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Do Innocent People Commit Suicide?
A recent news story told about Melinda Duckett, a young Florida mother who, after a particularly difficult TV interview, took her father's shotgun and killed herself. A physician colleague of mine clearly felt she must have done it because she was guilty of the abduction of her young son. The woman's son had disappeared from his crib during the night. When the woman went in to check on him, she found the window screen had been slit open and her son was gone.
The prime suspects in crimes against children, according to police experts, are the parents. Remember the JonBenet Ramsey case and then there was the abduction and brutal murder of Danielle van Dam in San Diego?
The van Dams were portrayed as twisted swingers and they were subjected to multiple grillings. It turned out the murderer was the next door neighbor, a software engineer who took her from her bed. What a horrible experience these parents had. First they lose their child and then they are relentlessly questioned as the prime suspects.
Is the woman in Florida guilty or innocent? We won't know that, probably, until the police complete their investigation or the child is found.
Do innocent people kill themselves? Let me put it another way. If you were harassed and questioned for hours on end, kept away from family and friends and all of this was happening while you were grieving for the loss of your child, would you do something impulsive? I think you might and I also think that no one knows the limits to which they can be stretched until they are in that situation.
I equate comments such as, "I'd never do that" in the same category as the small boy who told me he'd never get run over by a car because he'd jump out of the way first. He was killed by a bus.
Stress can distort your world view, increase your inability to make good judgments, push the impulsivity button and result in totally unpredictable behavior. I've seen it happen time and time again, but in those cases, the people were rushed to the protection of a hospital in time.
How would you weigh in on the Florida case?
Related Topics: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Depression: The Mask of Sorrow
Technorati Tags: Melinda Duckett, Nancy Grace, depression, stress, anxiety, suicide
The prime suspects in crimes against children, according to police experts, are the parents. Remember the JonBenet Ramsey case and then there was the abduction and brutal murder of Danielle van Dam in San Diego?
The van Dams were portrayed as twisted swingers and they were subjected to multiple grillings. It turned out the murderer was the next door neighbor, a software engineer who took her from her bed. What a horrible experience these parents had. First they lose their child and then they are relentlessly questioned as the prime suspects.
Is the woman in Florida guilty or innocent? We won't know that, probably, until the police complete their investigation or the child is found.
Do innocent people kill themselves? Let me put it another way. If you were harassed and questioned for hours on end, kept away from family and friends and all of this was happening while you were grieving for the loss of your child, would you do something impulsive? I think you might and I also think that no one knows the limits to which they can be stretched until they are in that situation.
I equate comments such as, "I'd never do that" in the same category as the small boy who told me he'd never get run over by a car because he'd jump out of the way first. He was killed by a bus.
Stress can distort your world view, increase your inability to make good judgments, push the impulsivity button and result in totally unpredictable behavior. I've seen it happen time and time again, but in those cases, the people were rushed to the protection of a hospital in time.
How would you weigh in on the Florida case?
Related Topics: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Depression: The Mask of Sorrow
Technorati Tags: Melinda Duckett, Nancy Grace, depression, stress, anxiety, suicide
