As Best I Could Make Out, Having

Every Seventeen Minutes In America, Someone Commits Suicide. Mostly, I Have Been Impressed By How Little Value Our Society Puts On Saving The Lives Of Those Who Are In Such Despair As To Want To End Them. It Is A Societal Illusion That Suicide Is Rare. It Is Not.

Far Too Many Doctors-many Of Them Excellent Physicians-commit Suicide Each Year; One Recent Study Concluded That, Until Quite Recently, The United States Lost Annually The Equivalent Of A Medium-sized Medical School Class From Suicide Alone. Most Physician Suicides Are Due To Depression Or Manic-depressive Illness, Both Of Which Are Eminently Treatable. Physicians, Unfortunately, Not Only Suffer From A Higher Rate Of Mood Disorders Than The General Population, They Also Have A Greater Access To Very Effective Means Of Suicide.

We All Build Internal Sea Walls To Keep At Bay The Sadnesses Of Life And The Often Overwhelming Forces Within Our Minds. In Whatever Way We Do This—through Love, Work, Family, Faith, Friends, Denial, Alcohol, Drugs, Or Medication—we Build These Walls, Stone By Stone, Over A Lifetime. One Of The Most Difficult Problems Is To Construct These Barriers Of Such A Height And Strength That One Has A True Harbor, A Sanctuary Away From Crippling Turmoil And Pain, But Yet Low Enough, And Permeable Enough, To Let In Fresh Seawater That Will Fend Off The Inevitable Inclination Toward Brackishness.

There Is A Particular Kind Of Pain, Elation, Loneliness And Terror Involved In This Kind Of Madness... It Will Never End, For Madness Carves Its Own Reality.

Everyone Has Good Cause For Suicide, Or At Least It Seems That Way To Those Who Search For It. (74)