|
What you can do to prevent suicide. Kate had been in an unsecured psychiatric ward for two weeks andhad already attempted to take her life once. She felt her mentalhealth deteriorating and decided to end it all. "It sounds so terribly selfish when you're well but when you'reunwell it's like you just have no empathy for other people," shesaid. "It's all about yourself and how bad you are and how much you haveto get rid of yourself. "It's hell - no end to feeling like that, no light at the end ofthe tunnel." Kate went to a railway track and watched and waited. A trainthundered towards her and without hesitation she pursued death. Inthe final moments before impact, she stumbled. "I have some sensation of lying underneath the train and peoplecoming ... one leg was completely severed and the other leg washanging on and then I must have blacked out," Kate said. She woke in hospital disappointed to be alive, a feeling compoundedwhen doctors amputated her remaining leg. Twenty-seven years later, Kate knows that depression had distortedher thinking and, with the help of anti-depressants and prostheticlegs, has emerged from the blackness to lead a rewarding andproductive life. She is deeply grateful for the support of her family. And she hasnever stopped thinking about the train driver she involved in hertrauma and his or her family. "I wish I could meet with that person and apologise profusely forwhat I must have put him through because I think that that would bejust the most dreadful experience," she said. Paul Morgan, deputy director of mental health charity SANEAustralia, said evidence suggested that the majority of people whokilled themselves had a mental illness, often untreated. The Age has revealed that although the state's overall suicide rate isdropping, there are more train suicides in Victoria than anywhereelse in the country, with devastating consequences for rail staff. Despite research into "suicide proofing" measures, families whohave lost loved ones have told The Age that investment in mental health care is the best way to tacklethe toll. Caroline Storm has been a mental health advocate since her40-year-old daughter, Anne, died in a rail suicide 10 years ago. Ms Storm said Victoria's mental health system was unable to copewith thousands of untreated severe mentally ill people, some ofwhom ended up taking their own lives. She said the issue of rail and other suicides needed to be publiclydiscussed and backed suggestions for the monthly state suicide tollto be published alongside the road toll, which it exceeds. Jill lost her father 10 years ago when he ended his life on aVictorian railway line and every day she asks herself "why?". She knows her own family's tragedy also affected a train driver andhis or her family and as well as emergency workers and others whoattended the scene. Jill said while she supported barriers being placed around knownfatality blackspots, it was more important to find effective anduseful treatments for those afflicted with mental illness. "They are wonderful, clever, productive, lovely people who we arelosing in this manner. I know this as my dad was all these things,"she said. Some names have been changed For help or information visit beyondblue.org.au, call SuicideHelpline Victoria on 1300 651 251, or Lifeline on 131 114. In tomorrow's Saturday Age: A schoolgirl's solution to trainsuicides. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as SFP Transceiver Module Manufacturer , Fiber Optic Patch Cord, and more. For more , please visit Fiber Optic Components today!
Related Articles -
SFP Transceiver Module Manufacturer, Fiber Optic Patch Cord,
|
