinking was so very one sided and refused to think about anything else but ending my life. The reason? I just started taking Prozac for the first time I was clinically depressed and my ‘doctor’ didn’t tell me that I may have some suicidal tendencies such as thinking dark thoughts and considering killing myself because she didn’t want to “have the POWER OF SUGGESTION make me have such thoughts”!!!! She told me this during my next appointment (12 years later and 3 failed surgeries later, I am still in chronic pain w/depression) after I only asked her why I was having such thoughts when I have NEVER had them before. Nice, eh?

That was my last appointment with her…

“An autopsy concluded Biggs died from a combination of opiates and benzodiazepine, which his family said was prescribed …..”

These are dangerous drugs - opiates, benzodiazepine, antidepressants - which Dr’s write millions of prescriptions for every year. Patients are never told these drugs will change - their brain chemistry, their core identity, their feelings of affection, that they will become dependent on them and that they can cause suicidal thoughts - the patient believes they are just fine.

Watch this series:
Making A Killing [parts 1 to 10]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sYhTdeLRM8&feature=related

Our daughter suffered an overdose of prescribed meds a few months ago. We were able to get her to the ER in plenty of time. Never, ever thought she would do anything like this.

The drugs (including Ambien CR) convinced her she was OK…that nothing would happen to her. She just wanted to stop the emotional pain so she kept taking one medication after another…again…all the time thinking she was in control.

I worry about the potential copycats that might occur from this incident. As this medium of the internet “devolves”, in my opinion, I see more and more how an opportunity to go and be outlandish, extreme, or just plain sociopathic can flourish in an environment with little to no accountability.

Suicide is always a tragedy. It just goes to show how one death can affect so many others.

By the way, medications, when prescribed responsibly and in conjunction with timely and accessible psychotherapy, improves and not worsens suicidal thinking. Maybe it is time for someone to review the circumstances to alleged examples of when meds made people suicidal and see what was just the meds versus what was poor treatment interventions in general.

I use this analogy: if you come to a room and there are two doors out, and door #1 has an 80% likelihood of taking you where you want to go, and door#2 has only a 20% likelihood of getting you there, which door are you going to take?

For the most part in life, nothing is 100% accurate or dependable. You play the numbers and hope the stats give you some edge or comfort.

happy thanksgiving

therapyfirst

(thanks for covering this story, by the way.)

Actually, neither of the aforesaid articles were the “First Live Webcam Suicide.” Brandon Vedas committed suicide in 2003 on his webcam by overdose.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon_Vedas

Please don’t ever say what you would and would not do,concerning depression. When you are in your normal state of mind, you can’t imagine taking your life. However, when severe depression sets in, you are not in your normal state of mind. That’s the keyword here. Normal versus not normal.I attempted suicide once,and let me tell you this much. I didn’t want to die, but I didn’t want to live either. As soon as I took those pills, I realized what I had done, and I called for help. But, that’s actually what I was doing to begin with “Calling Out For Help”. Never, ever, under estimate what a depressed person will do. Always take thier comments serious and get them help, right then and there if they even mention suicide. Suicide does seem to be selfish and cowardly, but, anyone in their “right mind” won’t even consider it. For those that have never been that depressed, it’s very hard to understand how one can take or attempt to take their life.Like I said, take the person serious, and you may just end up saving a life.!!!

a pdoc i know told me about a young man who took an overdose… i don’t know what of.. but whatever it was they couldn’t reverse the damage.. he had been brought to the hospital not long after taking the drug/whatever, but they couldn’t help him. He lay there for a day or two before he died, *knowing* he was dying, regretting it, crying. There wasn’t anything anyone could do apparently.

suicide isn’t a desire to die… it that someone doesn’t want to live.. they just don’t want to live *like this* anymore.. they don’t see options

Wow, the comments by Janet & psychotropics8mybrain are both poignant and accurate. It is about not wanting to live the way depression makes one think and feel.

Thank you for your perspectives. And, I can echo Psychotropics vignette: I had a patient OD on tylenol and die a slow, painful death from liver failure that took three weeks to occur. She didn’t want to die, she just wanted someone to tell her she could live a better life. Lethal gestures I call this.

Happy thanksgiving to all with hope and faith.

therapyfirst

im glad for the kid. until people walk a mile is someone elses shoes. u dont have a right to judge. i have been at breaking points more times then once. and most here did a web search to find this, the only way u would find it if u were debating it urself. there is no shame in giving up. im sure i will one day. hopefully sooner then later. i would love to c a live suicide so it may give me more influence to do it myself.

I AM GLAD I FAILED THE ONLY TIME I TRIED TO KILL MYSELF. “NO MAN IS AN ISLAND” JOHN DONNE

IF I HAD MANAGED TO TAKE MY LIFE I WOULD HAVE HARMED THE TWO PRECIOUS CHILDREN I CONSIDER THE BEST THING TO COME FROM MY LIFE.

I’VE KNOWN THE DARKNESS AND THE BLEAK CERTAIN OF DESPAIR AND I’VE ALSO KNOWN THE DARK TO LIFE AND LIFE TO BECOME BETTER.

I’VE BEEN WORKING MOST OF MY LIFE TO SURVIVE MY CHILDHOOD AND NO ONE BUT GOD WILL EVER KNOW WHAT I REALLY SUFFERED AND WHAT IT HAS COST ME TO NOT GIVE UP AND DIE.

BOTTOM LINE: SUICIDE IS A PERMANENT SOLUTION TO A TEMPORARY PROBLEM IN THE VAST NUMBER OF CASES. IT LEAVES ANYONE WHO KNOWS AND LOVES US WITH UNANSWERED QUESTIONS, UNENDING DOUBTS AND UNQUENCHABLE PAIN. I AM NOT AN ISLAND MY LIFE AFFECTS MORE PEOPLE THAN I PROBABLY KNOW.

I DO CARE ABOUT ANYONE READING THIS AND HURTING. YOUR LIFE DOES MATTER. HANG ON.

LISA