The language of suicide – an opportunity to accurately confront a global scourge

Dear Editor,
I thank the Caribbean Voice for highlighting the language of suicide as the global suicide crisis intensifies. Guyana is one of the most affected countries in the world, but this should not misdirect people in regard to the global crisis that exists. Guyana is a part of this global public health crisis.
The language of suicide reflects our larger misunderstanding and lack of knowledge surrounding a genuine public health scourge. Even people with good intentions and dedication in the fight against suicide often speak with loose tongue, and even “mis-speak”.
I am equally guilty, and I regret that I was not more careful in the past. This is therefore not a criticism of anyone; it is a plea for all of us to do a better job in the fight against suicide. We can start with the language we use.
We often — even for those of us who have highlighted this problem — refer to people “committing suicide”. People do not commit suicide, people die from suicide. Think about it. People do not commit diabetes or heart attack or cancer. They die from such conditions. People do not commit AIDS, they die from AIDS.
When several persons jumped off the World Trade Center during September 2001 (9/11), what exactly did they commit? They did not commit suicide. They died from jumping to the ground. They did not commit jumping. Like suicide, people made a choice, having been driven by extreme circumstances. They were victims of the special circumstances.
When someone dies from suicide, that person has died because circumstances led them to that path. Just like cancer eats away our physical health and eventually leads to death; and just like heart conditions cause a deterioration of the heart, which eventually leads to death, just so do mental conditions lead to the failure of people’s mental capacities, and cause death.
In earlier times, we treated suicide as a crime. Guyana and many other countries, and several States in the USA, still have laws in the books that deem suicide a crime, even if these laws are ignored. It is that view of suicide that has led to language such as “committing suicide”. Thankfully, laws are changing, but our language has not changed.
The residue of shame associated with a crime remains attached to suicide. Our brothers and sisters; our children; our moms and dads; our relatives and friends, who died because of suicide, did not commit a crime.
For those of us who genuinely want to help fight against the suicide scourge, it is alright to feel we can do more to prevent anyone from being a victim of suicide the way someone becomes a victim of diabetes or cancer. But we should never have to feel shame because someone close to us died from suicide. To say that someone “committed” suicide feels offensive to me. It is absolutely inaccurate to say people “commit suicide”.
With that said, I understand that many persons who are guilty — and I also have been in the past — of mis-characterizing the problem had never intended to add insult to injury.
I decided to make this commentary not because I have a “bone to pick” with anyone; I simply humbly plead that we adopt the more accurate language. Stop saying people “commit suicide”; consider instead the more accurate expression: “dying by suicide”.
By adopting more accurate language around suicide, we have the power to reduce some of the massive shame carried by suicide survivors. It is possible. Not so long ago, we faced the same problem with cancer survivors; and, more recently, with HIV survivors. For those of us in the fight against suicide, we must energize the fight by highlighting this problem of inaccurate language about suicide. We must offer a countercultural option, a genuine act of kindness. Although just a small step forward, the interpersonal and political impact is nothing but huge.
In ending this note, please pay attention to this from Emilie Autumn, The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls: “It is not seen as insane when a fighter, under an attack that will inevitably lead to his death, chooses to take his own life first. In fact, this act has been encouraged for centuries, and is accepted even now as an honourable reason to do the deed. How is it any different when you are under attack by your own mind?”

Respectfully,
Dr Leslie Ramsammy